Some will tell you that we must mine our way out of the climate crisis. They will tell you that places like Thacker Pass must be sacrificed. But those of us who trace our ancestry to this place, and still rely on its resources for our way of life, reject that idea. Yes, we must act to address the urgent challenge of climate change, for ours and future generations. But we must do so without replacing dirty oil with dirty mining that desecrates the cultural resources and sacred sites of Indigenous peoples.

Lithium mining at Thacker Pass will take advantage of already impacted tribal communities and strip them of their cultural history. Do not tell us that this is the cost of progress. We are not prepared to sacrifice our burial grounds, or the places where we still hunt, fish and gather food.

Read the rest here at the Reno-Gazette Journal