XPost: alt.politics.obama, sac.politics, alt.global-warming   
   XPost: alt.california   
   From: but.brown@dont-email.me   
      
   A federally recognized Indian tribe has filed a lawsuit to block   
   construction of a solar energy facility that will replace 4,000   
   acres of ancestral homelands in the Mojave Desert with   
   reflective photovoltaic panels.   
      
   The Colorado River Indian Tribes’ lawsuit claims the U.S. Bureau   
   of Land Management’s environmental impact statement for the   
   project failed to adequately take into account its effects on   
   the area’s ecosystem, cultural resources, groundwater and the   
   Colorado River.   
      
   The tribal group with sovereignty over a 245,000-acre   
   reservation near the work site also claimed that the BLM   
   violated federal law by authorizing construction of Florida-   
   based NextEra Energy Resources’ Blythe II project without first   
   holding “government-to-government” consultations.   
      
   The lawsuit aims to delay or permanently enjoin the BLM from   
   “permitting ground disturbing activities” within the project   
   site and from issuing any further notice to proceed until the   
   agency complies with the National Historic Preservation Act, the   
   National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Lands Policy   
   and Management Act.   
      
   In an interview, David Harper, a spokesman for the tribal   
   group’s Mojave Elders Committee, insisted, “We are not against   
   solar power. We are against our ancestors' remains, funerary   
   objects and cultural artifacts being dug up and carted away from   
   their resting places.”   
      
   BLM spokesman Steven Razo declined comment, saying, “We just got   
   the lawsuit. We’re reviewing it.”   
      
   Blythe II is expected to generate 485 megawatts of solar   
   electricity on the 4,000 acres of public land. Construction is   
   expected to begin early next year.   
      
   The project is on a portion of land originally approved for   
   construction of Palo Verde Solar I’s proposed 1,000-megawatt   
   solar energy generating plant, Blythe I. NextEra purchased the   
   unbuilt assets of Blythe I when Palo Verde’s parent companies   
   filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012, the lawsuit said.   
      
   The BLM has approved, or is actively considering, 10 gigantic   
   power plants within 50 miles of the CRIT reservation, covering   
   35,000 acres of ancestral homelands in rural areas that had gone   
   undisturbed for thousands of years.   
      
   Disturbing the area’s ancient trails and relics -- grindstones,   
   petroglyphs, hearth sites -- “is taboo,” the lawsuit says, and   
   some members of the tribal group “experience significant   
   spiritual harm when such resources are dug up, relocated or   
   damaged.”   
      
   In an earlier dispute, CRIT pleaded with President Obama in 2012   
   to slow the federal government's pursuit of massive solar energy   
   projects in the region because of possible damage to Native   
   American cultural resources. The Obama administration didn't   
   respond.   
      
   At that time, earthmovers had churned up artifacts at or in the   
   vicinity of NextEra’s $1-billion Genesis solar project while it   
   was under construction on BLM land near the town of Blythe,   
   about 200 miles east of Los Angeles. The artifacts had been   
   missed by archaeological surveys conducted in a rush to build.   
      
   The CRIT reservation was created in 1865 and stretches along the   
   Colorado River in both Arizona and California. It is home to   
   4,000 members of four distinct tribes: the Mohave, Chemehuevi,   
   Hopi and Navajo.   
      
   In an interview, Sara Clark, an attorney for the tribal group,   
   said, “As long as the BLM fails in its obligations to consult   
   with the tribes as it must under federal law, CRIT will continue   
   to voice its concerns. That could be to politicians, and it   
   could be to judges in federal court.”   
      
   http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-native-   
   americans-solar-20141212-story.html   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)