It looks like another rushed “midnight regulation” from the Department of the Interior may be issued in favor of Peabody Coal, and the Navajo and Hopi people of Black Mesa are trying to stop it. A large delegation has traveled to Denver to meet with top officials in the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) and hold a press conference and rally in downtown Denver to protest the pending decision, which will grant the coal company a “life-of-mine” permit, expanded mining operations and rights to tap the fresh water of the Navajo aquifer.
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.
Arizona Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (who is also a leading candidate for Secretary of Interior in the Obama Administration) has asked current 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 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. Many Navajo and Hopi people stand firmly in opposition to this mine expansion plan and are organizing to voice their concerns.
For more information and to support their efforts, go to http://www.blackmesawatercoalition.org/resources.html
Subscribe by Email!
Subscribe by RSS!
Share on Facebook
The dominant culture of unlimited consumerism has unrelentingly encroached on the Hopi tribal commitment to a simple life and sense of wealth imbued in the ephemeral ancestral landscape where they have lived for over 900 years “to hold the world in balance.”
They are silenced in court – only the English language of law with its unquestioned code of property ownership and right to maximize profit at the expense of others is allowed. How utterly convenient for Peabody Western when they need the coal and water.
There are national moral and physical consequences to disappearing the highly respected passivist and deeply cultured Hopi people in order to produce energy for the doomed urban lifestyles designed for the American Southwest and now, even China, Peabody’s Number One new client.
Since 1972, Hopi warned of global climate change if their spiritual homeland is dried out by groundwater mining. As long as they speak their language, their own science of climate will not be lost and we may yet learn from them to keep the world climate in balance.
As the old saying goes, “isn’t that carrying coals to Newcastle?” – selling coal to China, when they were in the news so much last year for mine collapses and other infractions. Additionally, I really don’t like the environmental impact on Black Mesa’s land and drinking water. Being “penny-wise & pound-foolish” (go for the money now and worry about drought and contaminated water later) does not make sense.
Today in Charleston, WV we are staging a protest at our OSM to let them know what we are paying attention. It is shocking to me how similar our struggles are, though thousands apart, the same companies, the same sleazy unresponsive systematically corrupt government and the same problems: Loss of heritage, loss of water, poor people in rural areas being a sacrifice for big cities and suburbs comfort — So, today we are delivering Black Mesa’s demands to our OSM in Charleston, WV.
We are standing with you all!
Peabody has been suborning the Hopi Tribal government for decades by misleading and influencing key individuals within the Tribe’s government and administration in order to maintain their monopoly on the exploitation of the Tribe’s resources and to assure the maximization of their profits. In comparison to Peabody’s profits, the Hopi Tribe receives next to nothing in return for their coal and water. What they do receive is the destruction of the N-Aquifer and a corrupt and divided Tribal government. The State of Arizona receives approximately 3 times as much revenue in taxes (about $20 million) from Peabody’s severance of coal from the state than the Tribe gets for the sale of the coal.
There is reason to be suspicious that Peabody has inappropriately (if not illegally) influenced key officials and tribal members to achieve its goal of complete control, in perpetuity, of Black Mesa coal resources.
The urgency that OSM, acting as agents for Peabody, has placed on the approval of Peabody’s long sought after life-of-mine permit has escalated the controversy within the Tribal government and has directly contributed to, if not caused, the current dysfunctional condition of the Hopi Tribal government.
Peabody has caused disputes between the tribes and has brought about corruption and a breakdown of the Hopi Tribal government. It’s time to expel Peabody from Black Mesa and allow the Tribes to benefit directly from the management of their natural resources.