CALL the Secretary of Interior & Office of Surface Mining – Support Indigenous Peoples!
Navajo and Hopi communities face threat of more coal mining in Black Mesa, Arizona.
The U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM) will soon determine whether to allow Peabody Coal, the world’s largest coal company, to strip mine coal on Navajo and Hopi lands in Black Mesa. Watch Videos – Links Below
The Black Mesa region is sacred to the Navajo people and is key to the cultural survival of both Navajo and Hopi peoples. More coal mining will devastate these communities – potentially displacing families and impacting all forms of life in the area. The OSM has ignored the concerns of Black Mesa residents, who are preparing to take action.
TODAY – Monday December 8th: Hopi and Navajo activists are taking their concerns to the federal agency’s regional headquarters in Denver, CO.
Your help is needed to ensure the voices and concerns from Black Mesa are heard loud and clear.
YOU can Support the Hopi and Navajo peoples of Black Mesa:
Contact the Office of Surface Mining and/or the U.S. Secretary of the Interior know that you stand in solidarity with Navajo & Hopi people to oppose coal mining in Black Mesa! Please tell these agencies not to Permit the “Black Mesa Project”! Sample Letter/Email below.
Dennis Winterringer
Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement
Denver, CO
Phone: 303-844-1400, ext 1440
e-mail: bmkeis@osmre.gov
Dirk Kempthorne
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240
e-mail: exsec@ios.doi.gov
For more information, please call (928) 213-5909, cell# (928) 380-6296, cell # (928) 637-5281, or e-mail blackmesawc@gmail.com.
Click the Video Button To View Big Mountain – Part 5
And for more video information:
For More Information Visit Black Mesa Indigenous Support
Sample Letter
Please copy and paste the letter below into your email – edit to reflect your message and add your name and/or contact information. Then call the number(s) above to emphasize the urgency for the OSM to suspend all activity on the Black Mesa Project Final Environmental Impact Statement (DOI DES 08-49, OSM-EIS-33).
Thank you for your support. Click Image at the right – for more information.
Dirk Kempthorne
Secretary
Department of Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240
Dear Secretary Kempthorne:
I am writing to request your urgent attention and immediate action regarding a matter of highest importance to the integrity of your trust responsibility and to the credibility of the Department of the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM).
I request that you direct OSM to suspend all activity on the Black Mesa Project Final Environmental Impact Statement (DOI DES 08-49, OSM-EIS-33). The Record of Decision (ROD) for the Black Mesa Project Final EIS will be announced by Dec. 7, 2008 and I strongly urge you to not give the applicant, Peabody Western Coal Company, a permit to mine more coal in Black Mesa, AZ.
OSM has rushed to approve a life-of-mine permit, first without making the permit revisions sufficiently available for public review, and then without adequate environmental review. The power plant that previously used Black Mesa Mine coal shut down, and there is no other proposed use for the coal whose mining would be permitted by OSM. As a result, there is no actual proposed project involving Black Mesa Mine coal to be analyzed, making the pending EIS not only premature, but in direct conflict with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.
The current proposal would also grant the applicant continued access to Navajo Aquifer water for the life-of-mine operations. For over thirty years, Peabody Coal Company’s coal-slurry operation has a depleted precious drinking water and the drying of many sacred springs to the Navajo and Hopi as a result of using the Navajo Aquifer. The Navajo Aquifer is the only source of drinking water for Black Mesa tribal residents. OSM’s current proposal to grant a permit for a mine-with no potential customers-and indefinite use of water rights to the Navajo Aquifer is an affront to tribal communities, and if allowed to proceed, would be a clear failure to meet the Secretary of the Interior’s trust responsibility to the people of the Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation.
Thank you for your consideration,
Your Name
Contact Information
The Indigenous Environmental Network • PO Box 485 • Bemidji , MN 56619
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