Navajo government ignores elderly without water

Navajo Nation government caters to coal mines and power plants, while Navajo elderly go without water

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Photo: Navajo elderly drinking contaminated water/Forgotten People

BIG MOUNTAIN, Ariz. -- While Peabody Coal and power plants use the precious aquifer water here, Navajo elderly go without.

Forgotten People shares the voices of Navajos resisting relocation, where Navajo elderly are forced to haul their water, elderly who are often ill and without transportation. The wells have been capped off and the springs are drying up.

Still, the Navajo Nation leaders only make an occasional, superficial gesture at caring about the suffering of Navajo elderly without water. Instead, the Navajo government continues to focus on polluting and disease producing industries.

By ignoring the suffering of Navajos on Black Mesa, and instead catering to the needs of Peabody Coal, the United States government and other mining and power plant operations, the Navajo Nation government has engaged in a crime against humanity. While providing the Southwest cities with electricity produced with large quantities of pure water, the Navajo government has neglected to provide water for their own people.

The media has been a complicit partner in this crime. While failing to expose the suffering and injustice on Black Mesa, the media has continued to promote the polluting industries on the Navajo Nation, even cheerleading for more coal-fired power plants.

Coal-fired power plants not only use excessive water, but they are the primary cause of global warming and the melting of the Arctic, now causing Native villages to crash into the waters. The pollution from coal-fired power plants has resulted in habitat change in the far north, causing the deaths of polar bears, walruses and other wildlife.

Black Mesa comments from Forgotten People:

Pauline Whitesinger, Big Mountain speaks: We want to participate in a water hauling project. The wells throughout HPL (Hopi Partitioned Lands) have been capped off, fenced off, bulldozed and the natural water source near me is contaminated and unregulated. When I drink the water it hurts my throat and I have a reaction when I swallow it and get sick. I have no vehicle and have no access to safe drinking water. My livestock are thirsty. We are living under a State of Emergency! We are endangered, denied access to water, forced to travel over unpassable dirt roads and endure violations during our ceremonies that the Hopi Tribe says requires a permit to conduct. There are other water sources near me and they are all denied to me for my use. When I was offering a sacrament to the water the Hopi told me to leave the water alone, it does not belong to me. I speak on behalf of my people. We have brought our case and our words (as attached) to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner (see link for UN OHCHR website), Congressional, federal, and tribal forums advocating for our human right to water and sanitation.

Caroline Tohannie, Black Mesa speaks: Our springs were our wetlands with cat tails and other wetlands growth. But they are no longer here. This is where we make offerings and get our healing medicine like cat tails or wreaths for ceremonial purposes. These are our sacred sites. The BIA made wells that had concrete covers and manual pumps. But BIA Rangers came around and disassembled them, taking the pumps out, unscrewing parts, taking off pipes. All the windmills in our region were capped off by the BIA. At first one windmill was capped off but we could reopen it at first but then found the BIA welded the cover shut with dirt over the well opening. There was no longer any way to get water from the well. At another windmill in the area, the BIA disassembled the windmill pump so it would not work. We have been fenced and capped off from access to water. This has created many problems for living things, even insects that need water, animals, birds and people. These tactics are being done to force us off our land so Peabody Coal Company can expand their mining operations.

Read more statements from Navajos on Black Mesa:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61460412/8-2-2011-FP-SUBMITTED-Comments-to-President-Shelly-HPL-Right-to-Water
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Navajo Voices: Peabody Coal's dark legacy on Black Mesa

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Navajos on Black Mesa describe the disease and death that Peabody Coal has brought. As Navajos continue to live without running water and electricity, Peabody continues to profiteer and gouge out the coal, the liver of Mother Earth. --Censored News

Forgotten Peoples Voices: Glenna Begay’s residence, Black Mesa (Navajo Nation), Arizona, Thursday, February 17, 2011, 1:00 PM
By Forgotten Peoples
Forty people attended the meeting. Due to a death at the mine Friday, February 11, 2011 the Peabody mine tour was cancelled. Due to confusion about whether the community tour would still take place, Navajo Generating Station owners were absent. Present were Bill Auberle and John Grahame, EN3 Professionals/Communications, Andy Bessler, Sierra Club, Marie Gladue, Black Mesa Water Coalition, John Braham, a documentary filmmaker, Beth Holland, Climate Scientist, Noelle Clark, NAU Climate Scientist, Jane Marx, NAU Climate Change educator, Mr. Weatherspoon, Council delegate for Hardrock, Forest Lake and Black Mesa and local residents

Carlos Begay, Jr., Black Mesa opened the meeting about 1 pm, served as meeting facilitator and opened with a prayer. Then Carlos introduced his mother Glenna Begay, his uncle Bilta Begay who has black lung, his sisters, Salina and Helena Begay, his father, Carlos Begay, Sr.

Glenna Begay, Black Mesa: I use the land like I did in younger years. In our tradition you never say this is my land. This is where I grew up with livestock, a cornfield. I am still using a lantern and haul water and wood. I live off my livestock and crops. There is no compensation from Peabody. I have no electricity, no running water. I want my roads graded, gravel and culverts in the wash for the mud season. The roads are usually ungraded. I asked Peabody for help and Walter Begay, Black Mesa Review Board on numerous occasions. All the natural springs are depleted from the slurry pipeline. Peabody’s water well is my only water source now and it needs to be upgraded for our use with the best available technology. In the early dawn there is a lot of dust and smoke over the valley. We all have respiratory problems.

Bilta Begay, Black Mesa: I was a Peabody employee. We endured this hardship everyday. No help. In the beginning before Peabody came in there were negotiations between a few people. Only the older folks were involved and we were told local residences would be employed. This never really happened and due to the strip mining, the vegetation has disappeared and the people who lived on the land. It is due to Peabody that I have health problems. I see so many doctors about my heart, black lung, sickness due to coal dust. So many others have passed on with health problems, black lung, silicosis, accidents. People die there.

Billy Austin, Black Mesa: I grew up 2 miles from here. Due to Peabody a lot of people relocated to different regions. When I was young I participated in the negotiations. It was only for people with grazing permits. Mainly older people negotiated. When that happened, people were promised utilities, water, most were never met and people got dislocated from the land, never compensated, corrals bulldozed. All the coal was taken out. There were so many springs. When I grew up traditional, we made offerings to sacred places. Everything now is displaced and we are forced to travel great distances to haul water. The windmills are broken. We go to the Chapter and Peabody to ask for help. No help. We are neglected from everywhere. No electricity, no water lines. The closest water is Peabody and Peabody is threatening us they will shut it off. Last year we had deep snow. No help. People were trapped in Cactus Valley. We had to get the National Guard to help. Our homes are suffering from blasting damage, our streams are contaminated and dark from coal dust. The air is full of dust and smoke and it settles in our lungs. Jimmy Manson died of black lung. I have three young grandkids. They have delicate lungs and we have no where else to go. The ozone layer is gaping hole. The world was good in the past but now it is contaminated. The ozone was balanced and now it is ruined and we can’t fix it. The mine should stop.

Leta O’Daniel, Big Mountain: There used to be a lot of rain. Not much now. Pollution is really happening. I live 10 miles down the road from Peabody and the blasting moves my Hogan. My home is coming apart. A lot of coal dust blows around. Can you help us? Can you make our lives a little better. We have no water and no electricity. Make Peabody help. I burn kerosene, propane. The fumes are affecting our health . We smell the coal dust all the time. I would like electricity and running water. A school. Peabody here should make our lives a little easier. We go through a lot of hassle to fix dinner at night. It is a difficult life. There are only elders out here now and Peabody will not help. We want decent roads, emergency assess in hash weather. The roads are so bad it causes erosion and sometimes the roads cave in. It makes our trucks rattle. Some of my children are in the Marine Corp. Where will they live when they come back home? It seems to me we are going backwards. Peabody made a lot of promises. What I see makes me really sad. Please help us, our children and grandchildren. Our homes are beyond repair and are not safe. My daughter’s hogan roof caved in from the snow. It is not safe for her to live there. Mr. Weatherspoon here, you are a council delegate for Hardrock, Forest Lake and Black Mesa. I am happy there is a lot of interest by agencies who are listening to our voice for the first time with Navajo Generating Station, Salt River Project, Central Arizona Project.

Rena Babbitt Lane, Black Mesa (did not have a chance to speak. Marsha Monestersky assured her, that her comments would be included in these minutes.) Rena Babbitt Lane said: We live in on top of Black Mesa, Horse Corral Point and Look Out for Horses Point, Water Chimney, above the route of Peabody Coal Company’s/Black Mesa Pipeline, Inc. coal slurry pipeline. Burt and Caroline Tohannie are my neighbors. A few times the pipeline burst and they had to weld off the pipe at the water shaft contaminating our land and water resources. My use of my customary area is my livelihood. I am a medicine woman herbalist healer and hand trembler. Medicine men and patients ask me to gather herbs and prepare it for them. All the washes, canyons where most of the herbs are found are gone. The springs have dried up from Peabody’s coal slurry pipeline. The herbs are gathered with offerings but the land and water sources are dry and the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) has capped off and dismantled four of the windmills near where we live. I am forced to travel 17 miles each way over rough dirt roads to get water. This caused the fame of our truck to break. Peabody should help fix the road and provide bulldozers to dig out water impoundments at locations we identify near our homes. My grandfather built some of these earth dams but they are filled with sediment. All my children and myself want a home. I live in a house that is very small. All I see are broken promises to rebuild from the past but it is not there anymore. I want to see all my children have homes and hogans and I want access to water and sanitation. I want Peabody’s Kayenta mine to close. They are not a good neighbor.

Marsha Monestersky, Program Director, Forgotten People: I see you are not taking notes. I will submit my notes and a Peabody Health Effects study that was used as evidence to oppose US DOI’s OSM approval of Peabody’s Black Mesa life-of-mine permit. The last time I saw Roy Tso was to accompany him and David Brugge, anthropologist on OSM investigations to help protect his burial and sacred sites from Peabody bulldozers including the burial site of his son. Roy died shortly afterwards of black lung and silicosis. I knew Jimmy Manson. He died of black lung. James Johnson and Lee Nez (Lena Manheimer’s brother) all have black lung and silicosis. James Johnson was part of the exploration team and he, Roy Tso and Calvin Etcitty were drillers for blasting. They all died. Lee Nez, Simon Crank and Paul Johnson are still around but they all have black lung.

Postscript: On February 19, 2011, Jay Turner asked if his comments could be included. He said: I am a 10-year Miner (2 plus years as representative of miners) and I have seen the failure of MSHA and FMSHRC-ALJ to uphold Federal Mine Safety & Health Act (Public Law 95-164) Miner protective provisions, as evidenced in Pro Se 105C Discrimination case (copies of case related docs available from me 661 242-3000), and audio recording of FMSHRC’s “open meeting” (Docket No. WEST 2006-568-DM) available at: http://www.fmshrc.gov/new/meetings.html

– refer: “October 7th, 2010” – “Audio of Meeting”. Please read.
Thank you, Navajo Generating Station for paying for Subway sandwiches and drinks. Thank you, Andy Bessler of Sierra Club and Marie Gladue of Black Mesa Water Coalition for organizing the community tour. Notes prepared on 2/20/2011 by Marsha Monestersky, Program Director, Forgotten People, (928) 401-1777, forgottenpeoplecdc@gmail.com, http://www.forgottennavajopeople.org/

Also see: Navajos Forgotten Peoples Right to Water, United Nations:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/49227137

Secret negotiations released on Navajo water rights settlement

Secret negotiations released on Navajo water rights settlement

Navajos are urged to attend the Navajo Nation Council special session on Sept. 29, and persuade the council delegates to vote 'No' to this giveaway of Navajo water rights, which has been negotiated in secret.

Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Photo by Calvin Johnson

Briefing on the Navajo Nation’s Proposed Little Colorado River Water Rights Settlement Agreement

Summary

The proposed Little Colorado River Water Rights Settlement Agreement gives away, waives, does not protect, and does not claim the Navajo People’s and Navajo Nation’s priority rights to all waters that fall on, run by or through, or are under the land surface between the Four Sacred Mountains. The proposed Settlement waives, gives away and does not claim --

· Navajo priority water rights -- “first in time, first in right”;
· Navajo water rights established by the Winter’s Supreme Court Doctrine to enough water to serve all purposes for which the Navajo homeland was established; and
· Navajo water rights provided for in Arizona v California to enough water to irrigate all practicably irrigable acreage

The proposed Little Colorado River Water Rights Settlement Agreement :
· Prohibits any more than 10,000 acres of irrigated agriculture along the Little Colorado River; including building any surface water reservoirs for irrigation;
· Claim only 40,000 acre-feet (25%) of average annual Little Colorado River surface flow;
· Gives Navajo only 32,000 acre-feet per year of 4th Priority Colorado River water –

-- this water will NOT BE AVAILABLE in times of drought ;
-- this water will require over $500 million of new federal funding to deliver the water to our communities – and may not be used for any new farming;
-- this water will be extremely vulnerable to disruption by natural or human causes;

· Gives Navajo no more than 60,000 acre-feet/year total from the C-aquifer in a 36-mile strip of “Protected Areas” along the Navajo Nation south boundary;

· Allows non-Indian users unlimited amounts of C-aquifer water 18 miles south of the Navajo Nation boundary –even though excessive pumping will reduce flows in the River and may bring more salty water to Navajo wells .

· Allow non-Indian water users to pump as much “underground flow” as they want without regard for impact on Navajo use of same aquifers.

· The proposed Settlement waives all Navajo priority and reserved water rights to the Little Colorado and Colorado Rivers for other uses forever.

Some More Detail on the Navajo Nation’s Proposed Little Colorado River Water Rights Settlement Agreement

Surface Waters of the Little Colorado River (LCR)

The proposed Agreement prohibits any future irrigated agriculture beyond some 10,000 acres of farm projects identified along the main-stem of the Little Colorado River between Birdsprings and Cameron.

The Agreement also prohibits the Navajo People from building any new reservoirs for irrigation anywhere; and prohibits any new agriculture on Navajo off-reservation lands.

-- This makes it practically impossible to use the surface flows of the Little Colorado River, which only come an average of four months a year. This also closes the door in the Leupp area to the beneficial use of LCR water on thousands of acres of Class 1 irrigable soils west of North Leupp Farms – completely eliminating Navajo Winters Doctrine rights to enough water to irrigate the major resource area of “practicably irrigable lands” in the LCR Basin.

The proposed Agreement only claims some 40,000 acre-feet per year of Little Colorado River surface flow within the Nation – even though the Navajo Nation has a clear priority right to all that flow.

-- 40,000 acre-feet are only 25% of the average annual flow of 160,000 acre-feet measured at Cameron -- why not claim 50% or 75% or more of this average ? In wet years, there is a great deal more water in the River – for example, in 1973 the highest recorded LCR annual flow at Cameron was over 800,000 acre-feet -- which could be used if there was a storage reservoir along the River.

The proposed Agreement prevents Navajo either from claiming any priority rights, or from claiming any in-stream flows to provide for and protect wildlife, trees, quality of life, cultural or environmental purposes.

The proposed Agreement encourages the Navajo Nation to give up its priority water rights to other interests with less priority.

-- Whatever happened to “first in time first in right…” ? Why should the Navajo Nation give up its priority water right?
Some More Detail on Proposed Little Colorado River Water Rights Settlement

The proposed Agreement provides the Navajo Nation with some 31,000 acre-feet per year of 4th Priority * Colorado River main-stem water -- which has to be pumped from Lake Powell at enormous energy and operating and maintenance costs; and which will NOT BE AVAILABLE in times of shortage on the Colorado River.

-- We are in a drought cycle which may well be long-term – like the drought which affected the Anasazi for a century or more. Why is the Navajo Nation making many of our communities totally dependent on water which will not be there in severe drought years?

The proposed Agreement does not clearly quantify how much LCR surface water Navajo has a right to.
-- If the Navajo Nation has a right to unappropriated surface waters, how much LCR surface flow is actually unappropriated – and who has appropriated the rest, and when?

The proposed Agreement prohibits the Navajo Nation from challenging non-Indian use of sub-flow waters -- including waters in the alluvial aquifer -- even though such use takes surface waters to which the Navajo Nation is given a right.

-- For example, folks in Winslow or Holbrook could set up a well field beside the LCR to capture large amounts of the waters of the LCR alluvium without regard for impacts on Navajo water rights

Peabody Coal is allowed to retain its surface water impoundment structures on Black Mesa permanently – why?
_________________________________________________________________________

* For more information on Priorities to Colorado River Surface Water, see --

http://www.azwater.gov/AzDWR/StateWidePlanning/CRM/documents/CopyofAzCRPrioritiesListing-Alpha05-2009_web.pdf

Priority 1 - Present Perfected Rights (PPRs) as provided for in the Arizona v. California Decree.
Priority 2 - Federal Reservations and Perfected Rights established prior to September 30, 1968
Priority 3 - Contracts between the United States and water users in Arizona executed on or before September 30, 1968
Priority 4 - Entitlements pursuant to contracts and other arrangements between the United States and water users in the State of Arizona entered into subsequent to September 30, 1968, not to exceed 164,652 acre-feet annually;
Priority 5 - Unused Arizona Entitlement
Priority 6 - Surplus Water

Some More Detail on Proposed Little Colorado River Water Rights Settlement

Ground Water in LCR Basin C-Aquifer

According to the Bureau of Reclamation, there are about 140,000 acre feet average annual re-charge to the entire C aquifer . This is the maximum sustainable yield for all users – if more water than that is taken out in a given year, the aquifer is being mined and will (eventually) be exhausted. See http://www.usbr.gov/lc/phoenix/reports/ncawss/NCAWSSP1NOAPP.pdf

The proposed Agreement allows non-Indian users to pump unlimited amounts of C-aquifer water from wells beyond 18 miles south of the Navajo Nation boundary;

-- Even though excessive pumping will reduce flows in the River and may bring salty water to wells on the Navajo Nation (eg, Leupp). Note for example --

“Local heavy withdrawals from the C-aquifer may also cause upward shifting of the salt water interface from the evaporites in the Supai Formation near Joseph City” …
“ Long-term pumping could lead to long-term increases in salinity of pumped water” …

-- Mann, L.J., and Nemecek, E.A., 1983, Geohydrology and water use in southern Apache County, Arizona: Arizona Department of Water Resources, Bulletin 1, 86 p.

The proposed Agreement allows non-Indian users to pump no more than 50,000 acre-feet per year from an 18-mile strip south of the south boundary of the Navajo Nation; and allows no new large capacity wells within 2 miles of the Navajo Nation boundary;

The proposed Agreement allows the Navajo Nation to use no more than 60,000 acre-feet/year total from the C-aquifer in an 18-mile strip of the Navajo Nation, north of the Navajo Nation’s south boundary.

The proposed Agreement prohibits the diversion of any surface waters out of the LCR Basin …

-- But no mention is made of pumping ground water out of the LCR Basin –
as has already been done by Phelps Dodge – who initiated the LCR Adjudication in 1978. This opens the door to down-state folks who are running out of their local water (Verde Valley, Payson, Phoenix, etc) setting up well-fields along the Mogollon Rim to pump as much as they want of the C-aquifer … without regard to possible long-term impacts to the quantity and quality of Navajo Nation C Aquifer water.

There are many other serious concerns with the proposed Little Colorado River Water Rights Settlement Agreement. The Navajo People must be allowed to study, understand, and decide openly for themselves every aspect of this proposed Agreement which will determine the quality and even the possibility of life for the Dine for all time to come.
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Download or print this document:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/37688923/Navajo-water-rights-give-away-exposed

Censored: Forgotten People on Black Mesa

Censored: Forgotten People on Black Mesa
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

The mainstream media continued aiding and abetting the dirty coal industry this week, in the genocidal targeting of American Indian lands for toxic and polluting industries that the rest of humanity doesn't want in their backyards.

Hopi and Navajo fighting Peabody Coal mining on Black Mesa celebrated a victory this week when the US Interior Dept. rejected a coal mining permit for Peabody Coal on Black Mesa. It is a victory that the majority of the mainstream media is ignoring.

Hopi and Navajo have made it easy for even the laziest journalist, or the newspaper without a dime for travel, to cover the story. There are press statements online with abundant quotes from the Hopi and Navajo who took the action and live on the land. Their phone numbers are also on their press statements, so the mainstream media has no excuse. Censored News will even send the judge's order by e-mail to anyone that requests it.

It seems the mainstream media doesn't want to admit the truth about mining on Black Mesa. Journalists do not want to take the time to understand the facts. One of these facts is that the elected Navajo and Hopi tribal councils were created by the United States for the purpose of signing energy leases. These councils are not the traditional Navajo and Hopi forms of governance. Today, the revenues go to the tribal governments, while the people living on the land continue to fight to protect the land, air and water and live free from the diseases of these pollutants and the draining of their aquifers.

The Navajo Nation Council, in its own history published in the 1980s, stated that the Navajo government was established by the US for the purpose of signing energy leases. Hopi Dan Evehema, at the age of 104, stated that the Hopi Sinom never authorized or recognized the Hopi Tribal Council. These councils became "US puppet governments" to the people living on the land and fighting to protect the land and the people.

The number of diseases and deaths related to the coal-fired power plants, coal mining, oil and gas wells and Cold War uranium mining on the Navajo Nation have never been documented. Secrecy and censorship have aided in this crime against humanity.

Individual Hopi and Navajo, and organizations and chapters, fought Peabody's coal mining permit and won a victory.

Vernon Masayesva, Hopi, said it is a new day for Native peoples.

"A great new day is dawning for the Hopi and all Native peoples in this country," said Masayesva, executive director of the grassroots organization Black Mesa Trust. His comment came in response to the news that an Office of Surface Mining administrative law judge rejected the permit issued by OSM for the Black Mesa Complex. The permit would have allowed Peabody Coal to continue mining-as-usual at the Black Mesa and Kayenta Mines on Hopi and Navajo lands.

Masayesva and former Hopi Tribal Chairman Ben Nuvamsa met with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's staff in November to ask that decision-makers at Interior be more responsive to Native American concerns and more mindful of their trust responsibilities for the 560-plus Indian tribes in the U.S.

"The Interior Secretary and the agencies under his oversight are to be commended," Masayesva said in a statement.

Wahleah Johns, co-director of Black Mesa Water Coalition, one of the petitioners in the appeal, responded to Judge Robert G. Holt's ruling. "As a community member of Black Mesa I am grateful for Judge Holt's decision. For 40 years our sacred homelands and people have borne the brunt of coal mining impacts, from relocation to depletion of our only drinking water source. This ruling is an important step towards restorative justice for Indigenous communities who have suffered at the hands of multinational companies like Peabody Energy. This decision is also precedent-setting for all other communities who struggle with the complexities of NEPA laws and OSM procedures in regards to environmental protection. However, we also cannot ignore that irreversible damage of coal mining industries continues on the land, water, air, people and all living things."

The Administrative Law Judge's order decides issues raised by members of the Hopi Nation in one of many appeals brought in response to OSM's final permit, which was issued in the waning days of the Bush Administration. The "life of mine" permit issued by OSM authorized and expanded mining operations at Black Mesa beyond the year 2026 for the remaining portion of an estimated total of 670 million tons of coal. The order cited violations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA,) the Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and Black Mesa Water Coalition said in a joint statement.

"This is a huge victory for the communities of Black Mesa impacted by coal mining and proof that Peabody can't have its way on Black Mesa anymore," said Sierra Club's Hertha Woody, a member of the Navajo Nation. "Coal is a dirty, dangerous and outdated energy source that devastates communities, jeopardizes drinking water and destroys wildlife habitats. This decision is yet another example of why it no longer makes sense to burn coal to get electricity."

The Black Mesa Coal Mine Complex has a long history of controversy stemming from concerns about air and water pollution, impacts to local residents, the drying of aquifers and sacred springs, and coal's contribution to global warming. Heavy metals and pollutants that result from mining operations are toxic to humans and harmful to wildlife.

On the Navajo Nation, The Forgotten People, a Navajo group working toward human rights, raised new questions about the dangerous and unregulated coal transport train that passes through their communities enroute to the Navajo Generating Station at Page, Ariz., one of the coal-fired power plants on the Navajo Nation.

The Forgotten People and three Chapters, Tonalea Chapter, Coal Mine Canyon Chapter and Leupp Chapter joined Californians for Renewable energy, Kendall Nutumya, Victor Masayesva, Jr., and Black Mesa Water Coalition to oppose the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining decision to approve a controversial life-of-mine permit for Peabody Coal Company's Black Mesa mine in the final days of the Bush Administration.

Chester Claw, President of Tonalea Chapter said, "All these years our people suffered from adverse health effects and pollution of the environment. I am speechless, at a loss for words about what Forgotten People and the other groups are doing against a big company while all the Navajo Nation has done for decades is think about money and forget about the people's health and the environment. This is 'David v. Goliath' and David prevailed."

"Now we need to focus on Salt River Project and Navajo Generating Station so they get a transportation permit to carry Peabody's Kayenta coal like they do at all other mines to ensure safety. SRP and NGS must install warning lights and barrier arms so no more people and livestock die at the railroad crossings," Claw said.

Don Yellowman, President of Forgotten People said, "What SRP and NGS are doing with an unpermitted railroad is equivalent to an unsafe semi truck driving on a highway without warning lights and improperly functioning brakes. Are they doing this because the life of our people and livestock are less important?"

The Forgotten People said that in light of US EPA initiatives, the uncertainty of the NGS, and an increasing awareness of climate change, they are urging the Navajo Nation Council to take action. The Council was urged to hold a public hearing on the Kayenta mine in a Hogan in Black Mesa, Vote No to an extension of Peabody's Kayenta mine lease, develop an alternative energy policy, and "Go Green."

While most of the electricity produced in coal-fired power plants on the Navajo Nation goes to Southwest cities, many Navajos continue to live without electricity. Many Navajos living beneath dangerous electric transmission lines which transport power to Phoenix, Tucson and Los Angeles, have only the light produced by kerosene or battery-operated lanterns.

While Peabody Coal mining drains the aquifer, many Navajos live without running water. Hauling water is expensive and requires transporation. For elderly, there is often no one to haul water for them over the rutted dirt roads, roads often impassable in winter and during rains.

For those struggling to protect the aquifer and sacred springs, the Interior ruling came as good news.

"It is good news that our concerns were heard. Water is very precious that should not be used for coal mining but instead should be used for our people. I am pleased with this outcome," said Calvin Johnson of the grassroots organization C-Aquifer for Dine'.

"Dine' C.A.R.E. commends DOI Judge Holt," said Anna Frazier of Dine' C.A.R.E. "This is a hopeful step toward a better consultation with OSM and other regulatory entities. The ultimate goals for our people and our land are for OSM to withdraw the life of mine permit, as there is no purpose and need for it, to move toward permanent closure of the existing Kayenta Mine and transportation complex and to begin total reclamation on Black Mesa."

The coalition of tribal and environmental groups who filed a related appeal of OSM's permit included the Black Mesa Water Coalition, Diné C.A.R.E., Dine Hataalii Association, Inc., Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council.

Earlier, in the 1970s, Peabody Coal orchestrated the so-called Navajo Hopi land dispute, to remove Navajos and make way for coal mining. The US relocated more than 14,000 Navajos. While coal mining destroyed the land and poisoned the air at Black Mesa, water was drained from the aquifer.

Coal-fired power plants are cited as a primary reason for global warming. US coal-fired power plants -- including those on the Navajo Nation at Page, Ariz., and in the Four Corners region -- are a primary reason for global warming, resulting in the melting Arctic ice and destruction of Arctic homelands for Indigenous Peoples and wildlife.

Peabody Coal orchestrated the so-called Navajo Hopi land dispute and coal mining on Black Mesa, carried out without a proper EIS or permits. Peabody Coal, attorneys, US senators, including John McCain, and tribal councilmen, cut backdoor deals which has resulted in more than 30 years of suffering for Navajos living on Black Mesa. Navajos resisting relocation live without basic necessities, with no one to turn to when they are cold, hungry and sick. Ultimately, the Navajo Nation government abandoned its own people on Black Mesa in favor of revenues from coal mining.

The complete copy of order is available from brendanorrell@gmail.com

The complete statements from Hopi and Navajo are at Censored News: http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Excerpts from order:

United States Department of the Interior
Office of Hearing and Appeals
Departmental Hearings Division
405 South Main Street, Suite 400
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
Telephone: (801) 524-5344
Facsimile: (801) 524-5539

January 5, 2010

ORDER
In Re Black Mesa Complex Permit Revision.
DV 2009-1-PR thru DV 2009-8-PR
Significant Permit Revision
Permit No. AZ-001D
NUTUMYA'S NEPA MOTION GRANTED
(Docket No. DV 2009-4-PRJ)
OSM DECISION VACATED
OTHER PENDING MOTIONS DENIED AS MOOT
OTHER REQUESTS FOR REVIEW DISMISSED AS MOOT
(Docket Nos. DV 2009-1-PR, DV ... DV 2009-8-PR)

HEARING CANCELLED.

Conclusion
OSM violated NEPA by not preparing a supplemental draft EIS when Peabody changed the proposed action. As a result the Final EIS did not consider a reasonable range of alternatives to the new proposed action, described the wrong environmental baseline, and did not achieve the informed decision-making and meaningful public comment required by NEPA. Because of the defective Final EIS, OSM's decision to issue a revised permit to Peabody must be vacated and remanded to OSM for further action.

Having considered the motion, the other papers on file, and for good cause, it is ordered that:

1. The Motino by Petitioners, Kendall Nutumy, et.all, in Docket No. DV 2009-4-PR, for Summary Disposition Based on OSM's Violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), is granted.

2. The Decision, dated December 22, 2008, of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, approving the Application for Significant Permit Revision (Project AZ-001-E-P-01)(Permit AZ-001D) filed by Peabody Western coal Company for the Black Mesa Complex, is vacated.

3. The other pending motions in this consolidated preceding are denied as moot or not ripe for review.

4. The request for review filed by the following applicants are dismissed as moot.

Californians for Renewable Energy
Victor Masayesva, Jr.
Black Mesa Water Coalition
The Forgotten People
Coal Mine Canyon Chapter
Tonalea Chapter
Leupp Chapter

5. The prehearing conference scheduled for March 9, 2010, and the hearing scheduled for March 16, 2010, are cancelled.

Appeal Rights

Any party aggrieved by this decision may file a petition for discretionary review with the Interior Board of Land Appeal, or seek judicial review pursuant to the provisions in 43 CFR Section 4.1369.

--Robert G. Holt

'In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman,' authentic account of the Longest Walk

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

ROCKY RIDGE, Navajo Nation -- It is a story that the United States does not want to be told. Now, with authentic images and story, a young Navajo woman is telling it. Camille Manybeads Tso was 13 years old when she wrote and directed the film "In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman." She tells the story of her great-great-great grandmother Yellow Woman, as told to her by her grandmother Mae Tso.

Mae Tso tells how the young Navajo women, with their babies, were constantly on the run from the Calvary in the 1860s, hiding in the caves and rocks of Black Mesa. Then captured and forced on the Longest Walk, they were driven at gunpoint across the swift Rio Grande. Babies and elderly were swept away. Eventually after the harsh imprisonment at Fort Sumner, N.M., Navajos returned to their homeland.

In this brilliant work of film, a young Navajo woman has come forward to reveal the genesis of Hitler's concentration camps.

Hopefully, her art of storytelling with film will give birth to a new generation of filmmakers, Native youths telling their histories with clarity, passion and excellence.

"In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman," is a honorable memorial to the thousands of Navajos who died on the Longest Walk and during the cruel imprisonment at Fort Sumner. It is a testament to the courage and fortitude of the young Navajo women who survived with their children, and the Navajos who continue to struggle to protect and defend Black Mesa today.

With music by Blackfire, Brent Michaels David and Radmilla Cody, the film is a moving tribute to the legacy of survival.

Camille Manybeads Tso, in an eighth-grade project and trained at the Native youth media project 'Outta Your Backpack Media,' has produced a film that is authentic and a hallmark for our times.

Photos: The making of "In the Footsteps of Yellow Woman" courtesy Camille Manybeads Tso. Photo 2: Navajo woman and baby at Fort Sumner. Photo 3: Navajos with their shelter at Fort Sumner. Fort Sumner photos courtesy of New Mexico State Monuments.

Contact Camille Manybeads Tso:
halneeproductions@gmail.com
http://oybm.org/
More photos and film screenings:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/11/navajo-youth-filmmaker-in-footsteps-of.html

Sheep Dog Nation Rocks: Hopi speaks out against Navajo relocation

By Bahe Katenay
Navajo from Big Mountain
Sheep Dog Nation Rocks
Published with permission

FLAGSTAFF -- When the Dineh resisters at Big Mountain declared their independence in 1977 they further declared they would submit their conditions beyond and bypass the Navajo Nation or the BIA. They would present their conditions directly to the UN Commission on Human Rights.
What am I talking about? Well, they held this Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission hearing in Flagstaff (in December) and I wonder how can a governmental organization be intent on hearing such conditions?
However, it's kinda kool that a Hopi person eventually reminded everyone about the real situation of human rights violations on Black Mesa. I don't know what this Navajo Nation commission seeks, but at the United Nations level, the Dineh have presented the conditions of violations committed by institutionally-designed policies of racial and genocidal practices.
Excerpt the article, "Human Rights Commission hears testimonies of 'racism,'" by S. J. Wilson in the Navajo-Hopi Observer, December 31, 2008
FLAGSTAFF -- Four of the five members of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission recently visited the communities of Winslow and Flagstaff to hear public testimony regarding race relation issues in areas including housing, education and civil rights ...
Bob Lomadafkie, a longtime citizen of Flagstaff and a member of the Hopi Tribe, spoke about the effects of relocation on members of the Navajo and Hopi tribes, and the allegiance held by many traditional Hopis against the relocation of their Navajo neighbors.
"We were opposed to relocation; we feel it was wrongfully imposed on the Dine'," Lomadafkie said. "We also addressed the pow wow in Flagstaff; there was a lot of negative talk that put Native Americans in a bad light."
Lomadafkie is on several boards for Flagstaff organizations and is involved in issues such as homelessness and the recruitment and retention of Native American students at Northern Arizona University (NAU) - where he finds that one of every four students is Native American - predominantly Dine'."
Read article in Navajo Hopi Observer:
http://navajohopiobserver.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=7454
Signed by Sheep Dog Nation Rocks:
That Annoying Sheep Dog
“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducated the person who learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours!”
--Cesar Chavez, (activist & educator)

A time for eagles: Code Pink, Muntadar and Ackerman

Today is Code Pink, Muntadar al-Zaidi and Judy Ackerman Day at Censored News
A call for whistleblowers: Cyclops in the Closet
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

In Washington outside the White House, the Code Pink ladies were throwing shoes at a Bush effigy on Wednesday, while a lone woman, Judy Ackerman, 55, was getting arrested in El Paso for defending the Rio Bosque Wetlands from the destruction of the US Border Wall construction.
It was a day for eagles.
We can only hope that more eagles in the form of whistleblowers will step forward before another dirty coal mine, Desert Rock, becomes a reality on the Navajo Nation, and Peabody Coal is allowed to expand its genocidal tentacles into the heartland of Black Mesa.
Like a morbid octopus, Peabody wants to usurp everything that does not belong to the coal-chewing monster. Like a thirsty cyclops, Peabody wants to drain the pristine waters of the Navajo and Hopi aquifer, with its one eye focused on more dirty millions.
If the highly-paid spin doctors have their way, there will be more Navajo relocation to make way for the Peabody Coal dragon. There will be more lies in the media and more Navajo elderly will die from broken hearts.
Through the years there have been many whistleblowers on the Navajo Nation, exposing the dirty backdoor deals of Navajo politicians and corrupt corporate spiders.
Today, the Censored News blog calls on all those whistleblowers who are home biting their nails to come out and tell the world about the sleazy deals behind the Desert Rock scheme and Peabody Coal's latest parasitic coal mining plan.
Already, the sex and cocaine of the US Mineral Management Service in Denver with the Big Oil daddies has been exposed.
We would like to hear from the whistleblowers of the Office of Surface Mining in Denver. We would like to hear about the cash that is flowing to keep people silent in corporate offices and what is going on in the US Interior closets.
We would like to hear about the lush meals and lavish hotels aimed at keeping American Indian politicians voting for dirty power plants in tribal council sessions. We would like to hear about the advocates who receive scholarship dollars to speak out in favor of digging into the Earth Mother.
We would also like to hear from whistleblowers at the BLM and elsewhere within the Bush Family. We would like to hear more about how President Bush Sr., before leaving office, cleared the way for Barrick Gold mining to lease lands in Nevada. Once he was out of office, Bush Sr. then went to work as a senior consultant for Barrick. Barrick tore out the trees and bulldozed the area of the Western Shoshone's sacred Mount Tenabo in the past two weeks, as it prepares to core out the mountain for gold mining and poison the water with cyanide leaching.
We would also like to hear from the whistleblowers in the Cheney ring of private prison thieves, who profiteered from imprisoning migrants and all people of color. Surely there are whistleblowers in the US military torture schools and the private mercenaries for profit empire.
Meanwhile, there are the shoes to consider.
With more than 8,300 online articles now in Google Breaking News, Muntadar al-Zaidi -- the shoe-throwing journalist who called Bush a "dog" and remembered the dead, orphans and widows -- has become one of the most famous people in the world.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said of al-Zaidi, "What courage."
Today's AP article on the Code Pink shoe throwers outside the White House says, "The U.S. Secret Service stood by during the protests; however there were no conflicts with authorities and no arrests were made."
How could anyone have a conflict with what the reporter Muntadar al-Zaidi did in Iraq. There is no way to bring back the dead women, children and elderly of Iraq. The mass murders in Iraq can only be considered an act of US genocide. The US kidnappings and tortures were violations of the Geneva Conventions.
Today is Code Pink, Muntadar al-Zaidi and Judy Ackerman Day at Censored News. VIDEO: 'Code Pink Shoe-in at the White House'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yOC4ckof04
VIDEO: 'Shoe-icide at the White House'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju0VpP4oUyM

Masayesva: Congressman defending Black Mesa

Rep. Raul Grijalva Stands Up for Hopi People, Resources, Sovereignty
By Vernon Masayesva

KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. (Nov. 9) – Rep. Raul Grijalva, R-Ariz., has sent an urgent letter to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne requesting that he direct the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement to stop work on the Black Mesa Project draft environmental impact statement.
Black Mesa Trust Executive Director Vernon Masayesva lauded the representative's effort to ensure that the Interior Department meets its trust responsibility to Native peoples. "Rep. Grijalva has seen into the heart of this issue and taken a stand to defend our interests and rights, especially our right to protect the N-aquifer underlying Black Mesa from further corporate abuse."
In his letter, Grijalva told Kempthorne that allowing continued access to the aquifer for coal mining "would result in irreparable damage to the sole source of drinking water for many Hopis and Navajos. Moreover, past water withdrawals from the Navajo Aquifer have already caused sacred Hopi springs to dry up, irreparably harming the tribal communities."
He also pointed out that "there is no actual proposed project involving Black Mesa Mine to be analyzed" since the only customer for the coal (Mohave Generating Station in Laughline, Nev.) shut down in 2005. Grijalva wrote, "the pending EIS [is] not only premature, but in direct conflict with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act."
The Black Mesa Project DEIS proposes to combine the Kayenta Mine and the Black Mesa Mine (both on Black Mesa in northern Arizona, deep in the Navajo and Hopi reservations) and to resume coal mining at the Black Mesa Mine, which has been shut down since Mohave Generating Station. The Office of Surface Mine suspended work on the DEIS in May 2007 when Southern California Edison stopped funding because it had not found buyers for the Mohave Generating Station who would restart the power plant. In May 2008 OSM reopened the comment period on the DEIS until July 7. OSM states on its website that the agency plans to issue the final environmental impact statement this month.
In the letter Grijalva reminded Kempthorne that the Hopi government is in disarray at the moment and, therefore, "no one has the authority to consult with OSM and make decisions on behalf of the Hopi Tribal Council on matters related to the mining and water withdrawals on Black Mesa."
In conclusion, Grijalva said, "I believe a delay in processing the EIS is warranted and ask that the process be delayed until OSM can determine the actual purpose and need of this project" and until the Hopi tribal government "is again intact."
Masayesva and other Hopi tribal members expressed their gratitude to Grijalva for his support of the Hopi people, defense of their natural resources and respect for the tribe's sovereignty and right to self-determination.