Hualapai March to Save Ceremonial Site from Lithium Mining in Arizona

Protect Ha'Kamwe' Stop Big Sandy Lithium Mine Protest Walk

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Oct. 19, 2024
Photos courtesy Hualapai Cultural Resources

"Water is life!" Hualapai said as they marched to protect their sacred ceremonial place, Ha'Kamwe' from a lithium mine on Saturday.

"For generations and through modern day, Tribal members have used Ha’Kamwe’ (also known as Cofer Hot Spring) for cultural and traditional purposes. It features prominently in tribal songs and stories about their history and connection to their land, including those known as the Salt Song Trail," the Hualapai Tribe said in its lawsuit filed against the U.S. Interior.

Hualapai filed suit against Interior Department Sec. Deb Halaand. The CEO of the so-called Navajo Transitional Energy Company, a tribal enterprise based in Farmington, New Mexico, was hired by an Australian company, Hawkstone, aka Arizona Lithium, to drill into Hualapai's sacred site for lithium.

While sipping wine at the Sydney Opera House, investors heard how much money they can make mining lithium in Arizona. The enthusiastic project manager was excited to tell them that Arizona loves mining, as can be seen with all its copper mines.

"They are a mining friendly state," says Paul Lloyd, managing director at Arizona Lithium, owned by Hawkstone Energy, in Perth, Australia.

"They are very pro-lithium production."

In Phoenix, Federal judge Diane Humetewa, Hopi, granted a temporary restraining order. Humetewa is the first federal judge in Arizona to halt Haaland's runaway train of permits for destruction.

Hualapai's lawsuit said the Interior's Bureau of Land Management never consulted Hualapai before authorizing drilling.

The Sandy Valley Exploration Project will allow Arizona Lithium to drill 131 exploratory wells in search of lithium on BLM-controlled lands directly adjacent to the spring.

"These exploratory wells—some of which will be drilled close to Ha’Kamwe’—will penetrate deep below ground into the aquifer that supports the spring’s flows," Hualapai's lawsuit states.

"The Project will also create noise, light, vibrations, and other disturbances that will degrade Ha’Kamwe’s character and harm Tribal members’ use of the spring for religious and cultural ceremonies. It will adversely impact other resources important to the Tribe too, like plants and wildlife."

"Despite repeated efforts by the Tribe to protect its sacred property, BLM ignored these harms and approved the Project. In doing so, it violated its mandates under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) and the National Historic Preservation Act (“NHPA”). The Tribe brings suit under these statutes to stop harm to Ha’Kamwe’ and other natural resources," Hualapai's lawsuit states.

Haaland, Laguna Pueblo, said in Farmington, New Mexico, that the atomic bomb industry, Los Alamos National Laboratory, would lead the green "energy transition," in the Four Corners region.

Now, a federal judge has halted increased plutonium production and storage because of environmental concerns at Los Alamos National Labs, in the heart of Pueblo lands in northern New Mexico, endangering Pueblos with radiation north of Santa Fe.