Thousands of Claims Threaten Public Health & Sacred Lands

By Klee Benally

Grand Canyon, AZ — In defiance of legal challenges and a U.S. Government moratorium, Canadian company Denison Mines has started mining uranium on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. According to the Arizona Daily Sun the mine has been operating since December 2009. Read the rest of this entry »

BLACK MESA, AZ — The Department of Interior (DOI) has denied Peabody Coal Company’s expansion operations on Black Mesa, AZ.

Peabody had been planning to combine both their Kayenta and Black Mesa mines, pump more water for transporting coal, reactivate the Black Mesa mine, and acquire a “Life of Mine” permit.
Peabody’s expansion plans were initially approved in a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) by the Bush Administration.

Environmental groups appealed the FEIS on grounds that Indigenous People’s religious freedom would be violated, there was not enough outreach to impacted communities, and that the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Judge Robert G. Holt’s decision stated, “OSM violated NEPA by not preparing a supplemental draft EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) 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.”

The DOI judge who reviewed the case did not rule on the religious freedom violation or other claims.

Peabody, the Navajo Nation & the Hopi Tribal Council still can appeal the decision.
Peabody Coal is still operating their Kayenta mine.

Peabody Coal has been operating on Black Mesa for more than 40 years. Since 1974 more than 14,000 Dine’ have been forcibly relocated from their ancestral homelands on Black Mesa due to mining interests.

Read more here: Black Mesa Water Coalition News Release, Forgotten People: Victory for Black Mesa, Censored News, Black Mesa Indigenous Support

(Also posted at www.arizona.indymedia.org)

Stop Snowbowl! Protest Sat. Dec. 19 At Flagstaff City Hall!

When: Saturday, December 19th starting at 10AM

Where: Flagstaff City Hall on the Rt. 66 side

The struggle to protect the Holy San Francisco Peaks and community health from ski resort expansion and wastewater snowmaking continues.

Although a current lawsuit filed by the Save the Peaks Coalition and community members has halted the ski business’ efforts to make sewage snow, community support is still needed.

In the face of political pressure from the State of Arizona’s Congressional Delegation, (more) the US Forest Service approved a component of the ski area’s proposed development that is not associated with snowmaking. 

Regardless of the approval Snowbowl cannot currently expand due to the lawsuit.

While it is unclear as to how long the court case will stop Snowbowl from expanding and making sewer water snow, in the context of the legal battle the Obama administration is doing everything in their power to put wastewater snow on the holy San Francisco Peaks. 

When the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort opened on Thursday, a small group of protesters held signs and banners to ensure that skiers were aware of public health threats and the desecration of the sacred mountain.

Arizona Snowbowl employees called the Forest Service and County Sheriffs in an attempt to have the protesters and others with them arrested for “trespassing” on public lands. No charges were made.

You can join us in our stand for the protection of sacred places and community health.

PROTEST SNOWBOWL!

When: Saturday, December 19th starting at 10AM

Where: Flagstaff City Hall on the Rt. 66 side

If you can’t join us please visit www.savethepeaks.org for more information on what you can do to help stop Snowbowl and protect sacred places!

You can contact Congress and urge them to convene immediate hearings on the protection of Sacred Places.

Contact info is included below. 

Klee Benally

indigenousaction@gmail.com

Online database of current US Congress contacts: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Ann Kirkpatrick, Arizona (D)

1123 Longworth HOB, Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2315 Fax: (202) 226-9739
https://forms.house.gov/kirkpatrick/dc-contact-form.shtml

Flagstaff Office

1515 East Cedar Avenue, A6, Flagstaff, AZ 86004

Phone: (928) 226-6914  Fax: (928) 226-2876

John Kyle, Arizona (R)

730 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

Phone: (202) 224-4521 Fax: (202) 224-2207

http://kyl.senate.gov/contact.cfm

John McCain, Arizona (R)

241 Russell Senate Office Building
, Washington, D.C. 20510-0303
  Phone: 202-224-2235  
Fax: 202-228-2862

http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=Contact.Home

John Conyers, Jr., Michigan, (D)
House Committee on the Judiciary, Chair

2426 Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: 202-225-5126
  Fax: 202-225-0072

Email: john.conyers@mail.house.gov

NOTE: On July 11, 2008, more than 1,000 Native rights and environmental justice advocates arrived in Washington, DC after walking across the US to raise awareness about key issues affecting Native peoples and the environment. The successful journey, known as the Longest Walk 2, delivered a 30-page manifesto and list of demands to Congress, which included the protection of sacred places.

House Judiciary Chair, US Representative John Conyers (D-MI) promised representatives from the Longest Walk 2 that their issues would be addressed but set no timetable. “The Committee on the Judiciary will hold hearings on each one of these items that you have outlined here,” stated Rep. Conyers.

To read the Longest Walk resolutions go to: www.longestwalk.org

Two years ago community members and an Indigenous youth empowerment media collective called “Outta Your Backpack Media” (OYBM) came together with a vision to establish a space that cultivates active resistance to capitalism, environmental & social injustices in and around our community of Flagstaff. Since then Taala Hooghan infoshop has hosted all ages shows, film screenings of hard to find political movies, the Free Free Market, silkscreening, D.I.Y. art skill shares, and provided meeting and event space for other organizations. OYBM has worked with more than 300 youth and produced dozens of short films at free youth workshops, some of which have been screened nationally and internationally at film festivals. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a response to news releases sent out by Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley & the Hopi Tribal Council.
Read the news and releases below this statement.

(Friday, October 2nd, 2009) Window Rock, AZ — In a recent proclamation the President of the Navajo Nation, Joe Shirley Jr., sided with the Hopi Tribal Council in an attack on democratic rights of the Dine’ people to protect their environment and health of their communities.

Shirley stated that “Local and national environmental groups [are] unwelcome” on reservation lands.

Read the rest of this entry »

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, September 21, 2009

CONTACT
media@savethepeaks.org

Flagstaff, AZ — A group of concerned citizens will not let the potential health risks of using treated sewage effluent to make snow at the Snowbowl ski area on the San Francisco Peaks outside of Flagstaff get swept under the rug on a technicality. Although Snowbowl is a private, for-profit entity, the ski area operates on federal land under a special use permit. As a result, the federal government must approve Snowbowl’s plan to use 100% reclaimed sewer water to make snow—something that is not done anywhere else in the world. The City of Flagstaff agreed to sell Snowbowl the treated sewage effluent and off they went, or so they thought. The San Francisco Peaks are well documented as sacred and holy to, at least, thirteen of the tribes in the Southwestern United States, all of whom viewed the decision as a direct threat to their religious and cultural survival. Litigation on cultural and religious issues surrounding the project was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which recently declined to consider the case. The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case left a decision of an en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in place which, as is often the case, went against the tribes. The use of reclaimed sewer water to make snow, however, was not only repulsive to people who hold the San Francisco Peaks sacred, it raised concerns from skiers and the community over the safety of being immersed in, and even eating, snow made from non-potable treated sewage effluent. Read the rest of this entry »

Supreme Court Affirms Tribes Have No Religious Rights,

Tribes and others Call For Congressional Action to Protect Sacred Places

Flagstaff, AZ — On Monday, June 8^th 2009, the Supreme Court denied the petition by Tribes & Environmental groups to hear the case to protect the holy San Francisco Peaks.

For nearly a decade, the Save the Peaks Coalition, Tribes, Environmental groups, and community members lead an effort to stop the Snowbowl ski area’s plan to expand it’s development on the Peaks, and make snow from treated sewage effluent. The ski resort operates on the Holy Mountain through a lease by the United States Forest Service, which sanctioned the proposed development in 2004.

Read the rest of this entry »

We just set up www.doodadesertrock.com and updated the short 2006 documentary “Making A Stand At Desert Rock.”

On December 12th, 2006 community members in Chaco Rio, New Mexico established a blockade to prevent preliminary work for proposed development of a massive coal-fired power plant. Learn more at www.doodadesertrock.com.