For
Immediate Release
Biological Diversity
05 October 2010
Contact:
Brad Bartlett, Attorney, Energy Minerals Law Center, (970)
247-9334
Wahleah Johns, Black Mesa Water Coalition, (928) 213-5909
Andy Bessler, Sierra Club, (928) 774-6103
Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (928) 310-6713
FLAGSTAFF,
Ariz—Native American and conservation groups sued the U.S.
Department of the Interior’s Office of Surface Mining (OSM) in
federal court in Colorado on Thursday for withholding records
relating to Peabody Energy’s coal-mining operations on tribal
lands in northeast Arizona. To date, the agency has refused to
publicly release records relating to Peabody’s coal-mining
operations—including a copy of a current, valid operating permit
for Peabody’s mining. The lawsuit was brought under the Freedom
of Information Act.
“For decades,
OSM has quietly issued permits to Peabody in a way that has
thwarted meaningful public involvement and community
understanding of Peabody’s mine operations,” said Nikke Alex,
executive director of the Black Mesa Water Coalition. “OSM’s
permitting actions have a direct and irreparable impact on our
community. These records must be released to the public.”
Peabody, the
largest coal-mine operator in the world, runs the 40,000-acre
Kayenta Mine and adjacent 18,000-acre Black Mesa Mine on Navajo
Nation and Hopi tribal lands in northeastern Arizona. On April
9, citizens submitted a FOIA request to OSM for records related
to the agency’s renewal of Peabody’s Kayenta Mine operating
permit. On June 4, OSM’s office in Denver, Colorado ended the
public comment period for Peabody’s renewal permit without
releasing the requested records (including a copy of Peabody’s
operating permit).
“The records
requested under FOIA are integral to public understanding of
OSM’s renewal of Peabody’s operating permit,” said Brad
Bartlett, an attorney with the Energy Minerals Law Center.
“These records should be readily available for public release by
the agency. Instead, citizens are forced to take legal action to
acquire Peabody’s permitting records.”
“By denying and
delaying public release of the operating permit, OSM protects
Peabody and unjustly shuts out impacted communities and the
public in Peabody’s permitting process,” said Cynthia Pardo of
the Sierra Club’s Plateau Group. “By filing this lawsuit with
our tribal partners, we are seeking greater transparency and
accountability by the Obama administration for Navajo and Hopi
communities impacted by Peabody’s coal mining on Black Mesa.”
Peabody's Black
Mesa mine slurried coal via a 273-mile pipeline to the Mohave
Generating Station from 1970 to 2005. The company’s Kayenta mine
has supplied coal to the Navajo Generating Station since 1973.
Both mines have caused significant hydrological impacts due to
massive groundwater depletion from Peabody’s historic
coal-slurry and related mine operations.
“Peabody’s
coal-mining operations will contribute to global warming-related
droughts and exacerbate the drying effects of groundwater
depletion on wells, springs and creeks,” said Taylor McKinnon of
the Center for Biological Diversity. “OSM’s inability to produce
a valid operating permit for Peabody raises a whole host of
questions. This lawsuit will force full disclosure.”
Plaintiffs in
the lawsuit include Black Mesa Water Coalition, Center for
Biological Diversity, Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our
Environment (Dine CARE), Sierra Club and TO’ Nizhoni Ani.
Plaintiffs are being represented by attorneys Brad Bartlett and
Travis Stills of the Energy Minerals Law Center in Durango,
Colo.
To download a copy of the
complaint, click
here.
For more background information
please visit:
www.blackmesawatercoalition.org.
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