Support Indigenous Land Defenders—Comment by Friday

Speak out against destructive mining on the homelands of Shoshone and Bannock tribes by 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday, April 25: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2025844/570

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Harm is happening fast and frequently these days. But there are plenty of opportunities to make interventions that stop, lessen, or delay such harm (and delay, as those engaged in fending off pipelines known, is a key strategy to fully stopping destruction).

As an example: the Trump administration has been attempting to fast track new lithium mining on the Oregon/Nevada border, in the McDermitt Caldera. This area of the state is not only one of the few places left on the continent allowing uninterrupted migratory routes for many species, but is in the same corner of Oregon that some of the oldest artifacts of human habitation have been found (though we now have new findings in White Sands that are even older). The caldera is also a sacred place for not just the Fort McDermitt Paiute but many other tribes for whom this area is part of their traditional territories.

People of Red Mountain has already had one small win in trying to fend off this new development. The administration attempted to thwart normal processes so much that they originally only gave 5 days for comment on the hundred-plus page environmental analysis that came out. Organizers with People of Red Mountain turned out hundreds of comments in just that short time, and in part demanded a longer period for review.

Which is how I came to know about this, as they came to speak in my town on Monday evening and ask for more folks to submit comments to the BLM this final week of the current commenting period.

If you’re unsure of why lithium mining is destructive, you can see this video, which has shots of some of the places these same companies have been mining around the world, in other “sacrifice zones” (also largely on Indigenous territory) that have sprung up as the pace of electric car manufacturing picks up.

The destructiveness of lithium mining complicates many of our assumptions about so-called “sustainable” choices like electric over gas cars. There’s a reason why I continue advocacy for public transit and infrastructure for walking and biking alongside much of the other work I do: electric cars have never been the final solution. They will always require more intensive extraction and harm than other ways we can find of moving around.

If you have a few moments before Friday evening, I hope you’ll submit even just a brief comment to the Bureau of Land Management asking them not to expand mining in the caldera. Things you can mention in your comment: habitat destruction, interference with migration patterns, harm to cultural and historically important sites, and damage to waterways and aquifers (processing lithium is water intensive and the caldera is an arid place).

Here’s the comment link again: https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2025844/570

You can also learn more about the caldera and the threats lithium mining poses from the Oregon Natural Desert Association: https://onda.org/an-ode-to-mcdermitt-caldera/

Thanks for reading this quick advocacy request! Would love to hear from readers if you submit something—leave a comment or email me at unsettling@substack.com.

Thanks for reading Unsettling.

Until next time,

Meg