Thacker Pass opponents were sued in late May by Lithium Nevada. The company to date has approval to develop a lithium mine on public lands after battles in court resulted in losses for the opponents.
Lithium Nevada proceeded with construction, despite a new hearing Tuesday seeking again to halt the mine, and is now taking opponents to court.
The company sued members of the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribe and other activists who have attempted to block construction.
“Despite multiple warnings from law enforcement not to block public roads, Defendants have continued to do so,” the lawsuit alleges. “Indeed, Defendants have proudly broadcasted their defiance of law enforcement on social media.”
Lithium Nevada alleged protesters were climbing onto, vandalizing and stealing equipment as well as “flying drones dangerously close to Project personnel.”
Lithium Nevada was also granted a temporary restraining order against the group.
“The Court finds that based on Defendants’ actions — including trespass on a secured worksite for the Thacker Pass mining project, harassment, and blocking entrance to the Project site – which have and will continue to create a safety risk and delay or prevent Plaintiff from engaging in the lawful development and construction of the Project in accordance with its property rights…” a judge with the Sixth Judicial District Court determined.
Thacker Pass opponents, as the lawsuit noted, have been open about their intentions to nonviolently stop the project. Tribal members said the site is the location of an historical massacre and that the lands are sacred.
“I’m being threatened with arrest for protecting the graves of my ancestors,” Dorece Sam Antonio said in early June. “My great-great Grandfather Ox Sam was one of the survivors of the 1865 Thacker Pass massacre that took place here. His family was killed right here as they ran away from the U.S. Army. They were never buried. They’re still here. And now these bulldozers are tearing up this place.”
The group continues to see legal redress and are going to fight the lawsuit.
“Virtually every single accusation against us is a lie, and of course the corporation’s leaders know this,” said Paul Cienfuegos, who is named in the lawsuit.” But our actions have scared them, so they are lashing out against classic nonviolent direct-action tactics.
“And this is yet another prime example of why we need to dismantle the structures of law that grant so many so-called constitutional ‘rights’ to business corporations, like access to the courts.”
