Navajo and Hopi Converging on Denver to Protest Coal Mining Permit
by David Sassoon - Dec 5th, 2008
It looks like another rushed midnight regulation from the Department of the Interior is going to be issued in favor of Peabody Coal, and the affected Navajo and Hopi people of Black Mesa are trying to stop it. They are heading to downtown Denver to protest the pending decision, which will grant the coal company a "life-of-mine" permit and rights to tap the fresh water of the Navajo acquifer.
Environmentalists would like to see Black Mesa permanently shuttered and Peabody out of the picture. They have argued against Peabody's use of Navajo aquifer water they say has caused sacred springs and water sources to dry up.
"From an environmental perspective, the tribes would be better stewards of Black Mesa than Peabody," said Andy Bessler of the Sierra Club.
The tribes and their supporters argue that the Office of Surface Mining (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 decision not only premature, but in direct conflict with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.
In a letter to Interior Secretary Kempthorne, tribal leaders said:
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.
For more information, go to the Black Mesa Water Coalition.
See Also
(A report of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming)
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Water is not the only issue!
With all this fuss about the issue of water and Peabody, it appears that the elders of Big Mountain area who have resisted Peabody Coal and forced relocation have been made invisible. More than 14,000 people have been forced off their homelands, where was their voice? Have the young activists learned nothing? That is no way to honor your elders who have sacrificed for you.
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