by Carol Berry, Today
correspondent
Indian Country Today
11 October 2009
KYKOTSMOVI,
Ariz.—The battle waged against a major coal company by Hopi and
Navajo activists and against large environmental groups by tribal
officials has, at least temporarily, intensified the conflict
playing out in northern Arizona over the control, preservation and
use of cultural and natural resources.
“I never thought I
would see the day when being ‘Hopi’ meant being anti-environment,
pro-big corporate energy, and actually promoting pollution and
global warming in favor of ‘the almighty dollar,’” Alph Secakuku
said.
In addition to
being Sipaulovi Village representative on the tribal council, he
is president of Hopi Organizational Political Initiative, a
grassroots group believed to be among those ousted from H opi
tribal land for being perceived allies of the Sierra Club and
other large groups that have opposed Peabody Western Coal
Company’s role in expanded strip mining.
On Sept. 28 the
Hopi tribal council – its legitimacy challenged in political
infighting – said the Sierra Club, National Resources Defense
Council, National Parks Conservation Association, Grand Canyon
Trust, and “on-reservation organizations sponsored by or
affiliated with the groups, are no longer welcome on the
reservation.”
The announcement
triggered sharp prepared responses from opponents of wider strip
mining atop Black Mesa, an area sacred to traditionalists.
The ousted
organizations were singled out for reportedly asking the
Environmental Protection Agency to study Navajo Generating
Station’s possible contribution to smog over the Grand Canyon,
raising red flags about economic loss if the plant were to close.
A controversial expanded mining permit federally approved last
year ensures a coal supply for the plant’s continued operation.
In addition to
H.O.P.I., the banned groups are said to include Black Mesa Water
Coalition, To’ Nizhoni Ani (Navajo for beautiful water speaks),
C-Aquif er for Diné and other community-based organizations, some
of which have urged green development, including jobs in renewable
energy and traditional occupations.
Navajo Nation
President Joe Shirley Jr. supported the removal of environmental
groups from Hopi lands, eliciting a sharp response from Black Mesa
Water Coalition’s co-director Wahleah Johns, Navajo, who said the
coalition believes Shirley is “misinformed as to the benefits of
coal mining and coal-fired power plants and out of touch with the
kind of economy the Navajo people want.
“Our organization
has been working to support the traditional lifeways of weavers,
ranchers, artisans and a new clean energy economy. After over 30
years of coal development on the Navajo reservation, most of our
people still live below the national poverty line, and now there
are increasing health problems due to fossil fuel development
pollution and global warming.”
It is a “shocking
blow to hear our elected president condemn Navajo citizens who
have opposing views to coal development as ‘the greatest threat to
tribal sovereignty, tribal self-determination, and our quest for
independence,’” said Enei Begaye, coalition co-director. “The
president’s statement is a stinging insult and threat to all
Navajo citizens who don’t align their opinions with corporate
values or President Shirley’s energy agenda.”
Ben Nuvamsa,
former Hopi tribal chairman, said the “‘environmentalist s’ stood
by the Hopi Tribe when we opposed the making of artificial snow on
our sacred Nuvatukyaovi (San Francisco Peaks.) They assisted in
our opposition to the proposed uranium mining near the Grand
Canyon. They assisted in securing protections for the American
bald eagle.
“So why the
opposition to ‘environmentalists’ now? Could it be financial and
corporate greed? Absolutely,” said Nuvamsa, who resigned last year
during tribal council turmoil.
Central to the
current political strife is the Black Mesa Project Environmental
Impact Statement and the Office of Surface Mining’s grant of a
life-of-mine permit to Peabody Western Coal Co., which raised
concerns that pristine aquifer water could be used for industrial
purposes, he said.
Black Mesa’s coal
is “strip-mined and burned to generate cheap electricity for
California, southern Nevada and Arizona. After decades in
operation, however, thousands of tribal homes near the mines,
powerplants and transmission lines are still without electricity
and running water. Unemployment chronically hovers above 40
percent,” said a joint statement of the Sierra Club and Grand
Canyon Trust, which said the mining is “exploitation of tribal
lands by outside interests has done little to alleviate chronic
poverty.”
Mohave Generating
Station in Nevada, which, when operating, had used Black Mesa
coal, had agreed on pollution controls but was closed in 2005
because of a failure to reach an=2 0agreement with Navajo and Hopi
governments on coal royalties and the protection of tribal water
supplies.
Vernon Masayesva,
another former Hopi tribal chairman and founder of the Black Mesa
Trust, said the council’s action barring environmental groups “is
part of the pro-Peabody council to clear the hurdles blocking
Peabody from getting a life-of-mine permit to continue the
destructive surface mining activities which have already destroyed
an untold number of archaeological sites, burial grounds, rock
art, and cultural resources.”
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