Arizona tribe fights to stop lithium drilling on culturally significant lands

Members of an Arizona tribe are trying to persuade a federal judge to extend a temporary ban on exploratory drilling for a lithium project near lands they have used for religious and cultural ceremonies for centuries.

Leaders of the Hualapai Tribe and supporters appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court before the judge who issued a temporary restraining order last month for work at a site halfway between Phoenix and Las Vegas. Demonstrators gathered outside the courthouse before the hearing.

Duane Clark, chairman of the Hualapai Tribe, said the fight to protect the tribe's ceremonial waters is about ensuring a future for his people.

“As we look to our future, we look to our past, to our ancestors, and this is the biggest threat that is harming us right now,” Clark said before walking into the courthouse. If drilling continues, he said, future generations will suffer.

The case is among the latest legal fights pitting Native American tribes and environmentalists against President Joe Biden’s administration as green energy projects encroach on lands that are culturally significant.

The tribe wants the judge to issue a preliminary injunction extending the prohibition on activity pending a trial on allegations that the federal Bureau of Land Management failed to adequately analyze potential impacts to sacred springs that the Hualapai people call Ha’Kamwe,′ which means warm spring.

The springs have served as a place of healing and prayer for generations, the tribe has said in court filings.

Lawyers for Arizona Lithium Ltd. have argued that the tribe’s claims are speculative and that both the federal government and the mining company have presented evidence that lithium exploration is “a significant public interest as the