For Immediate Release
Release: Restraining Order Requested-Shoshone Grandmothers Plan Resistance Day on Proposed Mine Site
Contacts:
Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone grandmother, 775-468-0230
Dan Randolph, Great Basin Resource Watch, 775-722-4056
Julie Cavanaugh-Bill, Western Shoshone Defense Project, 775-744-2565 or
wsdp@igc.org
Restraining Order Requested-Shoshone Grandmothers Plan Resistance Day on
Proposed Mine Site
November 25, 2008, Crescent Valley, Newe Sogobi (Nevada).
As the holidays approach and the world watches President-elect Obama and the
bailouts; back in Nevada, home state of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,
it’s business as usual. Late yesterday, attorneys for several Western
Shoshone tribes and non-profit indigenous and environmental organizations
filed a request in the federal District Court in Reno, NV seeking a
restraining order against the construction of one of the country’s largest
open pit gold mines on the flank of spiritual Mt. Tenabo. The mine company
has already begun demolition of the pinyon forest with heavy machinery on
the site ripping out trees at a reported rate of 30 acres per day. As they
await a Court hearing and feeling compelled to take immediate action,
tomorrow, a group of Shoshone grandmothers will travel to the proposed mine
site to conduct a Day of Resistance to the destruction of the area and the
approval of the mine by the United States. Mt. Tenabo is a well-known home
to local Shoshone creation stories, spirit life, medicinal, food and
ceremonial plants and rocks and continues to be used to this day by Shoshone
for spiritual ceremonies and cultural practices. Over the years, tens of
thousands of individuals and organizations from across the United States and
around the world have joined with the Shoshone and voiced their opposition
to this mine-in fact, the mine is being referred to as the “most opposed
mine in the world”.
Continue reading