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)

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 »

On April 22nd Earth Day, the Navajo Nation Council passed a resolution calling on Obama to protect sacred places. The document also calls on the US to immediately sign onto the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Navajo Nation Council additionally urges the US President to meet with the tribe to discuss the protection of the holy San Francisco Peaks & other sacred places before May 8th 2009.

Obama had previously made statements during his campaign vowing to help tribes protect threatened sacred sites. “Native American sacred places and site-specific ceremonies are under threat from development, pollution, and vandalism,” stated his platform. “Barack Obama supports legal protections for sacred places and cultural traditions, including Native ancestors’ burial grounds and churches.”

Read more here at indianz.com: http://64.38.12.138/News/2009/013723.asp

You can send a message to Obama regarding this issue here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/

 Download the Navajo Nation Peaks/Obama Resolution

More info: www.savethepeaks.org

Klee Benally
indigenousaction[at]gmail.com