Navajo, Hopi citizens vow to stop Peabody coal mine
By Billy Parish,
Native
Times, JANUARY 2009
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. – Two days before Christmas,
officials from the U.S. Office of Surface Mining have
granted a permit to Peabody Coal Company to expand their
mining operations on Navajo and Hopi lands, despite
opposition from local communities and problems with
the permitting process including lack of adequate time
for public comment on a significant revision to the
permit, insufficient environmental review, and instability
in the Hopi government preventing their legitimate participation
in the process. OSM’s “Record of Decision” is the final
stage of the permitting process for the proposed “Black
Mesa Project,” which would grant Peabody Coal Company
a life-of-mine permit for the “Black Mesa Complex” in
northern Arizona. Tribal citizens protest the expanding
mining operations of Peabody Coal Company.
Black Mesa Water Coalition, a Navajo
and Hopi citizens organization working on indigenous
sovereignty and environmental protection, has vowed
to stop Peabody from causing further harm to Black Mesa.
“We are looking into our options for how to stop this
process from moving forward, including legal action.
The permitting process was flawed and clearly rushed
through before President Bush leaves office,” said Enei
Begaye, Co-Director of Black Mesa Water Coalition.
Wahleah Johns, Co-Director of Black
Mesa Water Coalition said, “This decision will uproot
the sacred connection that we have to land, water, and
all living things on Black Mesa. Black Mesa is a female
mountain, sacred to the Navajo people, and has been
brutally scarred from over 30 years of coal mining activity
and the resulting loss of 60 percent of our only source
of drinking water. Our ancestors fought hard to retain
our homelands, but even now in 2008 we are up against
the same battle to protect our homelands. The abuse
to mother earth needs to stop.”
This announcement is consistent with
the Bush Administration’s history of releasing controversial
decisions on Friday evenings and before holidays. Samantha
Honani, a Hopi Tewa tribal member, said, “This is the
worst kind of Christmas present. The Hopi Tewa people
will not be in holiday bliss this Christmas but in deep
thought and contemplation of where we are as a tribe
and people without a Tribal Leader given this devastating
Record of Decision.”
A few weeks ago, a delegation of 40
Navajo and Hopi tribal members, including Hopi Tribal
Chairman Ben Nuvamsa, met with the U.S. Office of Surface
Mining at their Denver headquarters in hopes of delaying
OSM’s decision. For three hours the Navajo and Hopi
representatives met with OSM officials and presented
documents and petitions ratified by their communities
that urge OSM to suspend their decision. Their unified
statement read, “Although we represent two different
tribes, we come today united to protect our shared land
and water. Water is the life source to both our peoples,
and Peabody has failed to understand this connection.
If the Office of Surface Mining grants a permit to Peabody,
our way of life and spiritual balance will be severely
disrupted and altered. Currently, we are already suffering
the damage this industry has caused over the past 30
years. We believe OSM has been negligent in fulfilling
the NEPA process, and if OSM issues a “Record of Decision”
that would be a breach of the Federal Trust Responsibility.
United we ask the Office of Surface Mining to stop the
“Record of Decision” process.”
This decision comes in the midst of
Hopi political turmoil. Chairman Nuvamsa came to represent
the Hopi and Tewa people in the battle to protect the
water and lands from further coal mining in Black Mesa,
AZ. “Due to lack of representation on the Hopi Tribal
Council, the Village of Tewa was never afforded the
opportunity to participate in any discussion of the
Draft EIS as it applies to Hopi people and land,” stated
Chairman Nuvamsa.
Navajo and Hopi citizen’s were given
45 days to comment on a revised “Black Mesa Project”
Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and were
never offered a public commenting period. Requests for
commenting period extensions were denied by OSM as well
as requests for OSM to come to Navajo and Hopi lands
for question and answer meetings.
Two months ago, Arizona Congressman
Raúl M. Grijalva wrote to Secretary of the Interior
Dirk Kempthorne to suspend further consideration of
Peabody’s permit. “At present, OSM is rushing to approve
a life-of-mine permit, first without making the permit
revisions sufficiently available for public review,
and then without adequate environmental review...Mining
at Black Mesa has caused springs on Hopi lands to dry
up and jeopardized the sole source of drinking water
for many Hopis and Navajos. The Secretary, as the trustee
for Native American tribes, must ensure that mining
is done responsibly on tribal lands and that tribes
actually want mining to occur. This project does not
meet that test.”
Black Mesa Navajo and Hopi residents
are concerned about how this decision will impact the
future of their homelands given the history of Peabody’s
unwise use of the Navajo Aquifer. “For decades coal
and water from our lands have been taken to power Los
Angeles and Las Vegas. Yet, we have have suffered the
loss of our sole source drinking water to accommodate
the over consumption of these areas,” says Wahleah Johns,
Co-Director of Black Mesa Water Coalition.
Black Mesa is the ancestral homelands
to thousands of Navajo and Hopi families and is regarded
as a sacred mountain to the Navajo people and plays
an integral role in the cultural survival for the future
generations of both the Navajo and Hopi people.
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