Concerned for Navajo Aquifer

My concern for the Black Mesa Coalition has brought me to writing this imperative letter. I have been reading about that area for sometime now and I have heard about how the U.S. government has tried to move our people off of their own lands, in order to get the coal which lies beneath them.

I am also concerned about the U.S. government pumping water out of the Navajo Aquifer. They are pumping an estimated 300 gallons every 10 seconds. This means over a billion gallons are being pumped every year. Most of us don't know it, but we are losing our only reliable source of water very rapidly. If this continues it could be gone in 10 years.

When the water is pumped up from the Navajo Aquifer, the U.S. government uses it to slurry coal to Nevada. When it gets to Nevada, the burn is sending it to Page, Ariz. Then it is sent to Phoenix, Ariz., where they sell the electricity back to us.

I know the Hopi Tribal Council has passed a resolution to stop them from slurrying coal from the Navajo Aquifer. I also know that the present Navajo government is not in agreement with the Hopi government, and has voted to continue using our water in this negligent way.

As a Dine', the president of the Navajo Nation, Mr. Joe Shirley, should be aware of our association with Mother Earth. If he concedes the option to save our lands from corporate destruction, he is throwing away all the hardships our ancestors went through to get us this far.

I wrote this letter to inform the people on the Navajo Nation about the issues going on around them. We need to take all these different matters into consideration and work together as a people to try to solve them. I think this letter should be taken seriously and I hope you fell the same way. 

Natasha Grail Fort Defiance, Ariz.