Friday, June 26, 2015

Tribe Sues Over California Solar Project In Ancestral Lands

According to the Parker (AZ) Pioneer, on June 12 the Colorado River Indian Tribes filed suit in a California state court challenging the state's approval of a solar project near Blythe, Calif.  Invoking California's environmental quality act, the tribes say the the impact of the project was not adequately analyzed. This is one of ten solar projects that will cover 35,000 acres of tribal ancestral homeland.  The Parker Pioneer adds:
Historical and ancestral trails run through the land proposed for development (which lies about eight miles outside of the tribe’s reservation boundary) that were once used for physical and spiritual migration. The project site also house “burial grounds, grindstones, hammerstones, and petroglyphs” created by the tribes’ ancestors.