Big Mountain, Black Mesa News

[Okwes]

These American Indian Families Need Our Help NOW!
What Will You Do?
Will You Just Complain To Your Friends About What
The Government Is Doing To Native People And The Environment!
Or Will You Actually Do Something?!
Here's Your Chance!
What Will You Do?


STOP FORCED RELOCATION ON BIG MOUNTAIN, TARGETED NAVAJO FAMILIES


Latest Information > McCain S1003 Bill > Send a Letter to Congress Now! STOP FORCED RELOCATION ON BIG MOUNTAIN, BLACK MESA, AZ. TARGETED NAVAJO FAMILIES SAY THAT NOW IS THE TIME TO TAKE ACTION! Something critical is taking place that is affecting the traditional communities on Big Mountain & surrounding areas. Please take a moment to read and fax this letter today. It will automatically be sent to the Senate Committee On Indian Affairs, Senate & Congress. Link supplied below. 02/15/06 - present
Dear Friends of the Indigenous Peoples of Big Mountain, Black Mesa, AZ.
Something critical is about to happen concerning the traditional communities on Big Mountain surrounding areas on Black Mesa. Today, more than 30 years after the passage of Public Law 93 - 531, the original Navajo-Hopi Relocation bill, a new bill is before congress that sets a new timetable for the forced relocation of a number of Navajo families on Black Mesa. Senate bill S1003 "The Navajo Hopi Land Settlement Act Amendments of 2005" is now on the senate calendar and may be passed at anytime without debate or serious consideration unless the public acts now. The last major relocation bill was approved by the Senate within a month of being placed on the Senate calendar and stayed in the House Of Representatives less than a week before becoming law. It's difficult to convey the serious nature of these new developments. The passage of this bill would effectively devastate a culture such as the Navajo, or Dineh, stripping them of their identity and way of life which is tied
into the land itself.
People's lives and livelihoods are on the line!
This bill will permanently displace the indigenous families of Big Mountain and surrounding communities on Black Mesa from their ancestral lands and will relieve the federal government of any further responsibility for the relocated people. S 1003, sponsored by Senator John McCain (R-AZ), comes as Peabody Coal, the world's largest coal company, is planning to expand its strip mining of American Indian lands, drawing down a high-quality residential aquifer in the process. Only one thing stands in Peabody's way: indigenous people live on the land below which lies billions of tons of low-sulfur coal. As with their ancestors, the land is the basis for the Black Mesa people's traditions, spirituality, and livelihoods.
There is still time to act!
S 1003 may pass the Senate and the House of Representatives within the next few weeks. Senate Bill 1003 may become law anytime now once again starting the machine of forced relocation. But fortunately, a small window of opportunity exists to stop it. It must first pass the Senate so the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and your Senator must hear our voices today. The indigenous families from the Big Mountain and Black Mesa communities have not been represented in this process.
It's up to us the public and the international community to demand that Congress educate themselves before they vote. After passing an earlier relocation act, PL 93-531, in 1974, several Senators expressed misgivings about the law, but it was too late. We cannot allow this to happen again.The people of Big Mountain are asking us to jump in and shake up the political landscape. Our outcry may be their only hope. We must tell those who would once again sell out the people and the land that there will be a political price to pay. It's easy to make decisions from afar if you never risk meeting the people who will be affected. Demand that Congress listen to the people. Maybe it is possible to reach their hearts.
In an era of transnational corporate dominance, the methods of separating indigenous peoples from their land and natural resources have outstripped the ability of any agency or nongovernmental organization to monitor or regulate. The importance of building alliances cannot be stressed enough. The elders of Big Mountain such as Roberta Blackgoat have shown us the way to the survival of our planet and the danger to us all if sacred lands are destroyed warning us of what is now happening long before global warming and gaia became common words. The people of Big Mountain can not win this fight alone and need the support of all people who love justice, human rights, and the earth.
Please join us, and ask your friends and family to do the same.
Send A Letter to Congress Now!
Thank you and Peace,
Black Mesa Indigenous Support
------------------

Background and Talking Points, from the words of the People affected
Contact list for appropriate public officials and talking points.

Black Mesa Indigenous Support
P.O. Box 23501, Flagstaff, Arizona 86002
Message Voice Mail: 928.773.8086
Email: [e-mail]

[Okwes]

BLACK MESA ELDERS TAKE DIRECT ACTION:

Black Mesa Elder Rena Babbitt-Lane (approx. 80 yrs old) is in the
hospital recovering from a minor heart attack and other injuries after an
incident of harrasment by BIA/Hopi Rangers earlier this week.

STATEMENT OF RENA BABBIT LANE:

"My sheep herder had left recently, so I was home alone and I took the sheep
out to a close area where they like to graze. This was Monday, November 3rd.
Three of the goats somehow ran through the partition fence and I could not
get them back across. I cut the fence and herded the sheep through and put them
all back together. Then they went to a nearby water hole on that side of the
fence and were drinking. I laid down under a tree
because I was exhausted. Three Rangers came up to me there. I think they
were all Hopi, but one of them spoke good enough Navajo that I could understand
him. They immediately began to threaten me. The ranger was saying, `You
broke the law! You´re gonna go to jail! You are not allowed to herd over here.´
They grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me around. Pretty rough. I tried
to tell them that they should not be pushing around
an old lady like me, what kind of people are they? They took me back to my
house and were trying to search around. I was trying to stop them. One picked
up a stick and threatened me with it. They were heavily armed. I told them
that they were a bunch of bullies, bringing all those guns around my house and
being intimidating. They said, "We´re gonna come back tomorrow and either
impound all your sheep or else maybe we will put you
in jail and let the coyotes eat all of your sheep while you sit in there."
There were other things that they did to me too. I cannot remember all the
details very well. Then they wrote a ticket or something and left. I was feeling
very weak after that. I have no transportation so I walked 3 miles to the
neighbors´ house. They drove me down to my relatives closer to town. In the
course of retelling the story, I realized that I was having a pain in my chest.
They brought me to the hospital here and I have been here for
four days now. I am very sad about what´s happened here. I am not a bad
person, I am a kind person. Just herding sheep and they treat me this way..."

THIS IS NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT:

Last month, an elderly Navajo man from Cactus Valley had reported that some
sort of government official, possibly from the land management team came
right within a mile of his house and loaded up a pile of wood that he was
gathering. The elderly man followed the officials up the road and got them to stop.
There was a heated exchange-the man demanded that the
officials return the wood. They insisted that he was somehow in violation of
his wood hauling permit and that they were taking the wood back to Hopi.
They wrote him a ticket and gave him a court date. He went to court in Polacca,
50 miles away, on Oct.20. The charges were found to be false, and the judge
dismissed them outright. The firewood was not returned.

A BIG MOUNTAIN RESIDENT DEMANDS:

On behalf of my Dineh Relations at Big Mountain and throughout the
so-called, "HPL,"

I demand an immediate investigation into this federally-sponsored elder
abuse and harassment of an individual(s) who still have no understanding of the
modern American laws, and

I demand that the Navajo Nation make an inquiry to the BIA Hopi Agency and
its Land Management Office about their justification for this incident of
intimidation and physically shove or thrust a lone and fragile elder around, and

I further demand that the Navajo Nation immediately convene its council
members and the Office of the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission to facilitate the much
needed testimonies from the residents of the "Hopi Partitioned Lands" and
begin to address the escalating Human Rights violations within the
aforementioned region.

Let it be resolved that, the traditional Dineh families and their
elderly matriarchs and patriarchs are highly valuable for the future of the
Dineh Nation and that honor is due to them for their years of defiance
against the illegal mandates implemented upon their lives in the name of energy
exploitation. Furthermore, if the Dineh continue to dismiss the situations at
Big Mountain and throughout the "HPL," a geninue part of Dineh-Hopi prehistoric
experiences will be obliterated as their ancestral lands become the
wastelands of energy developments.

COME SUPPORT RENA AND THE ELDERS AT BLACK MESA:

Families are asking for help. Now is the time to come and stay
with a family. BMIS is willing to help you get to the land--please check our
website for specifics.
www.blackmesais.org/what_can_do.htm

Meanwhile, the Hopi and Navajo governments have been in secret
negotiations in Washington and Phoenix. Joe Shirley, the President of the
Navajo Nation, announced on the radio several days before the Nov. 7 election
that the Bennett Freeze has been lifted and that there will be no forced
relocation from the Freeze Area. Shirley was re-elected yesterday by a significant
margin.

Accord reached for sacred Hopi sites on Navajo land (from az daily sun)
www.senaawest.org/Dineh/compact_signed.html

Hopis, Navajos end 40-year battle (az rep)
www.senaawest.org/Dineh/land_dispute.html

President signs historic legislation (Gallup Independent)
www.senaawest.org/Dineh/Freeze_passed.html

More articles about the current policies and legislations
www.blackmesais.org/latest_indfo.htm

BMIS NEEDS YOUR HELP!
Unfortunately we are unable to update our website at this time due to the
loss of the critical laptop of our web designer. Members of Black Mesa
Indigenous Support are all volunteers as we use our own funds and tools to do much of
what we do. So, we are asking our friends and allies for help to front a new
laptop until we can pay you back with our own money. Thank you!

[Okwes]

Feds: Benefits Outweigh Harm in Black Mesa
By Annie Greenberg
Navajo Times

WINDOW ROCK A draft Environmental Impact Statement put out by the U.S.
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and enforcement recommends that
the
Black Mesa Mine be reopened and the neighboring Kayenta Mine be
expanded.
The justification OSM gives for the environmental harm that would
follow
including the dislocation of 17 Navajo families is the boost to both
the
tribal and overall economy that the mines would provide.

Black Mesa Mine shut down Dec. 31, 2005, when its sole customer, the
Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin Nev., had to close after
failing
to comply with clean-up requirements it had agreed to six years
earlier.
Power plant operators formally announced in June that compliance would
be
too expensive, so Mohave would not be reopened.

The Salt River Project, owner of a minority interest in Mohave, has
announced that it is interested in reopening the plant and making the
needed improvements.

The giant Phoenix utility got together with Peabody Western Coal, Co.,
operator of the two mines, and Black Mesa Pipeline Inc., to ask
federal
regulators to resume the process of granting an extended permit to
mine
coal on Black Mesa.

Scott Harelson, SRP spokesman, stressed the company is pursuing an
interest in Mohave only not the mines. And even that is tentative.
They're just plans, he said. We're still in the process of trying to
form a new ownership group. We really dont have anything to
report.�?
Harelson added that SRP hopes to have a new ownership group formed by
early 2007.

Beth Sutton, Peabody spokeswoman, said the company is exploring
different
options for potential coal customers.
We're exploring discussions with both tribes (Navajo and Hopi) looking
at
multiple tracks of coal related opportunities,�? she said.
On the one hand there is the ongoing discussion with Mohave�|at
the
same
time we’re also pursuing other opportunities to use the Black
Mesa
reserve, she said.
But SRP, along with Peabody and Black Mesa Pipeline Inc., has already
petitioned OSM to allow them to reopen and expand the Black Mesa
complex,
which consists of the two mines.
In addition, they propose to construct a coal-washing facility,
increase
the amount of coal produced by the mines, build a 108-mile-long
pipeline
from the Coconino aquifer in Leupp, Ariz., to Black Mesa, and rebuild
the
273-mile slurry pipeline that moves coal from Black Mesa to Mohave.
George Hardeen, spokesman for President Joe Shirley Jr., regarded the
plans with optimism.
Peabody's been a good neighbor to the Navajo Nation through employment
and certainly the royalties paid to the Navajo Nation,�? he said.
We'd
like to see that relationship continue if possible.
According to the draft report, the expansion would generate 480 new
jobs
and royalties of around $37.0 million for the Navajo Nation.
When the mine and power plant shut down last year, it resulted in the
loss
of around 400 jobs.

But expanding the mine would also require the relocation of 17 Navajo
families for at least 20 years, decrease air quality, and endanger
already-endangered species of fish in the Little Colorado.
OSM acknowledged it would also cause the depletion and possible
contamination of local groundwater levels, among other things.
Environmentalists said it's not a fair trade-off.
Andy Bessler, Southwest representative for the Sierra Club, said
pumping
out so much ground water an estimated minimum 6,000 acre-feet per year
for industrial uses is unconscionable.
That would be a 36 percent increase over the 4,400 acre-feet of water
Peabody and the pipeline were authorized to use under the existing
permit, he said.
It would use a lot of water, thats the problem. In the Southwest it's
a
crime, he said. The scope of its impact on the users of the C aquifer
is
tremendous.
In August 2003, while Black Mesa was still in operation, the Navajo
Nation
Council passed a resolution barring Peabody from the Navajo aquifer by
the end of 2005. The Hopi Tribal Council passed a similar resolution.
It was the first time any council had asserted its position against
industrial pumping. Despite intense pressure from Shirley, the
miners’
union, Peabody and the utilities that own Mohave, neither tribal
council
has changed its position.
The draft EIS assumes that the C aquifer would be used to sustain the
Black Mesa complex, an idea that is opposed by Leupp residents and
border
towns that rely on the aquifer for drinking water. But the draft EIS
also leaves open the notion of “some supplemental use of water
from
the
N aquifer.

And should the pipeline from the C aquifer broke down, OSM recommends
that
the N aquifer once again become the sole water source for the mines,
which
would remain in operation until 2026.

We recognize there have been concerns about the continued used of the
Navajo aquifer for mining and traditionally have agreed to
disagree,�?
Sutton said.

The aquifers provide water to approximately 40,000 Navajos and Hopis
in
the Black Mesa area.

Public meetings to discuss the draft EIS will be held Jan. 2 in Window
Rock
from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Navajo Nation Museum; Jan. 3 in Moenkopi,
Ariz.,
from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the community center; Jan. 4 in Kayenta,
Ariz., at
Monument Valley High School and in Kykotsmovi, Ariz., from 6 p.m. to 9
p.m.
at the veterans center; Jan. 9 in Leupp, Ariz., from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
at the
chapter house; Jan. 10 in Winslow, Ariz., from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at
Winslow
High School; Jan. 10 in Laughlin from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Laughlin
Town
Hall; and Jan. 11 in Flagstaff from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Little
America Hotel.
Navajo translators will be provided.
Public comments on the draft EIS are due by Jan. 22, 2007.
OSM said it anticipates that the final EIS would be distributed to the
public in July 2007 and decisions on the various components of the
Black
Mesa Project (by OSM, the tribes, and other federal agencies) would be
forthcoming in August 2007.