Indian Tribes

10
Mai
2005

Shoshone Nation aims to stop Yucca nuke dump

Lawyer for tribe argues that its sacred traditions and beliefs being violated by Energy Department

by Ed Koch
Las Vegas Sun

LAS VEGAS - There is a centuries-old story of Snake Mountain that is still taught to the children of the Western Shoshone Nation.

"Someday when we wake that snake up … it will get mad and rip open," Shoshone Spiritual Leader Corbin Harney wrote in his 1995 book "The Way it Is - One Water, One Air, One Mother Earth."

"With his tail, that snake will move the mountain, rip it open and the poison will come out on the surface."

Today Snake Mountain is called Yucca Mountain, site of the under-construction high-level nuclear waste repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas and about 15 miles east of Death Valley in Inyo County.

Robert Hager, the lawyer for the Shoshone tribe, got the OK Wednesday from U.S. District Judge Philip Pro to submit that story as part of Harney's affidavit into the court record of a lawsuit the tribe hopes will halt the nuclear waste dump.

Pro, following an hourlong hearing, took under advisement the Western Shoshone Nation's request for an injunction to stop the project.

Although Hager did not specifically make an argument to stop the project on First Amendment grounds that the Shoshone people are being denied the right of freedom of religion, he gave the Energy Department, overseers of Yucca Mountain, a good indication of where this case eventually may be headed.

Hager, supported by Harney's affidavit, argued that Yucca Mountain is being "desecrated" by the project, that the Indians are being denied access to the sacred rock prayer rings where "the Great Spirit" sends them messages and that bodies of the Indians' ancestors have been disrupted by tunneling.

"The rock rings at Yucca Mountain are very sacred places where the Shoshone people prayed, and when our people pray at the rock rings the message comes and goes through those rings," Harney says in his affidavit.

"I am aware the bodies of some of our ancestors have been removed from Yucca Mountain by government agents, which is a violation of our sacred traditions and beliefs that the body of a person who dies should be buried and should remain at the place where that life ended."

Harney, who is now 85, was among two dozen members of the tribe in Pro's courtroom Wednesday. He and other Shoshones said they no longer have access to the rock ring area.

Hager also said Shoshones already are being poisoned by the project and that as many as 2,500 of them are at risk of getting silicosis - fibrosis of the lungs caused by long-term exposure to silica dust - from the project.

The federal government countered that the Shoshones are barking up the wrong tree by seeking injunctive relief in Las Vegas federal district court, arguing that the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court or the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has jurisdiction in this matter.

Justice Department Attorney Sara Culley said the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which places such matters before the court of appeals, applies in this case. The Shoshones are asking for their injunction by arguing that another statute, the Yucca Mountain Development Act, is unconstitutional.

Pro said jurisdiction is a key question with which he must wrestle.

"I have to stay focused on whether I have jurisdiction," Pro told both sides.

Hager argued that not only does Pro have jurisdiction in this case as set forth by the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863, which specifies uses for the tribe's nearly 60 million acres, Pro also has the power to rule that the Yucca Mountain Development Act is unconstitutional because it is "based on lies."

He was referring to the revelation in late March by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman that employees of the U.S. Geological Survey had written e-mail messages indicating some scientific work had been falsified.

Internal Energy Department e-mails written in preparation for seeking a license to open the nuclear waste repository indicate the alleged falsification focused on the speed at which water flowed through the mountain, an issue that would have meant disqualification of the Yucca site years ago, Hager told Pro.

Hager argued that the president and Congress relied on those tainted reports as sound scientific evidence to pass and sign into law the development act, and that such actions make the statute unconstitutional.

Culley said to stop the project now will be detrimental to many phases including environmental and scientific studies that "Congress has determined is in the best interest of the public."

She said a ruling in favor of the Shoshones also would halt long-term monitoring of the site and electrical maintenance, as well as put 1,600 Energy Department employees out of work.

"The site will fall into disrepair," she said of a lengthy stoppage.

As for removal of Indian bodies from Yucca, Culley said the Shoshones have been invited to "walk through the site" to observe future tunneling, which she said will not occur again for four years. Drilling, however, is continuing, she said.

And Culley said the Indians are not in any immediate harm because environmental protections are in place and that the long process toward licensing involves public input, and that includes the concerns of the Shoshones. She said the earliest date for storing nuclear waste there is 2010.

Culley said the Shoshones will "not likely prevail on the merits" in part because courts long ago determined the Indians do not have title to the land.

Last year, President Bush signed a measure to distribute $145 million to approximately 10,000 Western Shoshone as compensation for land that was taken from the tribe.

The tribe has refused to accept the money and in March filed its lawsuit to stop the nuclear dump project.

Western Shoshone National Council Member John Wells said after the hearing that the government's argument that the tribe no longer owns title to the land should not apply in this case.

"The government should abide by the treaty," Wells said, noting that when American Indians refer to land they are talking about Mother Earth that everyone owns and shares, "not the government's European concept of land ownership."

The treaty specifies the U.S. government can use the land for settlements, mines, ranches and the construction of roads and railroads. Wells said that had the government proposed storing hazardous materials in Yucca Mountain at the time the treaty was signed the Shoshones "definitely would have said no."

Western Shoshone Nation Chief Raymond Yowell said after the hearing that some members of the tribe still call the site Snake Mountain and that the story of it rising up and spewing poison "was the vision of a holy man long before the White Man came.

"Of course, that holy man could not have known about the circumstances now, but, in his vision, he foresaw that one day energy could explode from the mountain. We want to stop that from happening. Mother Earth is sacred to us."

(Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service)

©2005 The Inyo Register

Copyright © 2005 The Inyo Register
http://www.inyoregister.com


Informant: Carrie Dann

4
Mai
2005

3
Mai
2005

17
Apr
2005

Native American Message to the Peoples of the World

Please send this to all contacts you have for mobile phone companies and Airwave

Sandi


Native American Message to the Peoples of the World

In our Prophecies it is told that we are now at the Crossroads, either unite Spiritually as a Global Nation, or be faced with chaos, disasters, diseases and tears from our relatives eyes. In times of disasters it is sad to say, that it is the only time that we unite spiritually, but we must not taint it with anger and retaliation.

We are the only species that is destroying the Source of life, meaning Mother Earth, in the name of power, mineral resources and ownership of land, using methods of chemicals and warfare that is becoming irreversible, as Mother Earth is becoming tired and can not sustain any more impacts of war.

I ask you to join me on this endeavor.

Our vision is for the Peoples of all continents, regardless of their beliefs in the Creator, to come together as one at their Sacred Sites at that sacred moment of what is known as the Summer Solstice of June 21st, to pray and meditate and commune with one another, thus promoting an energy shift to heal our Mother Earth and achieve a universal consciousness toward attaining Peace.

As each day passes bringing us to this day of concentration together, I ask the Global Nations to begin a Global effort, in knowing that each and every one of us are making a daily effort in waking to a gratitude of another day, that is gifted to us and begin to remember to give thanks for the Sacred Food that has been also gifted to us by our Mother Earth, so the nutritional energy of medicine can be guided to heal our minds and spirits.

This new millennium will usher in an age of harmony or it will bring the end of life as we know it. Starvation, war and toxic waste have been the hallmark of the Great Myth of Progress and Development that ruled the last millennium.

To us, as caretakers of the heart of Mother Earth, falls the responsibility of turning back the powers of destruction. We have come to a time and place of great urgency. The fate of future generations rests in our hands.

We must understand the two ways we are free to follow, as we choose the positive way or the negative way...the spiritual way or the material way.

It's our own choice--each of ours and all of ours.

You yourself are the one who must decide.

You alone-and only you--can make this crucial choice.

Whatever you decide is what you'll be, to walk in honor or to dishonor your relatives.

You can't escape the consequences of your own decision.

On your decision depends the fate of the entire World. You must decide.

You can't avoid it.

Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind.

Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger?

Know that you yourself are essential to this World.

Believe that!

Understand both the blessing and the burden of that.

You yourself are desperately needed to save the soul of this World.

Did you think you were put here for something less?

In a Sacred Hoop of Life, where there is no beginning and no ending!

Mitakuye Oyasin,
Chief Arvol Looking Horse1
19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe


From Mast Network

12
Apr
2005

31
Mrz
2005

Working Man Crushed By Corporate Giant

http://tinyurl.com/43f5s

Bobby Fischer arrives in Iceland

"That country, the United States, belongs to the red man, the American Indian. ... It's actually a shame to be a so-called American because everybody living there is ... an invader," Fischer said.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) 31.03.2005 Bobby Fisher's latest audacious gambit has begun in a wind-lashed corner of the north Atlantic.

The volatile chess icon arrived in Reykjavik late Thursday, a brand-new Icelandic citizen and unrepentant critic of the United States, which considers him as a fugitive from justice.

Hours after being freed from nine months' detention in Japan, Fischer called the United States "an illegitimate country" and said the charges against him were groundless.

Dressed in jeans and sporting a bushy grey beard, Fischer stepped from a chartered jet at Reykjavik airport to applause from about 200 supporters in a tiny, chess-loving nation still grateful for its role as the site of his most famous match a 1972 world championship victory over Soviet player Boris Spassky that was the highlight of Fisher's career and a world-gripping symbol of Cold War rivalry.

Fischer had been held in Japan for trying to leave the country using an invalid U.S. passport. Japan agreed to release him after he accepted Iceland's offer of citizenship.

During his long trip to Iceland, Fischer railed against the governments of Japan and the United States, calling Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi a "stooge" of President Bush.

"This was a kidnapping, because the charges that the Japanese charged me with are totally nonsense," he told Associated Press Television News on the flight.

An American chess champion at 14 and a grand master at 15, the enigmatic, eccentric Fischer has long had a reputation for volatility, and a troubled relationship with the United States.

Aboard the flight from Tokyo, he called the United States "an illegitimate country ..."

"That country, the United States, belongs to the red man, the American Indian. ... It's actually a shame to be a so-called American because everybody living there is ... an invader," Fischer said.

Fischer, 62, wanted by the United States for violating sanctions imposed on the former Yugoslavia by playing an exhibition match against Spassky there in 1992, had fought deportation from Japan.

Fischer said he felt "very appreciative" toward Iceland but indicated he had no plans to tone down his anti-U.S. rhetoric.

"I grew up with the concept of freedom of speech. I'm too old,' he said. "It's too late for me to adjust to the new world, the new world order," he said with a chuckle.

Fischer remains popular in Iceland, a country with one of the highest numbers of chess players per capita in the world.

"Even though I don't know him personally, I have the feeling of knowing him through his biography of chess, his games," said Magnus Skulason, a psychiatrist and chess enthusiast who came to the airport to greet Fischer. "It was hard to think of him going to jail for many years."

This nation of fewer than 300,000 people is a staunch U.S. ally, but there is a strong undercurrent of public anger at the government's support for the U.S.-led Iraq war, which was opposed by four-fifths of Icelanders.

The United States has an extradition treaty with Iceland, however, and could still try to have Fischer deported. His Icelandic supporters vow that won't happen.

"I think he is safe now," said Thorstein Matthiasson, 39. "We have more courage than the Japanese."


From ECOTERRA Intl.

26
Mrz
2005

24
Mrz
2005

HAIDA NATION FIGHTS FOR OLD FORESTS

Oread Daily

The Haida Nation has set up a number of blockades around the Queen Charlotte Islands to protest the transfer of Weyerhaeuser's tree-farm licence to Brascan, complaining it wasn't properly consulted by British Columbia (B.C.) provincial government. Protesters have blocked roads to logging camps and began a convoy Wednesday that was joined by people as it passed through the communities from Old Massett to Queen Charlotte City. The protesters, who have virtually stopped forestry operations, have also tied up barge traffic this week and forced the shutdown of the Ministry of Forests office in Queen Charlotte City.

Brascan announced last month that it would acquire private coastal forest land and Crown timber rights from U.S.-based Weyerhaeuser in a $1.2-billion deal scheduled to be completed in June.

Haida spokesperson Gilbert Parnell says they want to stop logging in environmentally sensitive areas. And he says they want to stop the sale of Weyerhaeuser's operations to Brascan until those concerns are dealt with.

Last November, the Supreme of Canada ruled that the B.C. government must consult more meaningfully with First Nations on land-use issues. Council of the Haida Nations President Guujaaw says the logging company and the province are not just ignoring the Supreme Court ruling, but also community concerns. "There is an opportunity now to…create a sustainable economy on this island, but if it keeps on going the way it is now, we are going to lose that," he says.

Guujaw asked Gov.-Gen. Adrienne Clarkson to personally intervene in the dispute earlier this week. She has yet to respond to the request.

If the government doesn't budge, Port Clement Mayor Dale Lore says there is widespread support amongst the Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal communities for a complete shutdown of all logging on the islands by the weekend. "I've been going to my MLA, Bill Belsey, and saying, 'Please talk to, please consult with the Haida – if you don't at least talk, you are defying a Supreme Court order and my town is going to get caught in the middle.'" He added. "Every day the government doesn't act, it will expand. There's very little left until they've shut everything down here."

Weyerhaeuser spokesperson Sarah Goodman says it's not the company's responsibility to consult with the Haida about the timber license sale to Brascan.

B.C. Forests Minister Mike de Jong says the province doesn't have to consult over the Weyerhaeuser deal, because it involves the transfer of an existing forest license.

B.C. Attorney General Geoff Plant says the B.C. government has little interest in talking to people who block roads.

The Council of the Haida Nations Forest Guardians sums up the struggle this way, "The old forests of Haida Gwaii have sustained and continue to sustain our way of life. In the past fifty years, industrial logging has transformed the landscape of Haida Gwaii from diverse old forest to young, even-aged stands of one or two species. The major river systems that once provided Haida villages with salmon; large cedars for longhouses and monumental art; and, plants for food, medicines, fiber and animal habitat have been eradicated by logging without consideration for these values."

"The Haida Nation is not against logging per se, but believes that logging can be done in a more responsible manner. Our position is that some places must be left intact and that logging be practiced in a way that does not spoil the land or waterways. This applies to every one who is logging. Nobody, including ourselves, has the right to wreck the land." Sources: Council of the Haida Nations Forest Guardians, Vancouver Sun, Globe and Mail, CBC, Peace, Earth and Justice News.


Informant: reg

--------

More on Haida Gwaii
http://www.dogwoodinitiative.org/bulletin/archives/000954.html


Informant: Deane

15
Mrz
2005

Honor the Earth: Gwich'in Nation Needs Your Help to Protect Sacred ANWR

Honor the Earth
Sent: Friday, March 11, 2005 12:29 PM
Subject: Urgent Action: Gwich'in Nation Needs Your Help to Protect
Sacred ANWR!

Contents of this Urgent Action:

A. Action
B. Background
C. For More Information

A. ACTION

1. CALL YOUR SENATOR'S OFFICE TODAY!
Arctic Hotline for capitol hill: 1-888-894-5325 or go to
http://capwiz.com/awc/dbq/officials/ and click on your state to get the direct number for your Senator. Ask your Senator to vote 'YES' on the Cantwell amendment to keep drilling in the Arctic Refuge out of the budget.

2. Send an action email here:
http://capwiz.com/awc/issues/alert/?alertid=7192016

3. Most importantly, PLEASE forward this email to everyone you know! It will be vital to flood offices with calls and emails over the next several days if we are to prevail next week!

B. BACKGROUND

GWICH'IN NATION NEEDS YOUR HELP TO PROTECT THE SACRED PLACE WHERE LIFE BEGINS - ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE!

Arctic Vote Showdown Expected Next Week!

This week, the House and Senate budget committees split over whether or not to include proposals to allow drilling in America's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to be included in the federal budget. The Senate is poised to vote next week on whether or not to allow the drilling provision to stay in the budget.

On the House side, the House budget resolution has no Arctic provision in it. In fact, the House budget committee explicitly stated that they did not want the budget process from being used to open the Artic Refuge to drilling. "We have tried to keep the budget free of policy. Things like [drilling in the Arctic Refuge] immediately create a lightning rod," said Sean Spicer, spokesman for the committee chairman, Rep. Jim Nussle (R-IA).

Even though the entire Budget Committee is now on record saying that they oppose using the budget to advance Arctic drilling, the budget resolution is a non-binding document and is only a recommended blueprint. Other committees with jurisdiction over specific parts of the budget may ignore the wishes of the budget committee and decide to include a drilling proposal anyway.

In the Senate, the Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-NH) decided to include the controversial drilling provision in the Senate version. Despite opposition from several Senators in his own party, Senator Gregg said he thought it was "reasonable" to assume that the drilling provision would remain in the budget.

During the budget committee meeting, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) offered an amendment to strip the Arctic drilling provision out of the budget resolution. The amendment failed on a straight party-line 10-12 vote.

Next week, the Senate is scheduled to have a floor debate on the budget resolution. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) will go to the Senate floor with an amendment to remove the provision that allows drilling in America's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

CALL YOUR SENATOR'S OFFICE TODAY!
Arctic Hotline for capitol hill: 1-888-894-5325 or go to
http://capwiz.com/awc/dbq/officials/ and click on your state to get the direct number for your Senator. Ask your Senator to vote 'YES' on the Cantwell amendment to keep drilling in the Arctic Refuge out of the budget.

Send an action email here:
http://capwiz.com/awc/issues/alert/?alertid=7192016

Most importantly, PLEASE forward this email to everyone you know! It will be vital to flood offices with calls and emails over the next several days if we are to prevail next week!

C. FOR MORE INFORMATION

Gwich'in Steering Committee
http://www.alaska.net/~gwichin

Miigwech,

Honor the Earth Board, Staff & Volunteers


Informant: Carrie Dann
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