Kaysa Whitley is the coordinator for Westwin Resistance, a coalition pushing back against the construction of an untested, unproven cobalt/nickel refinery in Lawton, Oklahoma — land that sits on the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache Reservation.
Despite concerns from Indigenous tribal communities and Lawton residents, city leaders have greenlit and provided funding to support a pilot plant that would test whether Westwin Elements, a company with no proven track record, can successfully and safely produce cobalt at a commercial scale.
Residents like Whitley believe Lawton is being used as a testing ground for a potential environmental disaster.
"Our city officials have said they're giving [Westwin Elements] the leeway to essentially establish their ability to prove that they can do it safely," Kaysa told me during our conversation. But trusting a company to "prove" their own safety — after the fact — is a risk that Kaysa and her coalition aren’t willing to take.
Over the past year, I’ve watched Kaysa lead with fierce dedication:
Organizing town halls to inform and educate the public.
Pushing city officials for transparency.
Facing potential arrests and police escorts out of City Council meetings.
In our upcoming episode, Kaysa Whitley shares the emotional and strategic side of grassroots resistance — and why protecting this land is personal for her, as a descendant of Kiowa Chief White Horse.
“The next time that they start building it will be at commercial scale, and what we found out via the lawsuits that got filed, is that refining cobalt on a commercial scale has never been proven,” she said.
I can’t wait for you to hear it.
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