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Mining

The Blood Of The Earth: Agriculture, Land Rights, And Haitian History

By Beverly Bell for Other Worlds - Today we live in a crucial moment in which peasants are confronting challenges as they grapple with global warming, with the power of multinational companies over what they eat and how they live, and with an agricultural model that can’t provide them livelihood. Among the risks and catastrophes the peasants confront are lack of quality and quantity in food production, and their right to live as human beings. They also face a challenge in accessing the basic resources they need to produce, especially seeds and water.

The Invisible Killer: Fight Radioactive Pollution In 2016

By Klee Benally for Clean Up The Mines. In 2015 the Gold King Mine spill was a wake up call for the nation to address dangers of abandoned mines, but there are currently more than 15,000 toxic uranium mines that remain abandoned throughout the US. For more than 50 years many of these hazardous sites have already been contaminating our land, air, water, and national monuments such as Mt. Rushmore. Indigenous communities have been disproportionately impacted as approximately 75% of these abandoned uranium mines (AUMs) are located on public and Tribal lands. Each one of these 15,000 AUMs is a potential Gold King mine disaster with the greater added threat of radioactive pollution.

400-Year-Old City In Peru Could Disappear Due To Mine Toxins

By Janel Saldana for Latin Times - A Peruvian city that was once high up in the Andes is now slowly sinking into the abyss. 400 years ago, Cerro de Pasco, the first town in Peru to be liberated from the Spanish, was one of the richest cities in the country because of its rapid mining growth. The legend tells that in the 1800s, the rocks around campfires in town wept silver. Unfortunately, a city that seemed to have it all has found an enemy in the entity that has been supporting it for all these years, the mine. Operated by Volcan Compañía Minera, the open-pit mine is creating a deep hole in the middle of the city and destroying its neighborhoods and most importantly, its people.

Sierra Leone Villagers Sue Mining Company In London High Court

By Lisa O'Carroll for The Guardian - An iron ore firm once listed in London is being sued in a multimillion pound lawsuit over evictions and alleged violent treatment of workers and villagers living near one of its mines in Sierra Leone. African Minerals Limited is accused of complicity in false imprisonment, assault and battery, trespass and theft of the claimants’ property. It is also allegedly implicated in a fatal shooting of a 24-year-old by police during a protest over pay and conditions. The allegations, which have been denied by AML, once again raises questions about regulation of western companies, listed in London, New York or other major stock exchanges, when operating thousands of miles away in developing countries.

Las Bambas Project: Restriction On Indigenous Input In Peru’s Mining

By Evelyn Estrada for COHA - On September 29, 15,000 people from the mountainous Peruvian regions of Apurimac and Cusco broke into Las Bambas mining camp, which is a $7.4 billion USD Chinese-owned copper mine being developed in the region. The protesters are deeply troubled over the mining project’s environmental impact and the lack of consultation with the surrounding unsettled communities.[1] MMG Limited (Minerals and Metals Group), a Chinese-based firm, planned to continue to develop build a plant to process the mining ore near their communities rather than transport it by pipe, raising concerns over potential environmental damage that could be done to the surrounding area.

Save Oak Flat! Protest Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick Speech

By Staff of Leonard Clark Blog - Update since this last article was written …“So the board of the Phoenix chapter of the DFA has just censored my post … We must be getting their attention … I just got censored from a so called Progressive Democratic group Phoenix for posting the truth about about Ann Kirkpatrick. Good … now we are getting the big wigs attention … we are starting to scare them. My apologies to those in DFA that don’t think (as their board does) that we should look the other way when a human rights crime is about to be committed by a Democrat congress lady Ann Kirkpatrick they have chosen to run for the U.S. Senate in Arizona …

Lakota Women & Ranchers Lead Charge Against Uranium Mine

By Suree Towfighnia for Waging Nonviolence - With a population of around 1,000 people, the rural town of Crawford, Nebraska was an unlikely setting for a federal hearing, but it became the site of one in late August thanks to the dogged determination of a group of Lakota and environmental activists, as well as geologists, hydrologists and lawyers — all of whom have been fighting the permit renewal of a uranium mine located in town. The region is ripe with stories from the brutal Indian wars, when Lakota and neighboring tribes fought over western expansion. Today, this intersection of frontier America and Native resistance is a battleground in the war between environmental advocates and energy corporations, only this time allies from all sides are joining forces in the effort to protect their water.

Bankruptcy Lawyers Strip Cash From Coal Miners’ Health Insurance

By Alec McGillis for Pro Publica and The Daily Beast - There was plenty in the complex deal to benefit bankers, lawyers, executives and hedge fund managers. Patriot Coal Corp. was bankrupt, but its mines would be auctioned to pay off mounting debts while financial engineering would generate enough cash to cover the cost of the proceedings. When the plan was filed in U.S. bankruptcy court in Richmond last week, however, one group didn’t come out so well: 208 retired miners, wives and widows in southern Indiana who have no direct connection to Patriot Coal. Millions of dollars earmarked for their health care as they age would effectively be diverted instead to legal fees and other bills from the bankruptcy. As coal companies go bankrupt or shut down throughout Appalachia and parts of the Midwest, the immediate fallout includes lost jobs and devastated communities.

In Aristotle’s Homeland, Canadian Mining Giant Fights Ban

By Deidre Fulton for Common Dreams - In the latest chapter of an ongoing fight over resource extraction, foreign investment, and environmental degradation, a Canadian mining company appealed to Greece's top court on Friday to overturn a ban on its plans to develop a gold mine in the forested peninsula of Halkidiki. A day before resigning to call a general election in August, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' government revoked Eldorado Gold's permit for the Halkidiki mine, citing environmental concerns and violations of contract terms. "When there is a contract signed with the Greek state, this should be respected," GreekEnergy Minister Panos Skourletis said at the time. "This is not because we want to cause investors trouble but because we want to protect the environment."

Eritrean Refugee Crisis Escalates Due To Canadian Mining

By Michael Stewart in Rabble - As millions of refugees brave their way across a Europe increasingly hostile to their existence, it is still Syrians dominating the headlines. But the third-largest group crossing the Mediterranean is fleeing the small African country Eritrea, home to one of the most corrupt and brutal regimes in the world. The gut-wrenching photo of drowned toddler Alan Kurdi has strained Canadians' humanitarian mettle. Many have criticized Stephen Harper's failure to welcome a single refugee across Canada's borders since publication of the photo, yet few have reckoned with the ways in which Canadians are complicit in driving desperate people toward the sea. Earlier this month, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson hosted a public forum on the refugee crisis. Those in attendance discussed the complexity and cost of privately sponsoring refugees and revisited a campaign promise to make Vancouver a Sanctuary City.

Winona LaDuke Open Letter To Governor Dayton

By Winona LaDuke in Brainerd Dispatch - Now your fisheries department has managed to crash the Mille Lacs fishery. Let me remind you that the Mille Lacs band did not do that, and has volunteered to forgo tribal harvest for next year. This crash resulted from the folly of your politics and the 2006 decision to increase the limit, despite scientific and tribal expertise which set the limit at 350,000 pounds. Minnesota fishery staff secured a legislative approval for 550,000 pounds. Nice work. The walleye population in 2014 was its lowest in 30 years. And, many of your lakes are dying from agricultural runoff and invasive species. Anishinaabeg people have always lived with the moose and the wolf. You have allowed their destruction by corporate and special interests driven myopic management policies. Let me be clear: In July of 2015, the Center for Biological Diversity and Honor the Earth filed a request to list the Moose as endangered. In just 10 years time, moose numbers in Minnesota have dropped from nearly 9,000 to as few as 3,500. Why?

Millions Of Indian Workers Strike Against ‘Anti-Labor Policies’

By Al Jazeera - Millions of Indian workers launched a 24-hour strike on Wednesday against what they said were Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “anti-labor policies,” prompting billions of dollars in economic losses. Ten major unions called the nationwide strike over the government's pro-business initiatives after recent talks with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley broke down. The unions — which represent a wide range of industries, from banking to coal mining — are demanding the government dump plans to sell off stakes in state-run companies to boost the public purse and to shutter unproductive factories. “We are against these anti-labor policies. The government is going to change the laws to benefit the corporates,” said Gurudas Dasgupta, secretary of the Indian Trade Union Congress, which has 3.6 million members.

Peru Indians Halt Production At 11 Oil Wells

By Fox News Latino - A group of Peruvian Indians opposed to private oil production in the northern Amazon region of Loreto halted output at 11 wells and seized an airport on the eve of a planned 48-hour regional strike. The indigenous communities led by the Federation of the Achuar and Urarina Indigenous Peoples of the Corrientes River on Tuesday occupied several oil installations at Lot 8, which is located near Lot 192, the nation's largest oil block and the focus of the protest, Argentine energy firm Pluspetrol said in a statement. Pluspetrol, whose concession for Lot 192 expired last weekend, is the operator of Lot 8. The Indians halted crude output at 11 wells at Pluspetrol's Pavayacu field and seized control of the Trompeteros airport and three storage tanks, the company said.

When A River Runs Orange

By Gwen Lachelt in New York Times - THE recent mining pollution spill in my corner of Colorado — La Plata County — is making national news for all the wrong reasons. Beyond the spill and its impact on everyone downstream, the underlying causes are far more worrisome and dangerous than just a mistake made by the Environmental Protection Agency. Yes, it is a cruel irony that an E.P.A. contractor, while trying to clean up pollution from old mines, instead made the problem much, much worse. The jaw-dropping before-and-after photos contrasting the pre-spill Animas River I know and love with the subsequent bright orange, acidic, heavy-metal-laden travesty are sadly accurate. The Animas River is the heart of La Plata County.

Six Million Drinking Uranium-Contaminated Water

By Barbara Tasch in Business Insider - Water from two aquifers in the US contains uranium levels that are significantly higher than the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) maximum contaminant level (MCL). What's more, these two aquifers provide drinking water to almost 6 million people, and almost 2 million of them live less than a mile from the contaminated groundwater, according to a study led by two researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. And according to the EPA: "Intakes of uranium exceeding EPA standards can lead to increased cancer risk, liver damage, or both." The researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln analyzed almost 275,000 groundwater samples collected from about 62,000 locations from two aquifers that provide millions of people in the US with drinking water: the High Plains and Central Valley.

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Due to the attacks on our fiscal sponsor, we were unable to raise funds online for nearly two years.  As the bills pile up, your help is needed now to cover the monthly costs of operating Popular Resistance.

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