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Natural Citizen
12-09-2014, 07:00 AM
Aside from this particular land grab by congress and their business counterparts, the 2015 NDAA contains other land deals.

Including one that would subject 70,000 acres of Tongass National Forest in Alaska to logging and another provision that would give 1,600 acres from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State for purposes of industrial development, a plan that has spurred tribal protest.


Congress gives Native American lands to foreign mining company with new NDAA




http://rt.com/files/news/33/a4/b0/00/3.jpg
Senator John McCain.(Reuters / Joshua Roberts )

Congress is poised to give a foreign mining company 2,400 acres of national forest in Arizona that is cherished ancestral homeland to Apache natives. Controversially, the measure is attached to annual legislation that funds the US Defense Department.

This week, the House and Senate Armed Services Committees quietly attached a provision to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would mandate the handover of a large tract of Tonto National Forest to Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of the Australian-English mining company Rio Tinto, which co-owns with Iran a uranium mine in Africa and which is 10-percent-owned by China.

The “Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘Buck’ McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015” - named after the retiring chairmen of the Senate and House Armed Services panels - includes the giveaway of Apache burial, medicinal, and ceremonial grounds currently within the bounds of Tonto. News of the land provision was kept under wraps until late Tuesday, when the bill (http://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20141201/CPRT-113-HPRT-RU00-S1847.pdf) was finally posted online.

The land proposed to be given to Resolution Copper, in exchange for other lands, includes prime territory Apaches have used for centuries to gather medicinal plants and acorns, and it is near a spot known as Apache Leap, a summit that Apaches jumped from to avoid being killed by settlers in the late 19th century.

Lands included in the plan will stop 1,500 feet short of Apache Leap and will not initially include an area known as Oak Flats, though, when it comes to the oaks, contradictory legal parameters are but a minor hurdle for a company like Resolution Copper to eventually drill there.

“Of all people, Apaches and Indians should understand, because we’ve gone through this so many times in our history,” Rambler said.

“The first thing I thought about was not really today, but 50 years from now, probably after my time, if this land exchange bill goes through, the effects that my children and children’s children will be dealing with,” Rambler added.

“Since time immemorial people have gone there. That’s part of our ancestral homeland," Rambler said. "We’ve had dancers in that area forever - sunrise dancers - and coming-of-age ceremonies for our young girls that become women. They’ll seal that off. They’ll seal us off from the acorn grounds, and the medicinal plants in the area, and our prayer areas.”

Arizona Sen. John McCain was instrumental in adding to the NDAA the land deal that had been pursued by Rio Tinto for a decade, according to HuffPo.

Some in Congress were reportedly concerned with the deal, but it ultimately materialized thanks to economic assurances. Rio Tinto claims mining in Tonto will generate $61 billion in economic activity and 3,700 direct and indirect jobs over 40 years.

Rambler said whether Rio Tinto’s economic assertions are true or not, it may not matter.

“It seems like us Apaches and other Indians care more about what this type of action does to the environment and the effects it leaves behind for us, while others tend to think more about today and the promise of jobs, but not necessarily what our creator God gave to us,” he said.

Rambler said he was particularly concerned with long-term ramifications, including the company’s intent to use “block cave” mining, which means digging under the ore, causing it to collapse.

“What those mountains mean to us is that when the rain and the snow comes, it distributes it to us,” Rambler said. “It replenishes our aquifers to give us life.”

Resolution Copper has said its mining plan for the area has been filed with the National Forest Service and that it will comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that supposedly protects federal lands.

The House may vote on the NDAA as soon as this week with rules included that would bar the Senate from amending the legislation. On Wednesday night, a last-minute effort to strip the land provision from the NDAA failed in the House Rules Committee, which voted to give one hour for debate over the NDAA in the House.

Terry Rambler, chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, told (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/03/ndaa-land-deals_n_6264362.html) The Huffington Post he was saddened by news of the proposal, yet not all that surprised.

But Rambler said NEPA is no match for Resolution Copper’s intent.

“This is what will happen - the law in one area says there will be consultation, but the law in another area of the bill says the land exchange will happen within one year of enactment of this bill,” Rambler said. “So no matter what we’re doing within that one year, the consultation part won’t mean anything after one year. Because then it’s really theirs after that.”

Basically, NEPA will only protect lands that remain in federal hands. The rest is fair game, according to federal law.

“We would only have to do NEPA on any activity that would take place on remaining federal land,” said Arizona Bureau of Land Management official Carrie Templin.




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Continued - Congress gives Native American lands to foreign mining company with new NDAA (http://rt.com/usa/211531-native-indian-lands-mining/)

moostraks
12-09-2014, 08:22 AM
Found this article on it from Indian Country Today: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/12/08/san-carlos-apache-leader-seeks-senate-defeat-copper-mine-sacred-land-158181


. The legislation is “business-as-usual,” ICTMN columnist Steve Newcomb commented. “This legislation, with its Orwellian title, demonstrates perfectly the United States' lack of sincerity when it comes to 'implementing' the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and when it comes to protecting the sacred and culturally sensitive places of our original nations,” Newcomb said. “It's business-as-usual for the United States when it comes to corporatizing such sensitive areas on behalf of foreign corporations such as Rio Tinto. Clearly, this is but one more example of the impact of the doctrine of Christian discovery and domination.”

The Obama administration, however, does not support the land swap or copper mine. On Saturday (December 6) Interior Department Secretary Sally Jewell criticized the last minute addition of the land swap bill and other legislation that would create six new national parks and 14 National Heritage Areas to the NDAA, the Washington Post reported.

Of the Tonto National Forest land swap, Jewell said, “I think that is profoundly disappointing.” She said she was happy to see the other land bills make progress, but “The preference on public lands bills is that they go through a typical process of public lands bills and they get debate and discussion.”

Rambler said the land swap bill was added to the must pass NDAA because it would never pass otherwise. “Because of all the years of education we’ve been doing we gained a lot of support and convinced enough Republicans that this is a bad deal for Apaches, Arizona and America. The bill wouldn’t pass if it were to go through the regular process of discussion and debate.”

Sen. Jon McCain (R-AZ) has been the lead supporter over the years of Rio Tinto’s efforts to acquire the land. McCain was instrumental in attaching the land swap bill into the NDAA at the last minute, according to the Huffington Post.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/12/08/san-carlos-apache-leader-seeks-senate-defeat-copper-mine-sacred-land-158181

WH petition for those who might be so inspired:https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/stop-apache-land-grab/rnMfH0WL

Natural Citizen
12-09-2014, 08:45 AM
I swear, every single time some shady backdoor stuff like this gets attached to these bills under wraps we have this little minion in the mix some way, some how...

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_BnALmAAD1ik/SN1MI_i7wFI/AAAAAAAAAFk/IuT7pIVe8Vc/s320/mccain_shining.jpg

Lucille
12-09-2014, 09:52 AM
Getting it good and hard.

Job creation at copper plant credited for Gosar-Kirkpatrick alliance
http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/20130215gosar-kirkpatrick-resolution-copper-alliance.html


Gosar, a Republican, and Kirkpatrick, a Democrat, appear to be the only pair so far this session to have joined forces on a significant bill. The Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act would allow Resolution Copper Mining Co. to dig the largest copper mine in North America.

http://www.indianz.com/News/2014/015568.asp


In Apache County, where Native Americans make up nearly 74 percent of the population, Kirkpatrick won nearly 76 percent of the vote. In Navajo County, where Native Americans are nearly 45 percent of the population, she had 52 percent of the vote.

donnay
12-09-2014, 10:04 AM
R.I.P Russell Means. Listen to what he was saying...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyQtrxLS92A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaokJniw9es

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldJTBlvE7Rk

Suzu
12-11-2014, 01:55 PM
WH petition for those who might be so inspired:https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/stop-apache-land-grab/rnMfH0WL

I signed and shared the petition a few days ago. Came here to see if anyone had posted it yet. Thanks for doing so, moostraks.

Folks. please do this - if only to foil John McCain. Share the link, too. And keep this topic alive!

moostraks
12-13-2014, 10:21 AM
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate passed a measure authorizing the nation’s defense programs Friday, and along with it managed to give lands sacred to Native Americans to a foreign company that owns a uranium mine with Iran...

The measure was added into the NDAA largely thanks to the efforts of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who, along with fellow Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, sees the project as an economic boon that will create 3,700 jobs over several decades.

Flake acknowledged that the deal never would have passed on its own, even as he lamented the process that got it through the Senate.

“It’s never good to see big packages with so many things in them -- that’s what we want to get away from,” Flake said. “But it’s been very difficult to move individual pieces of legislation over the last few years.”

In this case, the addition of the Arizona swap and the other land measures were never discussed in public, and were added during secret negotiations between the House and Senate Armed Services Committee. the deal was never publicly revealed until the House started work on passing the entire defense bill last week...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/12/defense-bill-passes-rio-tinto_n_6317946.html

acptulsa
12-13-2014, 11:36 AM
It seems to me we could pull off the slick coup of the century if we played this just right.

The Propaganda Machine has been paralyzing 'The Left' with guilt over what was done to natives a hundred and fifty years ago, and Archrepublican McCain is doing it again today--right under our noses. Surely no small number of activist progs could be talked into going out to the desert in wintertime and preventing these mining companies from moving in.

Meanwhile, The Propaganda Machine has been paralyzing 'The Right' with fear over mythical Iranian nukes. And here's a company that has already proven that it's fine with selling uranium to Iran being allowed to mine for copper and whatever in a state in which very rich deposits of uranium have been found in the past. Yeah, it's being spearheaded by McCain, but after years of pics of him hanging out with the Taliban and ISIS, do they really still trust the old fruitcake? Surely it wouldn't be that difficult to stir quite a few of these people into shifting their pickups into four wheel drive for the first time ever and going out to hold that line.

If we were slick enough, the result would basically be The First Bipartisan Bundy Ranch. What are you doing here, commie pinko ***? You people are supposed to cover State Highway 6. You missed the news, you tobacco chewing, bloodthirsty redneck. They gave us this highway to cover as soon as enough people showed to cover Apache Reservation Road B. Your saddlesore ass is supposed to be over there. It would be worth the effort just to laugh at the mainstream media tying itself into knots trying to find a way to spin it.

Natural Citizen
12-13-2014, 11:42 AM
It seems to me we could pull off the slick coup of the century if we played this just right.



It's not really a game to be played. Is an important issue. And we're seeing the pheomenon elsewhere with other industries/politicians.

acptulsa
12-13-2014, 12:12 PM
It's not really a game to be played. Is an important issue. And we're seeing the pheomenon elsewhere with other industries/politicians.

That's exactly why this is the issue we could game.

And if the result of our game is some of the most kneejerk, reactionary progs protesting side by side with some of the most kneejerk, reactionary warhawks, the result of our 'game' would be gains we could use for stunning real world electoral successes in 2016 and far, far beyond.

Divide and conquer is a game to the powers that be. Make no mistake. And if we don't start beating them at their game--meaning if we don't start finding ways to unite diverse Americans, we'll gamble away everything we hold dear without ever bothering to turn a card.

Progs defending Indians and warhawks fighting Iran, and all of them doing it the exact same way at the exact same time. Some games have to be played, because all the marbles are at stake.

How often do we get an issue like this? It has everything. Iranium uranium. Nineteenth century anti-Indian imperialism in the modern day. National security. National heritage. Corporatism. Foreign corporations--grabbing American mineral wealth for a few bribes and some slightly-better-than-minimum-wage jobs. McCain duplicity. That awful "cromnibus" crap. How on Earth can we ever expect a better lightning rod for two very disparate groups? How can we ever expect to beat those who find divide and conquer to be their most effective weapon if we never even try to trick Americans into coming together for our common good?

And if we help the Apaches at the same time? And if we discredit McCain once and for all at the same time? Good! Wonderful! Fantastic! Outstanding! Where the hell's the downside?

What is the downside? And is anyone really saying that this couldn't draw a bigger turnout than Bundy Ranch?

CaptainAmerica
12-13-2014, 01:16 PM
John Mccain is a murderer, thief,liar... he has stolen Native American lands over the past few decades numerous times and no one gives a damn .

Gerald Ford also signed a bill to relocate Navajo indians onto radioactive isotope spilled lands in four corners when Mccain made a deal to have mining companies move into the original Navajo lands. It is well documented, the UN even got involved with investigating and uncovered the way that the Navajos cattle were all dying from radiation poisoning, the water was poisoned and they had to live in a land which had nothing bearable.

Acala
12-13-2014, 01:19 PM
Just so we are clear, the land involved here is NOT Indian-owned land. It is not tribal or reservation land. It is National Forest land "owned" by the US government. And every time there is some kind of land development project in Arizona that the Indians don't like (or have not been paid what they want) they claim it is sacred. Take it with a grain of salt. Over 25% of the entire state of Arizona actually IS Indian-owned land. Some of that is crappy but much of it is prime real estate, including that owned by the White Mountain Apaches. And if you are under the illusion that the Apaches are some kind of noble guardian of the forest primeval like in Avatar, take a drive through McNary, Arizona or go look at how much pristine forest they razed to build their casino.

The American Indians have been screwed time and time again and I feel bad for them because of that. But that doesn't mean I buy all of their bullshit.

NorthCarolinaLiberty
12-13-2014, 01:20 PM
John McCain is a maverick. He said so many times.