#Diné Coalition Opposes #Navajo President's Push for #CoalMining and #Uranium Transport

Dine' Coalition Press Statement, #CensoredNews, April 17, 2025

WINDOW ROCK, Arizona -- "A coalition of grassroots groups released a statement in response to recent announcements and actions by #NavajoNation President #BuuNygren regarding coal development, carbon market deals, and potential new mining projects.

"The coalition will host a Press Conference from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (MDT) on Monday, April 21, 2025, outside the Navajo Nation Council Chambers during the first day of the Navajo Nation Council’s Spring Session. Please bring a folding chair, water, hats, and sunscreen, and dress appropriately for the weather to keep yourself safe and comfortable during the Press Conference.

"Summary of full statement:

● We call on the Navajo Nation President to stop making deals that degrade our land, water, and future.

● We urge tribal leaders not to repeat historical mistakes with respect to uranium extraction: Leave this Nayee’, Łeetso, in the ground. The cleanup and remediation of hundreds of abandoned mines must be completed, prioritizing public health safety and ecosystem health.

● We stand against the transport of uranium ore across the Navajo Nation because it is inconsistent with the intent of the Navajo Radioactive and Related Substances, Equipment, Persons and Materials Transportation Act of 2012, regardless of jurisdictional limits on our highways and roads.

● We steadfastly OPPOSE coal development, which negatively impacts the lands, water, and health of the Navajo people and contributes to #ClimateChange.

● We stand in protection of our water, health, traditional lifeways, Earth bundles (#Jish), and #MotherEarth.

"We call on all Diné #LandDefenders, #WaterProtectors, healers, young leaders, #matriarchs and warriors to stand together at WINDOW ROCK on APRIL 21, 2025. Together, we will make our voices heard and remind our Navajo Nation government that they are entrusted to make decisions that protect our People and protect our sacred homelands.
Statement from Diné Coalition of Grassroots Organizers in response to Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren’s recent statements and actions regarding uranium, carbon markets, coal, and
other harmful extractive processes.
We are a coalition of Diné organizers, land defenders, water protectors, traditional knowledge holders, matriarchs, and young leaders. We are calling on our Diné people to stand united in protecting Mother Earth and our sacred homelands and waterways.

"The Nygren Administration’s recent statements and actions do not reflect the
will of the Diné People, and we call on our Navajo Nation Council to ensure that such actions are not taken in violation of our Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.

"With the Trump administration’s announced intent to ramp up production of 'mission-critical' uranium,
the private energy offenders are again targeting Diné lands with no intention of ensuring public health, safety, or environmental health. Diné land and water protectors understand that energy offenders operate through systematic #racism that does not adhere to
#PinyonPlain uranium mine,
radioactive haul trucks, in #GrandCanyon."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/04/dine-coalition-opposes-navajo.html

#WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #Dineteh #NukingTheNavajo #Havasupai #UraniumMines #EnvironmentalRacism #PinyonPlainUraniumMine #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #NoMiningWithoutConsent
#DontNukeTheGrandCanyon #DontNukeThePlanet #WeAreTheFuture #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #DontNukeTheFuture #ReaderSupportedNews

Witness: Most tribal nations at #DakotaAccessPipeline #protest ‘didn’t know who #Greenpeace was’

By: Mary Steurer - March 3, 2025

"A #Lakota organizer said in a video deposition played to jurors Monday that the #StandingRockSiouxTribe led the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, not Greenpeace.

"#NickTilsen, an Oglala Sioux Tribe citizen and #activist, called the notion that Greenpeace orchestrated the protests 'paternalistic.'

"'I think that people underestimate the complexity and the sophistication of tribal nations,' Tilsen said.

"Tilsen’s deposition was the latest testimony heard by the nine-person jury in the marathon trial between pipeline developer Energy Transfer and Greenpeace.

"#EnergyTransfer claims Greenpeace secretly aided and abetted destructive and violent behavior by protesters during the #demonstrations, which took place in south central #NorthDakota near the #StandingRockReservation in 2016 and 2017. It also claims that Greenpeace orchestrated a misinformation campaign to defame the company, leading a group of banks to back out of financing the project. Energy Transfer seeks roughly $300 million from the environmental organization.

"Greenpeace denies Energy Transfer’s allegations. The group says it has never condoned violence, and only played a supporting role during the protests.

"Tilsen said he got involved in the protests before Greenpeace. He was invited to join the cause by former Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault and his sister, Jodi Archambault, he said.

"'They called me and said, ‘Hey, we need your help at Standing Rock,’ Tilsen said.

"Standing Rock has long opposed the Dakota Access Pipeline, stating the project poses a pollution threat, infringes on tribal sovereignty and has disrupted sacred cultural sites.

"It was Standing Rock leadership that laid the groundwork for the protests against the pipeline’s construction in 2016, Tilsen said.

"He said organizers later invited Greenpeace to support the camps, including by providing supplies and nonviolent direct action training. Tilsen said he only felt comfortable reaching out to Greenpeace because a friend of his, Cy Wagoner, worked there.

"He said since Wagoner is from the #NavajoNation, he trusted that Greenpeace would respect Standing Rock’s leadership of the camps.

"Indigenous communities are often reluctant to invite outside nonprofits to help with Native rights issues, Tilsen added. He said they often don’t understand Native nations’ unique relationship with the U.S. government.

"Greenpeace wasn’t a big part of the protests, Tilsen said.

"'To be honest, most of the tribal nations didn’t know who Greenpeace was,' he said.

"Countless other groups — including representatives from more than 300 Native nations — came to the protest camps in solidarity with Standing Rock, said Tilsen.

"'Quite frankly, our list of allies was hundreds,' he said.

"Tilsen said he was involved in several protest actions against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 2017, including those that involved marching on the pipeline easement, jumping in front of equipment and using lockboxes — also known as 'sleeping dragons' — to disable construction machinery.

"None of the protest actions were coordinated by Greenpeace, he said.

"Tilsen said he never saw or endorsed any destruction of property or acts of violence toward construction workers or law enforcement. He also pushed back on the assertion that any of the protest activities he participated in qualified as trespassing.

"The pipeline passes through land recognized as belonging to the #SiouxNation under #treaties signed by the U.S. government in 1851 and 1868. The U.S. government later annexed that land in violation of those treaties.

"Tilsen asked how Lakota citizens could be trespassing on land that was unlawfully taken from them.

"'This is the conundrum we find ourselves in,' he said.

"Employees of Greenpeace said during video depositions played last week that the environmental organization brought 20 to 30 lockboxes to the camps.

"Tilsen said while he saw many lockboxes during protests, he wasn’t sure where any of them came from. He also said he never heard anyone from Greenpeace tell demonstrators to use the devices.

"Tilsen said that David Khoury, an employee for Greenpeace, helped identify potential sites for protest actions. Tilsen added that while Wagoner — another Greenpeace employee — didn’t plan protest activities, he trained people on how to conduct them.

"The trial, which is before Southwest Central Judicial District Judge James Gion, is expected to last roughly four more weeks."

Source:
https://northdakotamonitor.com/2025/03/03/witness-most-tribal-nations-at-dakota-access-pipeline-protest-didnt-know-who-greenpeace-was/
#StandWithStandingRock #WaterIsLife #NoDAPL #KelcyWarren #Trump #BigOil #CorporateColonialism #BigOilAndGas #EnvironmentalRacism #StandingRock #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife #SLAPPsLawsuits #SilencingDissent #ACAB #EnergyTransfer #UnicornRiot #CriminalizingDissent #ACAB #Blackwater #ErikPrince

CALL FOR FILMS! #IndigenousFilmmakers!

#InternationalUraniumFilmFestival Returns to Window Rock in November, 2025

"Films by Indigenous and #NativeAmericanFilmmakers wanted. Send your films on #uranium or #NuclearIndustry and #RadioactiveContamination to the Window Rock Uranium Film Festival. Deadline: September 10, 2025.

"The International Uranium Film Festival (#IUFF) will return to Window Rock on November 7 and 8, 2025. This is the 4th edition of the IUFF to be held in Window Rock and will take place in cooperation with the #NewMexico #SocialJusticeAndEquity Institute at the #NavajoNation Museum.

"During these two days, the festival will present an extraordinary selection of specially curated documentaries and fiction movies about #UraniumMining and the #environmental and human consequences of the #military and civilian #nuclear industries.

"The Window Rock IUFF will focus in particular on films about Native American and Indigenous peoples around the world, particularly in North America. This is where, 80 years ago, the first atomic bomb was detonated on #Indigenous land. As a result, these lands are among those most affected by uranium mining and the nuclear industry in general.

"Until now, few Indigenous filmmakers have tackled this difficult and often hidden subject. For this reason, the organizers are dedicating an award to promote the production of Indigenous and Native American films about nuclear power, nuclear weapons, nuclear waste, uranium mining, and their consequences.

"The best film by an indigenous or Native American filmmaker will receive a special festival trophy in Window Rock.

"Now in its 14th year, the International Uranium Film Festival (IUFF) is dedicated to presenting films on all nuclear issues and the entire nuclear fuel chain: from uranium mining to nuclear waste, from nuclear war to nuclear accidents. This unique-in-the-world film festival - named 'One of the 25 Coolest Film Festivals 2024' by MovieMaker Magazine - was founded in 2010 in Rio de Janeiro and took place for the first time in May, 2011. It has presented more than 300 films in 9 countries and more than 40 cities around the world.

"The founders and directors of the International Uranium Film Festival, Márcia Gomes de Oliveira and Norbert G. Suchanek, were recently awarded the internationally respected 2025 Nuclear Free Future Award for their work.

Film submissions are free for indigenous filmmakers and the deadline is September 20, 2025.
Contact for Film Entry: info @ uraniumfilmfestival . org (no spaces)

We welcome any support, partners and sponsors. Make a donation via PayPal (link below)

Source:
https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/usa-2025

To donate:
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=UQTPP2BGUT3AU

Follow:
@uraniumfestival

#Dine' #NoUraniumMining #WhiteMesaMill #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #PinyonPlain #NoMiningWithoutConsent
#DontNukeTheGrandCanyon #DontNukeThePlanet #WeAreTheFuture #NoNukes #RethinkNotRestart #DontNukeTheFuture #UraniumFilmFestival