This is Part 3 of a three-part series exploring the conflict over a nickel refinery in Oklahoma.
The Westwin Elements nickel refinery in Lawton, Oklahoma is trying to provide a domestic source for critical minerals. But people in the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache community worry the industry puts their lands and, therefore, cultures at risk. That’s part of a global struggle between Indigenous peoples and the critical minerals industry. KOSU’s Sarah Liese highlights what is at stake for those involved in Lawton — the company trying to help secure the US’s critical minerals supply chain and the tribal nations who oppose it.
“Things like culture and language, we do our best to make them accessible to the diaspora,” Forest Tahdooahnippah, the Comanche Nation’s Chairman, said. “But you absolutely need to have people living together to have culture.”
This story was produced with support of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.
