Resisters
ordered off site
By Kathy Helms, Diné Bureau, Gallup Independent,
DECEMBER 21, 2006
SHIPROCK - Resisters blocking access
to the proposed Desert Rock plant site were told
to break camp Wednesday by a Shiprock District Court
judge, and Frank Maisano of Sithe Global says contractors
are moving in today.
"We have given them ample opportunity. We have gone the extra mile to respect their views and make sure that they're heard, that they got the meetings that they wanted to get," he said.
Diné Power Authority
brought them firewood and necessities upon the encouragement
of Vice President Frank Dayish Jr. to make the resisters
comfortable....
Shirley
talks to resisters
By Kathy Helms, Diné Bureau, Gallup Independent,
DECEMBER. 20, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - Navajo Nation President
Joe Shirley Jr. visited Monday with visitors blockading
access to the proposed Desert Rock Energy Facility
in Nenahnezad Chapter and listened to their concerns.
Sithe Global Power LLC's Nathan Plagens,
director of project development for the 1,500 megawatt
coal-fired plant, said Monday evening that Sithe submitted
copies of its permits to one of the resister groups
per their request.
Sarah White, president of Doodá Desert
Rock, said though President Shirley paid them a visit,
his words were pretty much the same as on previous occasions
and little, if anything, was accomplished....
Press
Release - Desert Rock
Desert Rock Blockade: Dooda Desert Rock
Resisters are Served, Dineh Power Authority is booted
from Council Agenda....
Support is needed! Firewood and other donations
are needed. If you live outside of New Mexico, it is
asked that you write letters to Pres. Joe Shirley, Jr.
Contact information is:
Navajo Nation Office of the President
P.O. Box 9000
Window Rock, Arizona, 86515
(928) 871- 6352 - Phone
Feds: Benefits outweigh harm in Black Mesa
By Annie Greenberg, Navajo Times, DECEMBER 14, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - A draft Environmental Impact Statement put out by the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and enforcement recommends that the Black Mesa Mine be reopened and the neighboring Kayenta Mine be expanded.
The justification OSM gives for the environmental harm that would follow - including harm that would follow - including the dislocation of 17 Navajo families - is the boost to both the tribal and overall economy that the mines would provide.
Black Mesa Mine shut down Dec. 31, 2005, when its sole customer, the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin Nev., had to close after failing to comply with clean-up requirements it had agreed to six years earlier....
Dirty Coal and Power at the Navajo Blockade
By Brenda Norrelll, Human Rights Editor, U.N. OBSERVER
& International Report
BURNHAN CHAPTER, N.M. -- As Navajo elderly camp in the cold at a blockade of a planned power plant, the Navajo Nation Council plans to meet in special session to allocate millions for the Desert Rock Power Plant.
At the Navajo blockade Thursday night, the sheepdog of the Navajo elderly protester who lives on the land was skinned alive, run over by a car and thrown next to the blockade.
It comes as no surprise that the power plant parent company Sithe Global LLC is linked to the elite Skull and Bones, the world power elite that the Bush family belongs to....
Flagstaff wastewater could have been used for slurry
By Kathy Helms, Diné Bureau, Gallup Independent,
DECEMBER 14, 2006
FLAGSTAFF - One of the alternatives
considered but eliminated from detailed study in
the Black Mesa Project Environmental Impact Statement
was the use of reclaimed wastewater from the City
of Flagstaff.
According to the EIS prepared by the federal
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement,
Peabody Energy Co. evaluated the use of reclaimed sanitary
wastewater from Flagstaff to supply at least a portion
of the supply needed by the Kayenta and Black Mesa mining
operations�.
Mine pipeline could dry up Leupp wells
By Cindy Cole, Sun Staff Reporter, Arizona Daily
Sun, DECEMBER 3, 2006
Pumping water from the aquifer near Leupp to a reopened Black Mesa Mine would help restore hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in annual tribal revenues.
But it will come with a social and environmental cost, according to a new federal impact study.
Seventeen Navajo families in the path of the new pipeline would need to be relocated....
Black Mesa Project impacts include relocation
By Kathy Helms, Diné Bureau
Gallup Independent, NOVEMBER 30, 2006
WINDOW ROCK
-- Peabody Western Coal Co.'s proposed Black Mesa Project
would require the relocation of 17 Navajo households,
the clearing of more than 13,000 acres of land, and
an expected decrease in groundwater quality.
According
to a Draft Environmental Impact Statement released last
week by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and
Enforcement, the primary impacts to people and lands
adjacent to the Black Mesa Complex are relocation, nuisance
dust and noise.
Peabody
would attempt to relocate the families to other sections
of their customary use areas. The relocation would include
providing new houses, areas for family garden plots
and livestock grazing....
Office
of Surface Mining: Black Mesa Alert
The Draft EIS for the Black Mesa Project
became available this weekend. It is a huge file,
and many pages long, which can be found here.
A comment period is forthcoming. Please
read the report, and prepare your comments to oppose
Peabody Energy's Life-Of-Mine lease. Written comments
are due to OSM by January 22,. 2007, 4 PM Mountain
Standard Time. Public hearings will be held Public
hearings will be held beginning January 2, 2007, in
Window Rock, and will also be held in Forest Lake
(1/3), Moenkopi, Arizona (1/3), Kayenta (1/4), Kykotsmovi
(1/4), Peach Springs (1/9), Kingman (1/9), Leupp(1/9),
Winslow (1/10), Laughlin (1/10), and Flagstaff (1/11)
from 6 PM-9 PM.
Comments on the draft EIS may be submitted
in writing or by e-mail over the Internet. At the
top of your letter or in the subject line of your
e-mail message, indicate that the comments are ``BMP
Draft EIS Comments.'' Include your name and return
address in your letter or e- mail message. They may
also be submitted snail mail to: Dennis Winterringer,
Leader, Black Mesa Project EIS, OSM Western Region,
P.O. Box 46667, Denver, Colorado 80201-6667. These
should be mailed either first class or priorty mail.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dennis
Winterringer, Leader, Black Mesa Project EIS, OSM
Western Region, by telephone at (303) 844-1400, extension
1440, or by e-mail at BMKEIS@osmre.gov (mailto:BMKEIS@osmre.gov).
Clean up the Navajos' poisoned land
Editorial, NOVEMBER 26, 2006
DURING WORLD WAR II, the federal government made a deal with Navajos: If the tribe allowed uranium mining on its 27,000-square-mile reservation, the land eventually would be returned "in as good condition as received."
Instead, when the diggers left by the mid-1960s, the land was scarred by open shafts, contaminated well water and radioactive piles - often without fences or warning signs. As a Times series (latimes.com/navajo) reported last week, federal inspectors knew about the damage but did little to prevent or fix it.
What followed was unconscionable. Navajos drank from contaminated pools, slept on radioactive floors and fed their herds on land irrigated with death. Children suffered mysterious, painful illnesses and died young. One couple, Helen and Leonard Nez, lost six of their children; Helen had drunk poisoned water while pregnant....
Navajo
Nation's battle over new uranium projects highlighted
By Dorothy Kosich, NOVEMBER 23, 2006
ENO, NV (Mineweb.com) --The Los Angeles
Times this week concluded a four-part series on
the historic impacts of uranium mining on the Navajo,
and the Navajo Nation's renewed efforts to ban new
uranium extraction projects in New Mexico near their
tribal borders.
From 1944 to 1986, 3.9 million tons of uranium
ore was mined in Navajo county, a reservation spanning
Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, with a current population
of more than 180,000 people.
The federal government was the only customer
of the uranium, which was used for the Manhattan Project
and for the weapons stockpile during the days of the
Cold War with the Soviet Bloc nations. By the 1960s,
more than 1,000 mines and few processing mills on tribal
land were shut. Many were never reclaimed, leaving behind
radioactive waste and open tunnels and pits....
Oral histories address uranium's effects on Navajo miners and families
NOVEMBER 21, 2006
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The legacy of uranium mining is devastating to Navajo communities in the western U.S., where 1,000 abandoned uranium mines still mar the landscape. A new volume from UNM Press entitled, "The Navajo People and Uranium Mining" is the result of the ten-year Navajo Uranium Miner Project headed by Tufts University's Doug Brugge and Navajo activists. Brugge and Navajo speakers Timothy Benally and Esther Yazzie-Lewis interviewed miners and drew from clinical and historical sources to trace the cultural, legal, and biological effects of Leetso, the "yellow monster."
The lure of uranium mining as a profession for Navajos is not difficult to understand. After the stock market crash of 1929, Navajo men found work off the reservation working on the railroad and on farms in Phoenix and California. Then during WWII, many Navajos went into the military. So when the U.S. entered the nuclear age and uranium was found on Navajo lands in 1941, Navajos who'd been working afar were happy to work close to home.
Uranium mining in the Four Corners area provided much-needed income, and thousands of Navajos worked in the poorly ventilated, unsupervised camps. Accidents were common, and the miners breathed in uranium dust and drank contaminated water regularly. The boomtown atmosphere caused secondary problems-violence, domestic abuse, alcoholism, and the disruption of traditional living arrangements. The mere act of mining defies Navajo culture, which opposes damaging the earth with metal instruments. So while mining provided economic opportunity, it went against the very grain of Navajo life....
SRP Hopes To Use C-Aquifer Water To Reopen Mohave Generating Station
By Tammy Gray-Searles, NOVEMBER 8, 2006
When the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nev., closed its doors last December, it looked like the end of the power plant, the end of the Black Mesa Mine and the end of an attempt to use water from the Coconino Aquifer (C-aquifer) to move coal from the mine to the plant.
However, in September, Salt River Project (SRP) officials made public their attempt to reopen the Mohave power plant when they asked the Office of Surface Mining to resume an environmental impact study on the effects of using water from the C-aquifer in a 273-mile coal slurry pipeline.
SRP owns 20 percent of the Mohave Generating
Station, and is seeking new business partners to help
retrofit and reopen the plant....
Navajo
President, Hopi Vice Chairman join Interior Secretary
to sign historic Compact
By George Hardeen, Special to the Observer, NOVEMBER
7, 2006
PHOENIX - With half the 250 people standing
shoulder-to-shoulder and peering over a throng of photographers,
the federal Interior secretary and the two leaders of
the Navajo and Hopi nations signed documents to clear
the way to coexist on a piece of land and remove a four-decade-old
development ban that is unique in American history.
Following brief congratulatory remarks from
a U.S. senator and two congressmen, Navajo Nation President
Joe Shirley Jr., Hopi Vice Chairman Todd Honyaoma and
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne signed the historic
Navajo-Hopi Intergovernmental Compact at the Heard Museum
here Friday, leaving just one more signature to go -
that of U.S. District Judge Earl H. Carroll - to relegate
the 40-year-old Bennett Freeze Area to the history books
and memory.
"What this agreement means is it's
an era of a new and positive relationship between the
Navajo and Hopi nations, and I'm very much looking forward
to that, which is the way it should be, working together,
complementing each other, standing side by side,"
said President Shirley in remarks following the signing
of documents."
Accord reached for sacred Hopi sites on Navajo land
PHOENIX (AP) -- After a bitter 40-year dispute, leaders of the Navajo and Hopi tribes sat together Friday and signed an agreement that allowed development on 700,000 acres of land that both claim as their own.
"The Hopis and Navajos have not always seen eye to eye," Hopi Vice Chairman Todd Honyaoma said at the signing ceremony. "But we are neighbors, and neighbors need to be friends."
The two tribes, which about each other in Arizona's northeastern corner, have fought over land most of the last century. In 1966, the federal government imposed a ban on any development on the so-called Bennett Freeze Area as the tribes worked out their differences....
Land
Dispute History
1882:
An order by President Arthur sets aside about 2.5 million
acres in northeastern Arizona for the Hopis and "other
Indians" who might be settled there by the Interior
secretary. The land centers on the mesas of the village-dwelling
Hopis but includes areas occupied by scattered Navajo
sheepherders.
1900: An Indian agent to the Hopis reports
that Navajos "have been allowed to encroach upon
the Hopi Reservation for years, taking possession of
the best watering places, best farming and best pasture
land."
1925: An Indian agent writes that the
Hopi tradition of clinging to the mesas "explains
why they have not prospered parallel to their neighbors,
the Navajos." The same agent later reports
that new Hopi interest in lands beyond the mesas
has brought them into conflict with Navajos....
Hopis,
Navajos end 40-year battle
By Mark Shaffer and Betty Reid, Arizona Republic
An
accord has been reached between the Navajo and Hopi
tribes to end a bitter 40-year struggle over Hopi religious
sites on more than 700,000 acres of the western Navajo
Reservation.
Thousands of Navajos in the so-called Bennett
Freeze Area have been without running water, electricity
or modern appliances for decades because of a development
ban put in place during the dispute.
The area is part of the 7 million total
acres of Navajo land in which access by Hopis to religious
sites will be resolved....
Tribes'
long battle over Bennett Freeze Area
NOVEMBER 3, 2006
The issue stems from a 1934 federal law that extended the borders of the Navajo Reservation and said the area was for use by the Navajos "and other Indian tribes." The Hopis sued the Navajos for access to the land in 1974, hoping to keep people from becoming entrenched amid various ongoing legal matters....
Border Summit testimony: O'odham teenager killed by Border Patrol
By
Brenda Norrell
SAN XAVIER, TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION - While describing the Border Patrol as a "death squad," indigenous at the Border Summit of the Americas were told how Border Patrol agents ran over and killed Tohono O'odham teenager Bennett Patricio, Jr.
"The Border Patrol is a death squad. They are operating like they do in Central and South America, because no one can hold them accountable," said Jimbo Simmons, member of the International Indian Treaty Council, during the Summit Aug. 29 - Oct. 1....
The Border Summit opposed the border wall and Secure Fence Act passed by the Senate and urged Indian Nations to unite and defend their ancestral lands from the planned desecration....
Arizona utility seeks investors to reopen Mohave coal plant
By Mark Golden, OCTOBER 6, 2006
SAN
FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- A publicly owned Arizona
utility is on the hunt for investors who will share
its dream of restarting a shuttered coal-fired power
plant in the Nevada desert that was abandoned by its
other owners.
Phoenix-based Salt River Project is working
to build a new ownership group to buy and upgrade the
1,580-megawatt Mohave Generating Station. The plant,
in Laughlin, Nev. near the Arizona border, was shut
in December because its owners hadn't installed pollution
control equipment required under a court-approved consent
decree. The plant also faced other problems, including
expiring coal and water supply contracts. To resolve
a lawsuit by environmentalists concerned about the harmful
effects of pollution from Mohave on wildlife at the
nearby Grand Canyon National Park, the plant's owners
agreed to either install pollution-control equipment
or shut the plant by the end of 2005....
EPA
wraps up Desert Rock air permit hearings
By Erny Zah The Daily Times, OCTOBER 6, 2006
SHIPROCK - The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) ended the public hearings portion of
Sithe Global Power's application for an air permit
Wednesday in the Phil Thomas Performing Arts Center.
The permit, if issued by EPA later this
year, would be another step to enable the construction
of Desert Rock Power Plant, a proposed $2.5-billion,
1,500-megawatt coal-fired power plant. The plant would
be located about 28 miles southwest of Farmington on
the Navajo Nation.
EPA officials estimated between 35 and 40
people offered comments about the permit Wednesday,
most urging the EPA to take into consideration culture
and lesser known contaminates....
Mohawks
join Tohono O'odham in solidarity at border summit
By Brenda Norrell, OCTOBER 2, 2006
SAN XAVIER DISTRICT, TOHONO O�ODHAM NATION,
Ariz. -- Indigenous at the Border Summit of the Americas
opposed a border fence that will separate Indian communities
in their ancestral territories and contribute to the
Bush administration�s plan for corporate profiteering.
Without compromise, Indigenous called for
a halt to the militarization, oppression and psychological
terrorism created by the military industrial complex
along the US/Mexico border.
Mohawks from the northern border united
with Tohono O'odham from the southern border and demanded
a halt to the militarization of their lands by the US
Border Patrol, National Guard and federal agents....
President signs historic legislation
By John Christian Hopkins, Diné Bureau, Gallup
Independent, SEPTEMBER 30, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - Navajo Nation President
Joe Shirley Jr. signed to historic pieces of legislation
Friday one to close the book on the past and the
other to begin a new chapter in Navajo history.
Flanked by First Lady Vikki Shirley and
Delegate Nelson Begay (Lukachukai/Tsaile/Wheatfields),
the president signed into law the Hopi-Navajo land agreement
and the creation of a tribal gaming enterprise.
"I thank the council who passed this,
and it went through the chapters, too," Shirley
said. "The councilors who passed this had the people
at heart."
Mohave
proposal gets mixed reaction
By John G. Edwards, Review Journal, SEPTEMBER 30,
2006
John Kennon, a Laughlin area resident who
retired from the closed coal-fired power plant there,
wonders why Nevada officials want to build another one
near Ely.
"Seems too bad that a multimillion-dollar
power plant sits rusting ... in Laughlin while another
is being built in Ely," Kennon, 59, said in an e-mail.
"Too bad Nevada Power and Southern California Edison
could not figure out to put a working power plant back
in service. I hope the lights stay on."
Thanks to Salt River Project, a public power
company serving Phoenix, the 1,580-megawatt Mohave Generating
Station may start cranking out electricity again in
a few years....
Freeze comments frost delegates
Trio defends its vote on compact following president's
statements
By Kathy Helms, Diné Bureau, Gallup Independent,
SEPTEMBER 28, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - The three Navajo Nation
Council delegates who voted Tuesday against the
proposed intergovernmental compact between the Nation
and the Hopi Tribe say they are not happy with statements
made Wednesday by President Joe Shirley Jr. on KTNN
Radio.
Delegates Leonard Chee, Amos Johnson and
Hope MacDonald-Lone Tree said in a joint press release
that President Shirley incorrectly told the Navajo people
that they do not support lifting the Bennett Freeze
because of their vote.
"President Shirley is wrong on his
position on the Bennett Freeze compact and he is wrong
again on Delegates Chee, Johnson, and MacDonald-Lone
Tree's vote. Delegates Chee, Johnson, and MacDonald-Lone
Tree want the freeze to be lifted, but not at the cost
of individual and human rights of our people,"
they said....
Fighting for home Bennett Freeze dissenters ready for legal battle
By Marley Shebala, Navajo Times, AUGUST 24, 2006
BIG MOUNTAIN, Ariz. - An Aug. 18 meeting at Sam Yazzie's home, called "forgotten people" by its organizers, starred with a Navajo prayer chanted by medicine man, Norris Nez of Hollow Mesa, Ariz.
Nez, 78, later said the prayer was one he usually does not use. In this case, however, he said it was needed "to combat" the words in a proposed compact to end the 40-year-old Bennett Freeze.
Nez was among about 50 residents of the freeze area who gathered to voice their worry that they are about to be hurt again by the politics surrounding the land dispute....
Dine' officials discuss Bennett Freeze agreement on KTNN radio
By George Hardeen, Special to the Observer, Navajo-Hopi
Observer, AUGUST 24, 2006
WINDOW ROCK -- The Navajo Nation's attorney general and the director of the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission told radio listeners Aug. 17 that the proposed Intergovernmental Compact between the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe will result in no land exchanges, relocation, loss of Navajo land or livestock or loss of sites sacred to either the Navajo or Hopi people.
Instead, Navajo Nation Attorney General Louis Denetsosie said the compact will end lawsuits between the tribes involving land as in areas as diverse as LeChee and St. Michaels, and lift a freeze on development within the 40-year-old Bennett Freeze Area in the western portion of the Navajo Nation.
He and Navajo-Hopi Land Commission Director Roman Bitsuie spent two hours on KTNN's Forum program explaining the long and complicated history of the land issues going back to 1882, 1868 and what led to lawsuits of the 1934 Reservation....
Program
assists Navajo elders
By Glenda Galbraith ,Salt Lake Tribune, AUGUST 24,
2006
More than
20 years ago, Linda Myers met Rose Hulligan, a young
Navajo woman who collected day-old bread and canned
goods to support the older members of her tribe.
Myers, an
artist, donated the proceeds of an art sale to fund
a large shopping spree to Sam's Club and trip to the
reservation....
Panel
rejects deal settling Navajo, Hopi land feud
By John Christian Hopkins, Dineh Bureau, Gallup
Independent, AUGUST 23, 2006
WINDOW ROCK � The Government
Services Committee narrowly rejected an agreement Monday
aimed at settling the Navajo-Hopi land feud.
GSC members Orlanda Smith-Hodge
and Mel Begay expressed concern that the pact under
consideration lacked any supporting resolutions from
the chapters affected by the proposed settlement.
Delegate Duane Tsinigine,
who sponsored the legislation, along with Deputy Attorney
General Harrison Tsosie and Chief Legislative Counsel
Ray Etcitty said there only two alternatives: negotiate
an agreement or continue litigation.
The main thing to consider
is that no land ownership will change hands and no Navajo
families will be relocated, Tsosie said. The pact basically
spells out that both Navajo and Hopi will respect each
other's traditional religious practices and the right
to practice them without interference, he added....
Chapter members ask for hearing on Freeze deal
By Kathy Helms, Dineh Bureau, Gallup Independent,
AUGUST 17, 2006
WINDOW ROCK -- Members of Tuba City Chapter finally will have an opportunity at a public hearing Friday to learn details of a proposed intergovernmental compact between the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe regarding the Bennett
Freeze.
Delegate Duane Tsinigine (Bodaway-Gap/Cameron/Coppermine) and Attorney General Louis Denetsosie presented legislation on the compact Tuesday to the
Public Safety Committee, which passed it after considerable debate....
Land settlement in sight
Navajo, Hopi negotiating teams reach agreement on language in the proposed compact
By Kathy Helms and John Cristian Hopkins, Dineh
Bureau, Gallup Independent, AUGUST 17, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - Since 1958, the Navajo
and Hopi tribes have been involved in litigation
over various aspects of the Navajo-Hopi land dispute.
A proposed intergovernmental compact would settle
a lawsuit authorized by Congress in 1974.
In the lawsuit known as "the 1934 Reservation Litigation," the Hopi Tribe asserts that millions of acres of Navajo land are Hopi shrines or religious use areas and should be awarded to the Hopi. It also argues that Navajo families living in those areas should be relocated....
Experts say aquifers running dry
By CYNDY COLE, Sun Staff Reporter, Arizona Daily
Sun, AUGUST 13, 2006
Communities from Williams and Tusayan to Flagstaff and Tuba City are going to be using more water than they can sustainably draw from the ground by 2050, the Bureau of Reclamation has found in one of the most comprehensive studies to date.
Wells tapping the Navajo Aquifer around Dilkon at Lower Greasewood could be going dry as soon as 2010, the study found, with many more to follow in the next two decades....
An
earful for the prez
Bennett Freeze residents demand a voice in settlement
terms
by Cindy Yurth, Special to the Times, Navajo Times,
AUGUST10, 2006
Attending a meeting on the Bennett Freeze
in Tuba City last Friday, President Joe Shirley
Jr. got an earful ... and not from supporters chanting
"Four more years!"
More than 200 people, all Navajo residents
of the Freeze area, gathered on a slope behind the
Tuba City flea market to denounce the proposed compact
hammered out by Shirley and Hopi Tribe officials....
Freeze
residents file lawsuit, seek to void compact
Navajo Times, AUGUST 3, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - Residents of the Bennett Freeze area have files a lawsuit in Tuba City District Court to get the intergovernmental agreement between the Hopis and the Navajos voided because parts of it are to remain secret.
The agreement, which will lift the Bennett Freeze, still needs approval of the federal courts and the Interior Department....
EPA
sued over Four Corners Power Plant emissions
Anne Greenberg, Navajo Times, AUGUST 3, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - The New Mexico Sierra Club
made an unexpected move in a long ignored battle when
it filed suit last week to force the cleanup of emissions
from the Four Corners Power Plant.
The July 27 suit names the federal Environmental
Protection Agency as defendant, but the suit also involves
the Navajo Nation's failure to crack down on air pollution
from the power plant....
Bennett
Freeze compact violates rights
Navajo Times, AUGUST 3, 2006
A formal gesture of the Navajo Nation president introduced a contract that has been in motion for the past two years without the knowledge of the Navajo people.
It is without confidence that the contract, titled "intergovernmental compact," assures the heavy controversial lands of Bennett Freeze to be lifted....
Explosion
delayed until sometime in '07
Kathy Helms, Diné Bureau, Gallup Independent,
AUGUST 1, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson,
D-2nd District, applauded an announcement Tuesday
by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency that the
Divine Strake non-nuclear explosion planned at Nevada
Test Site could not be conducted until several months
into 2007 at the earliest.
The Divine Strake non-nuclear explosion is
planned for Nevada Test Site where atomic testing was
conducted largely in the 1950s and 1960s, thus raising
health concerns that residual contamination could be disturbed
and redeposited downwind by new testing, whether nuclear
or non-nuclear....
EPA
sued over Four Corners Power Plant emissions
Arizona Republic, AUGUST 1, 2006
FARMINGTON, N.M. - The Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to force it to implement emission controls at the coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant.
"The Four Corners Power Plant is one of the dirtiest in the nation and there is no good reason why the facility shouldn't use modern pollution controls," said Doug Fraiser, chairman of the chapter's air quality department....
Freeze
amendment opposed
McCain's
legislation to on Navajo, Hopi Land Settlement resisted
Kathy Helms, Staff Writer, Diné Bureau, Gallup
Independent, JULY 26, 2006
WINDOW ROCK � The Intergovernmental
Relations Committee of the Navajo Nation Council
backed legislation Monday sponsored by Delegate
Hope MacDonald-LoneTree opposing the Navajo-Hopi
Land Settlement Amendments of 2005 sponsored by
U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
The Navajo Nation is urging Congress
to establish a blue ribbon panel to study and review
the negative effects of relocation and the Bennett
Freeze upon the Navajo people, the long-term costs
of the relocation policy, and to provide the resources
necessary to properly resettle the Navajo people
and address the negative impacts of the Bennett
Freeze....
A
hearing was held recently on S1003 in the House
Resources Committee. Click on each of the following
links to see what was said:
Hopi
chair faces complaint of misconduct
Sidney allegedly had a .311 BAC at time
of incident
Kathy Helms, Staff Writer, Gallup Independent, JULY
29, 2006
KYKOTSMOVI - The Hopi Tribal Council
has called a special session for 9 a.m. Thursday
to discuss a "complaint of misconduct" against Hopi
Tribal Chairman Ivan Sidney following a June 27
incident in Winslow.
Clifford Balenquah Qotsaquahu, council representative for the Village of Bacavi, filed the complaint of misconduct July 20 after receiving copies of an incident report from Winslow Police Department....
Making a Just Transition Club Partners with Navajo, Hopi on Renewable Energy Plan
By Timothy Lesle, Sierra Club, JULY 25, 2006
On the last day of 2005, the Mohave
Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada, powered
down. The closure forced northern Arizona's Black
Mesa Coal Mine to halt operation's sole customer
was the Mohave plant. As went the station and the
mine, so went the pipeline that carried a slurry
of water and Black Mesa coal 273 miles from the
mine to the power plant, where it was dried and
burned to create electricity for Las Vegas and Southern
California. They fell, one after the other, "like
three big dominoes," says Andy Bessler, of
the Sierra Club's Partnerships program. On the first
day of 2006, a system that had existed for more
than 30 years, that had obscured views of the Grand
Canyon with air pollution and drawn down the Navajo
aquifer, was brought to a standstill.
Since the Black Mesa Mine was on Hopi
Tribe and Navajo Nation lands, its closure was a
blow to their economies. But a plan is in the works
to shift those economies in a more sustainable direction.
The "Just Transition Plan" will bring
the tribes millions of dollars each year for investment
in renewable development on tribal lands millions
of dollars, organizers hope, that will come from
the owners of the Mohave Generating Station....
EPA
issues power plant an draft air quality permit
By Lisa Meerts, Farmington Daily Times, JULY 25,
2006
FARMINGTON - The Environmental Protection
Agency released a draft air quality permit for the
Desert Rock Power Plant Thursday, calling it one
of the strictest permits ever.
"This has state-of-the-art control technology. It's going to be much, much cleaner (than other local plants)," said Gerardo Rios, chief of permits in the Air Division Office of the EPA. The conditions delineated in the permit are based on federal standards and, should the EPA issue the permit, it does not anticipate the plant would violate any federal air quality standards, he said....
Navajo
Nation: EPA to set tough standards for power plant
By Susan Montoya Bryan, Santa Fe New Mexican, JULY
21, 2006
ALBUQUERQUE -- The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has proposed some of the most
stringent emission requirements in the country for
a planned power plant on the Navajo Nation, setting
a new level of performance for coal-fired plants
in the United States.
Houston-based Sithe Global Power and
the tribe's Din� Power Authority plan to build a
1,500 megawatt power plant that could power up to
1.5 million homes in cities across the Southwest....
World uranium summit
Source - Navajo Times, July 20, 2006
The
Indigenous World Uranium Summit is scheduled Sept.
20-24 at the Navajo Nation Museum. Expected are
delegates from Australia, India, Brazil, Tibet,
and Canada. Activities include tours of uranium
sites, workshops, concerts and dinners. Information:
Cora Maxx-Phillips, 928-871-6450, or Wynoma Foster,
505-786-5209
EPA
backs permit Kathy Helms, Gallup
Independent, JULY 20, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has proposed a Clean Air permit
for the Desert Rock Energy Project and will formally
publish a public notice in the Farmington Daily
Times and Navajo Times in a few weeks, kicking off
the public comment period.
EPA also will host informational workshops
for Navajo Nation residents and nearby communities
about the proposed permit before returning in October
for a formal public hearing. The affected public
has the right to request a hearing in their area.
The deadline for public comment is Oct. 27....
Feds
initiate talks to bring Amber Alert to Indian Country Santa Fe New Mexican, JULY 20, 2006
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - The U.S. Department
of Justice announced Wednesday that it has been
talking with tribal leaders about the possibility
of bringing the Amber Alert system to reservations
across the country..
"Tribes can play an important part in
strengthening our Amber Alert network," said Regina
Schofield, assistant attorney general for the Office
of Justice Programs. "Amber Alert has shown itself
to be a strong criminal deterrent, and any time
crime is deterred, the quality of life goes up."
The
Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation (OSM) has
decided to "suspend" activities on "publishing the
draft EIS for the Black Mesa Project." In a July
Newsletter 2006, it states: "As the future of
the Mohave Generating Station and the project become
clearer, OSM will decide whether to continue or
abandon preparation of the EIS."
Navajo
councilman challenges Congress over relocation bill Brenda Norrell, Indian Country
Today, JULY 10, 2006
TUBA CITY, Ariz. - Speaking out against
the Navajo Hopi Land Settlement Act of 2005, known
also as Senate Bill 1003, Navajo councilman Hope
MacDonald-LoneTree said the U.S. government is treating
Navajos the same way Iraqi are treated, with disregard
to rebuilding nations that have been devastated.
"The job ahead is bigger than trying
to rebuild Iraq after bombing the entire infrastructure
and disrupting their way of life. The federal government
cannot just walk off and complain about the amount
of federal monies expended," said LoneTree, Navajo
council delegate for Tuba City and daughter of former
Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald....
Move
from land tough on Navajos Mark Shaffer, Republic Flagstaff
Bureau, Arizona Republic, JULY 7, 2006
DINNEBITO - The area is called Hard
Rocks, an appropriate name since no grass remains
for Navajo shepherds and their flocks.
It was here, 20 years ago today, that
protesters, spurred on by elderly Navajo grandmothers,
made their final stand at the fence and pi�on ridge
lines against the largest forced movement of Native
Americans during the 20th century....
Land
talks take place in private Delegates question timing
of release of details about Bennett Freeze settlement
By Kathy Helms Diné Bureau, Gallup Independent,
JULY 3, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - Despite objections to
keep Friday's special Intergovernmental Relations
Committee meeting open so the Navajo people might
have some idea of what they're giving and getting
in a proposed Bennett Freeze agreement, IGR voted
6-2 for executive session at the request of the
attorney general.
Hopi tribal elders and religious leaders
signed off on the agreement in August 2004. Navajo
Nation Attorney General Louis Denetsosie said, "You
may have read a couple years ago where the Hopi
approved the version of this settlement agreement.
It's called an intergovernmental compact....
Information
withheld? Delegates question timing of release of
details about Bennett Freeze settlement
By Kathy Helms Diné Bureau, Gallup Independent,
JUNE 30, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - News of a settlement agreement
on the Bennett Freeze approved by the Hopi Tribe
in 2004 apparently has been kept from the Navajo
people for nearly two years.
Navajo-Hopi Land Commission member Amos
Johnson (Black Mesa/Forrest Lake) said, "If that
is the case, the Navajo people in the Bennett Freeze
area have been held hostage by the president and
the attorney general for election-year politics."
Don't
close your doors until you clean up your mess Navajo Times, JUNE 29, 2006
Bravo! To Ms. Pauline Whitesinger in
her continuous effort to take a stance in her beliefs
and values! An exemplary woman continuing her crusade
to remain on the land (Hopi Partitioned Land) so
precious and dear to her heart that we learn by
now is rich (plentiful) with natural resources.
Land so rich that it's taken the U.S.
Federal and tribal governmental entities to once
again revisit just as we've seen and read about
from time and time again....
Enviros
encouraged over Mohave closure
By Cindy Yurth, Special to the Times, Navajo Times,
JUNE 29, 2006
CHINLE - The permanent closure of the
Mohave Generating Station marks the end of an era,
but it could also be the beginning of a new, cleaner
one, according to a coalition of environmental groups.
A press release issued last week by
the Just Transition Coalition urged the Navajo and
Hopi tribes which profited from the plant's operation
by leasing coal and water rights, to seek alternatives
to replace the lost revenue - about $38 million
annually in royalties, taxes and fees....
Shirley
wants 'unbiased' study
By Kathy Helms Diné Bureau , Gallup Independent,
JUNE 23, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - Navajo Nation President
Joe Shirley Jr., in testimony this week before the
U.S. House Resources Committee, requested an independent,
"unbiased" non-federal consultant conduct a one-year
study to examine the impacts of relocation on the
Navajo and Hopi people.
Shirley said the study would examine
the effects of relocation, needs, community impact,
range management and livestock reduction, and determine
eligibility benefits for affected Navajo and Hopi
families....
Hopi:
Bill Divides Two Tribes Gallup Independent, JUNE 22, 2006
WINDOW ROCK - Hopi Tribal Chairman Ivan Sidney
on Tuesday told the U.S. House Committee on Resources
that the Hopi Tribe is opposed to amending the Navajo-Hopi
Settlement Act and urged the committee to reconsider moving
forward with a bill that would pit Hopi and Navajo against
each other.
"The Hopi Tribe opposes the draft House bill,"
introduced by U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., Sidney said.
"It is completely contrary to the interest of the Hopi
Tribe to reopen old wounds with the Navajo and rehash
the question of who suffered what as a result of the land
dispute....
Southern
California Edison to sell Nevada Mohave plant Los Angeles BizJournal, JUNE 19, 2006
Southern California Edison and three
other owners will not try to reopen the Mohave Generating
Station in Laughlin, Nev., and instead will try
to sell it, the company announced Monday.
Due to a variety of challenges, including
clean-up and supply issues, the owners decided to
sell it because added together the challenges became
insurmountable....
14TH PROTECTING MOTHER EARTH CONFERENCE
July 6-9, 2006
Cass Lake, Minnesota USA
(Within the sovereign territories of the Leech Lake Anishinaabe Nation. To be held at the Leech Lake Memorial Pow-Wow Grounds.)
This is a traditional gathering with outdoor camping, with a Sacred Fire. Indigenous Peoples and supporters are invited.
Solar Energy a good idea
Navajo Times, JUNE 1, 2006
KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz., - I look forward to a future for the Colorado Plateau, ancient homeland of the Hopi people, that is radically different from the one envisioned by the federal government when the Four Corners area was informally designated as a “national sacrifice area” in the 1960s and 1970s.
The closure of Mohave Generating Station, the dirtiest power plant in the country, on Dec. 31, 2005, has produced new opportunities that will change the course of history for the Hopi people and our neighbors, Indian and non-Indian alike....
Don't read too much into coal proposals Arizona Daily Sun, MAY 27, 2006
The
March memo referred to in the Daily Sun story, "Tribes desperate to
reopen coal mine," (May 7, 2006) was only a proposal, not a legal
document. It is incorrect to say that the tribes were willing to give
up anything. The March 7 document does not indicate what the tribes are
willing to give up. Therefore the Daily Sun piece serves up speculation
and an incomplete story.
It is untrue that Peabody Western Coal and Southern California Edison
would be allowed to pump more water from the Navajo Aquifer over Hopi
farmers' objections, as the Sun reported. The idea is to replace the
use of N-aquifer water with Coconino aquifer water. The C-aquifer
project was covered in the EIS scoping meetings and will be covered in
the draft EIS....
Update on S. 1003, the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Amendments 2005
At the beginning of this month, May 2, 2006,
the U.S. Senate passed S. 1003 by Unanimous Consent. According
to the government
tracking web site, " [a] record of each representative's
position was not kept." The bill was then referred to
the House Resources Committee on May 3, 2006. The latest
action taken was a request from this committee for Executive
Comment from the Interior on May 9. The Senate Report
on the bill can be seen here.
Major Congressional Actions on this bill can be found
on this
page.
The
Navajo Nation opposes this bill, Roman Bitsuie saying, "S. 1003 would
bring an abrupt end to the relocation program before any independent
study of the program's successes and failures can be undertaken.
Congress would repeat its earlier mistake."
Relocation office one step closer to termination Navajo Times, MAY 11, 2006
Window Rock - As expected, the U. S. Senate last week
approved legislation to close the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian
Relocation by Sept. 30, 2008.
Sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the bill was opposed by Navajo
leaders who argue that the program is still needed to handle continuing
problems of Navajos displaced by the land dispute....
HPL families get new chance for federal relocation benefits Navajo Times 26 APRIL 2006 Window
Rock - Hundreds of Navajo families living on the Hopi Partitioned Lands
are getting another chance at getting relocation benefits from the
federal government.
For years, the federal government refused to listen to any case that
fell outside of deadlines taking the position that the families had
their chance....
Navajo relocation mired in human suffering and costs Indian Country Today, JULY 29, 2005
Washington - While leaders of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
pressed for an end to costs of the so-called Navajo and Hopi land dispute, the
director of the Navajo Nation's office of relocation put a human face on the
suffering during testimony before the committee.
Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs,
pressed for an end to Navajo and Hopi relocation costs, which grew from an expected
$40 million at its onset 30 years ago to the current $480 million....
McCain bill would dissolve U.S. relocation office Navajo Times, JULY 28, 2005
Washington
- The Navajo Nation would support a proposal by Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., to dissolve the federal Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation Office
but only if further hardship is eliminated and the action is not simply
to save money, according to a news release from the Navajo Nation
President's office.
McCain, chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee,
received testimony July 21 on his proposal to amend the 1974
Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act....
Promised help for HPL homes delayed again
Navajo Times, AUG. 11, 2005
Window
Rock - Elderly Navajos who were promised new homes in the Hopi
Partition Lands will have to keep waiting, thanks to a clash in Window
Rock over funding to complete the homes.
The Navajo-Hopi Land Commission voted June 22 to allocate
money from the Navajo Rehabilitation Trust Fund to complete or repair
48 homes, which were promised to people living on Hopi Partition Lands
but never completed properly....
Riders appeal to council to protect water Navajo Times, AUG. 3, 2005
WINDOW ROCK - The people are not to blame for closing
Peabody Coal Co. Black Mesa or shutting down the Mohave Generating
Station.
That is one of the messages carried to the Navajo Nation
Council and President Joe Shirley Jr. by the "Water is Life" horseback
ride....
Navajos protest energy exploitation at council Indian Country Today, JULY 25, 2005
Window Rock - Navajos arrived by horseback and on foot at
the tribal capitol to protest the use of Navajo water for coal slurry
in Arizona, a plan to build a new power plant in New Mexico, and
extensive pollution from oil and gas wells, coal mines and power plants
throughout the Navajo Nation.
As the Navajo Nation Council began its summer session,
Navajos from the most remote areas of the Navajo Nation - who haul
water long distances and live with the effects of polluted air, land
and water - protested plans for more lease agreements with energy
companies....
Leupp Navajos protest C-aquifer water slurry deal Indian Country Today, JULY 25, 2005
Window
Rock - A plan being negotiated behind closed doors, which would allow
Peabody Coal Company to continue its coal slurry line operation to the
Mohave Generating Station by using C-aquifer water rather than
N-aquifer water, brought protesters to the Navajo Nation Council from
the Leupp area, where Navajos already have to haul water to survive.
"Ninety-five percent of the Navajos
in Leupp do not have running water; they have to
haul their water," said Anna Frazier of Leupp,
member of Dine' Citizens Against Ruining our Environment....
Leupp, Black Mesa, Hardrock unite to protect aquifers Navajo Times, JULY 7, 2005
Window Rock - Just as Grandma Marjorie
Thomas finished her walk to the Navajo Nation capital,
residents of three chapters announced the start
of a trek under the banner, "Water is Life."
Their goal is not to raise money but public awareness.
They believe Navajo Nation officials are putting important groundwater reserves at risk in an effort to keep the
Black Mesa Mine operating....
Unfulfilled promises
Families wait seven years for homes to be built Navajo Times, JUNE 30, 2005
SANDSPRINGS,
Ariz. - For the past seven years, Alfred and Ida Mae McCabe have been
waiting for the construction crew to arrive.
The materials for their new house are there - $60,000 worth
of construction supplies delivered to the site in 1998 by the Navajo
Housing Services Department, a part of the Division of Community
Development....
Help coming for families promised HPL homes
Navajo Times, JUNE 30, 2005
WINDOW
ROCK - The seven-year wait by 48 Navajo families who were promised new
homes by the Navajo government appears close to an end, thanks in large
part to Ray Denny.
Denny, a 50-something contract employee of the tribe,
meticulously documented the failure of the tribal government to fulfill
its promise to the families, despite receiving $1.5 million in federal
funding to build their homes.
Elders fight to keep land
Peabody opponent says elderly suffer from stress disorder Gallup Independent, JUNE 21, 2005
FOREST LAKE - Eighty-seven-year-old Mae Paulinos is one of
the Black Mesa elders suffering from symptoms commonly diagnosed as
post-traumatic stress disorder. But she is not by herself, according to
Norman Benally, long-time Peabody opposition leader whose family home
lies in the shadow of the mine. "They
have post-traumatic stress disorder, a lot of the elders do. It's like
the same situation that the Vietnam veterans had after they returned
from war," he said, because a lot of the cultural ties to the land have
been destroyed over time.
McCain proposes closing federal relocation office Navajo Times, JUNE 9, 2005
WINDOW ROCK - If U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has
his way, officials for the federal Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation Office
will lock their doors for the last time on Sept. 30, 2008....
McCain has introduced legislation before the Senate Indian
Affairs Committee to shut down the Flagstaff-based program within four
years, saying he feels it has accomplished its mission and should go
quietly into the night....
Sell outs?
Protestors say council puts mining interests before its citizens Gallup Independent, APR 20, 2005
WINDOW ROCK - In some people's minds, the 20th Navajo
Nation Council may go down in history as the one which
sold out the grassroots people, but Black Mesa/Rough
Rock/Forest Lake delegate Amos Johnson said Monday
that he is not going down with them.
From the front sidewalk leading
to the council chambers, as well as on the floor,
Johnson said, "I'm not
going to sell my people out. I'm not going to sell
our coal, our water for the next 25-50 years. I'm not
going to be the one that's going to sell out to the
energy company just so the Navajo Nation can get a
little bit of money."
Johnson spoke of Peabody Coal Company's proposed expansion
of Black Mesa and Kayenta mines and the company's transition
from the fairly pristine N-aquifer to the lesser-quality
C-aquifer for the purpose of slurrying coal to Mohave
Generating Station in Nevada. The switchover also involves
an increase in the volume of water to be used....
Indian
Law: Defining Sovereignty
Indian Country Today - Originally Published 13 DEC 2004
A simple but seductive word lies at the heart of
Indian law. Sovereignty means the inherent power to self-govern.
But the devil is in the fine print: Govern whom? How much? Under
whose thumb? From Congress to the United Nations, august
assemblies struggle in vain to define it....
Hopi Warnings to the
World
Brenda Norrell - Indian Country Today, MAR. 29, 2005
HOTEVILLA, Ariz. - From Hopiland, a spiritual vortex for Native
people, spiritual leaders Dan Evehema and Thomas Banyacya became the voice of the voiceless: the birds and animals.
Warning of the impending apocalypse, they urged all people of good hearts to join them.
Even in their last years, Evehema and Banyacya warned that material greed and ignoring spiritual
truth results in climate change, and, ultimately,
the destruction of the world.
Hopi Snake Priest Evehema said the disease in the world today is greed, and the final insult for this
country's aboriginal people is the loss of ceremonial land.
"We are now faced with great problems, not only here
but throughout the land. Ancient cultures are
being annihilated. Our people's lands are being
taken from them. Why is this happening? It is
happening because many have given up or
manipulated their original spiritual teachings.
"The
way of life that the Great Spirit has given to all
people of the world, whatever your original
instructions, are not being honored...."
Energy
Secretary Admits Yucca Mountain Data Fabricated
- Brenda Norrell, APR 5, 2005
YUCCA MOUNTAIN, Nev. - The Department of Energy has
admitted that data regarding the climatological safety of water
infiltration systems at Yucca Mountain Nuclear Storage Facility
were fabricated, as revealed in e-mails written by U.S. Geological
Survey staffers.
In those e-mails, government scientists of the USGS
said they were clueless about project specifics and were willing
to backdate data and make things up. One expressed the desire to
''get the hell'' out of Yucca Mountain; another described the
nuclear storage facility as being held together by quick fixes.
''This is what we felt was going on, they have not
been truthful. It shows they want this so bad that they are
willing to do anything to move forward with something that hasn't
even really been studied,'' Timbisha Shoshone Chairman Joe Kennedy
told Indian Country Today....
Feds
Interested in Mining Uranium Again
Gallup Independent, APR 2, 2005
FORT DEFIANCE - During spring session, Navajo Nation
Council delegates will be asked to consider the Din� Natural
Resources Protection Act of 2005 which would place a ban on
conventional uranium mining and a lengthy moratorium on uranium
processing.
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., at a meeting
last weekend in Shiprock, told a crowd of more than 500 gathered
at the chapter house that the federal government is once again
interested in mining uranium and may turn to the Navajo Nation as
a source.
"We're at a critical point in the country
regarding the use of uranium," he said, adding that the war
in Iraq has generated a need for oil, coal, natural gas and
uranium....
ANWR
Drilling Could Die with Budget
Anchorage Daily News, - APR 3, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Opening the Arctic refuge to oil
drilling was at the fore of the Senate budget debate last month,
but now it has been overshadowed by even more controversial items
in the budget as Congress attempts to reconcile two very divergent
spending plans in the weeks ahead.
Not only did the Senate version of the budget open
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, it also
rescinded $14 billion in Medicaid cuts sought by President Bush
and further deepened the deficit by approving new tax cuts without
matching spending cuts. None of those items were in the House
version of the budget, and some of the House's deficit hawks have
been loudly critical of the Senate action.
If the House and Senate are unable to resolve their
considerable differences, the budget could go down in flames, as
it has in two of the last three years. And if it does, it will
take refuge development with it, since Senate leaders and the
state's two Republican senators attempted to open the refuge
through the budget process rather than regular legislation....
Tribes Appeal San
Francisco Peaks Decision Indian Country Today, APR 3, 2005
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -
American Indians announced their decision to appeal a Coconino
National Forest Service decision to use treated sewage water to
make snow for tourism on San Francisco Peaks.
Since time immemorial,
this mountain has been a dwelling place of the spirits, and the
plants comprise the sacred bundles of American Indian medicine
people, Indian representatives said in a press conference at the
base of the Peaks.
The healing powers of San
Francisco Peaks have protected the tribes of the Southwest, the
nation and the world.
Cora Phillips, staff
assistant to Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr., said, ''These
mountains give the Navajo people strength. We have always looked
to these mountains for leadership.''...
Indigenous
Peoples Day Proclaimed - Indian Country Today,
APR 2, 2005
nbsp; PHOENIX - United Nations Rapporteur J. Wilton
Littlechild, Cree Nation of Canada, received a proclamation of
Indigenous Peoples Day from Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, a premiere
move for worldwide recognition of the term representing global
indigenous self-sufficiency.
Littlechild is part of the Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues, an advisory body to the U.N.'s Economic and
Social Council.
Tupac Enrique Acosta, coordinator of Tonatierra
community action organization in Phoenix, said Gordon's
recognition of the term ''indigenous peoples'' and what it
represents sends a signal to the governments of the world.
''The United States government has been blocking
acceptance of the term 'indigenous peoples' in the efforts of the
draft declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples at the
United Nations,'' Enrique told Indian Country Today....
Cloud
People Run for the Rain - Indian Country Today, MAR 29, 2005
SHUNGOPAVI, Ariz. - American Indian runners will
carry the sacred message of water to the 4th World Water Forum in
Mexico City in March 2006, beginning the journey in the Hopi
village of Moencopi.
''Every person represents a cloud and the more people
that come, the more clouds will come to make it rain,'' Hopi run
organizer Ruben Saufkie Sr. told Indian Country Today.
Hopi from each of the 13 villages will join members
of other Indian nations to carry their water message 2,000 miles.
For Hopi, it is also an effort to bring unity to their people.
Urging runners to begin preparing spiritually now by purifying
themselves throughout the year, Saufkie said they would carry the
message of how Black Mesa Trust is pressuring the world's largest
coal company, Peabody Coal, to stop pumping water from the
N-aquifer....
Hopi
Tribe Explores Alternative Energy Sources
- The Navajo-Hopi Observer, MAR. 31, 2005
POLACCA - What role does the Black Mesa Trust have
in energy issues on Hopi and are they part of the discussions?
These were the questions on many people's minds
during a panel discussion about the Peabody Coal operation on the
Hopi Reservation. The Hopi Tribe hosted an energy fair March 22 at
Hopi Jr/Sr High School. Various companies or organizations had
booths about energy alternatives in the gymnasium.
Meanwhile, panel discussions were held in the
auditorium.
The first panel was comprised of Hopi Councilwoman
Deanna Etnire, Hopi Councilman King Honanie, and General Counsel
for the Hopi Tribe Scott Canty and Peabody spokesman Brian Dunfee.
Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor Jr. served as the moderator of the
panel discussions.
A second panel discussion included Arizona
Corporation Commissioners Bill Mundell, Kris Mayes and Marc
Spitzer as they discussed how to improve energy and utilities on
the Hopi Reservation.
Councilwoman Etnire said the Black Mesa Trust's
work, which she called "Masayesva group," has been detrimental
to the process. She was referring to Vernon Masayesva, executive
director of Black Mesa Trust, a Hopi-based environmental group....
Flag
Residents Back Native Opposition to Artificial Snow
The Navajo-Hopi Observer, MAR. 31, 2005
FLAGSTAFF - At a protest held at City Hall the
evening of March 18, non-natives present outnumbered Native
Americans against artificial snowmaking at Arizona Snowbowl.
Internationally famous Navajo artist Shonto Begay
made an appearance at the protest against snowmaking on San
Francisco Peaks held March 18 at Flagstaff City Hall.
Allison Israel moved from Washington DC to Flagstaff
11 years ago. Her husband and son, Lance and Angelo, accompanied
her to voice her concerns about the environmental impacts of the
Snowbowl.
"We are here because we need to protect the next
seven generations, and making snow is not the way to do it,"
Israel said....
Earth's
Health is Deteriorating as Growing Human Demands for Food,
Water Strain Ecosystems, U.N. Study Finds
AP - MAR 31, 2005
LONDON -
Growing populations and expanding economic activity have strained
the planet's ecosystems over the past half century, a trend that
threatens international efforts to combat poverty and disease, a
U.N.-sponsored study of the Earth's health warned on Wednesday.
The
four-year, US$24 million study, "the largest ever to show how
people are changing their environment" ound that humans had
depleted 60 percent of the world's grasslands, forests, farmlands,
rivers and lakes.
Unless
nations adopt more eco-friendly policies, increased human demands
for food, clean water and fuels could speed the disappearance of
forests, fish and fresh water reserves and lead to more frequent
disease outbreaks over the next 50 years, it said....
Tribes Look to Religious
Protection for Snowmaking AppeallArizona Daily Sun, MAR 30, 2005
Hopis, Navajos and a
handful of other tribes began laying out their case Tuesday for an
appeal of the decision to allow snowmaking with reclaimed
wastewater at Arizona Snowbowl.
The tribes contend they
weren't adequately consulted before the decision was made.
Further, the decision
undermines religious freedoms guaranteed to everyone under the
First Amendment by desecrating sacred land and violates the Forest
Service's federal responsibilities to care for Native American
trust lands.
They also asked for an
extension of the public comment period on the Snowbowl decision,
which will be headed to Albuquerque for review in 27 days....
Skis
Carve a Path of Controversy in Arizona - The Christian
Science Monitor - MAR 30, 2005
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ - Dividing two worlds, the
pearl-white loft of the San Francisco Peaks hovers as
a dwelling place for powerful earth gods, at least in
the eyes of native peoples living on the nearby Navajo
and Hopi Indian reservations. But for athletic denizens
of urban Flagstaff, those same mountains rising overhead
have come to mean something else: a rare opportunity to
alpine ski on the arid Colorado Plateau.
Today, those differing views, one modern, the other
ancient, have created a clash of cultures that now reverberates
across Western Indian country.
"The Peaks are part of me. They speak to who I
am as a Navajo. It's hard to put into words how a
landmark can represent the essence of your soul, but
it does," says Joe Shirley Jr., president of the
300,000-member Navajo Nation, the largest tribe in the US.
"It sickens me to think of what the US government is allowing
to happen in those mountains."
A recent decision by the US Forest Service to allow
expansion of a commercial ski area and use of treated sewage water
for artificial snowmaking in the San Francisco Peaks has incited
an emotional debate about spiritual desecration....
A
School Built on Navajo Values
- The Christian Science Monitor - MAR 29, 2005
COCONINO COUNTY, ARIZ. - A piece of string takes on
the likeness of a Navajo rug pattern with just a few swift twists
of the fingers. In a corner of the K-2 classroom, giggling
children show off their skill at "spider games." They
get to practice only in winter - the season of the Navajo story
about Spider Woman giving the gift of weaving.
The students' artful webs are a good metaphor for
their education here at the STAR School, a K-8 charter halfway
between Flagstaff, Arizona, and the Navajo reservation town of
Leupp. The name stands for Service to All Relations--and the
mission is to weave the Navajo system of K'e, meaning kinship and
relatedness, into the everyday life of the school....
How
Tribes Regained Self-rule, Homelands- Arizona Republic - MAR 27,
2005
When Ronnie Lupe became chairman of the White
Mountain Apache Tribe, it was hardly an auspicious time.
The year was 1966 and his eastern Arizona tribe, like
all the others, had hit rock bottom.
Indians faced the deepest poverty in the
country. Infant mortality was high and adult life expectancy
low. Few had attended college, much less graduated.
Despite treaties recognizing tribal authority,
outside interests ran the reservations. Peabody Coal strip-mined
sacred Black Mesa in northeastern Arizona through unfair
leases with the Hopis and Navajos. The Bureau of Indian
Affairs trashed Apache and other tribal forests with high-yield,
unsustainable logging.
Lupe passionately believed in Apache self-determination.
"I am an Apache," he said. "I look at the world differently.
The way I do things, the things I believe, the choices
I make are all because I am an Apache."
Yet the proud Apaches had no say on their
high-country homeland.
"We couldn't even open our mail," Lupe recalls.
"It all went straight into the BIA's hands." The words
of Chief Justice John Marshall, who described Indian tribes
as nations, had turned to dust.
Against all odds, tribal leaders came together,
decided to fight back and succeeded. In a historic revival
that can be compared to the civil rights, environmental
and women's movements, Indian tribes took back their reservations....
Left
and Right Unite to Challenge Patriot Act Provisions Group
wants limits on access allowed law enforcement San Francisco Chronicle - MAR
23, 2005
Washington - unusual left-right coalition
opened a campaign Tuesday to sharply curtail controversial
provisions of the USA Patriot Act, showing that Congress
and President Bush face a pointed debate over renewing
the law enacted just 45 days after the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks.
It was a Washington rarity to see the American
Civil Liberties Union line up with conservative lions
like David Keefe of the American Conservative Union and
former Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga, but they were among those
at a Washington press conference held to assail such Patriot
Act provisions as those allowing law enforcement agents
to look at library users' records or to conduct unannounced
"sneak-and-peek'' searches on homes or private offices.
"It is not, and never should be necessary,
to surrender our rights under the Bill of Rights to fight
the war on terrorism,'' said Barr, who as a House member
voted for the Patriot Act, which passed overwhelmingly
in the House and provoked only one dissenting Senate vote....
Wounded
Knee '73 Revisited- Indian
Country Today - MAR 24, 2005
WOUNDED KNEE, S.D. - A handful of American
Indians took over a church on Feb. 27, 1973 to protest
racism and corruption in the Oglala Sioux government.
A 71-day war resulted.
It wasn't meant to be a shootout; the intent
was to protest events that were crushing the people's
pride and dignity on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Traditional
Oglala people claimed they were ignored and some said
at the time they were afraid to go into town (Pine Ridge
village) for essential items such as food.
That's when Severt Young Bear, Lakota elder,
called in the American Indian Movement: and traditional
people and AIM members stood together in the standoff
that attracted the media and captured the hearts of supporters
nationwide....
Office
of Surface Mining (OSM) Comment Period Extended for Black
Mesa Mine, N-aquifer Use OSM Web Site - FEB 4, 2005
Two additional public meeting dates have
been scheduled, and the deadline for submission of written
comments concerning the fate of Peabody Coal's Black Mesa
mine and the use of the N- aquifer slurry line has been
extended.
For Details, click the above link.
Use
of water for coal slurry challenged in Flagstaff
- Navajo Times - JAN 20, 2005
FLAGSTAFF - Every seat in the Coconino County
board room was occupied and people squeezed around doorways
to raise questions about proposed changes in the operation
of the Kayenta and Black Mesa coalmines, located 125 miles
northeast of here.
The Jan. 13 meeting was held by the federal Office of
Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement, which must
decide whether to issue a revised permit to Peabody Western
Coal Company for the mines....
Too
Much of a Good Thing?- Arizona
Daily Sun - FEB 6, 2005
As skiers enjoy Arizona Snowbowl's
best season in years, they are also learning the early
bird catches the lift ticket -- season pass or not.
That's
because skiers who don't make it up Snowbowl Road before
the ski area's approximately 1,200-vehicle parking lot
fills up get turned away, something that has occurred
four times so far this season, all on holiday weekends....
Wounded
Knee '73 Revisited
- Indian Country Today - MAR 24, 2005
WOUNDED KNEE, S.D. - A handful of American Indians
took over a church on Feb. 27, 1973 to protest racism and
corruption in the Oglala Sioux government. A 71-day war resulted.
It wasn't meant to be a shootout; the intent was to
protest events that were crushing the people's pride and dignity
on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Traditional Oglala people claimed
they were ignored and some said at the time they were afraid to go
into town (Pine Ridge village) for essential items such as food.
That's when Severt Young Bear, Lakota elder, called
in the American Indian Movement: and traditional people and AIM
members stood together in the standoff that attracted the media
and captured the hearts of supporters nationwide....
Bush-Hitler:
Hypnotizing the Masses
by Russell M. Drake, With Comment by Prof. James Craven, Blackfoot
Originally Published 18 January 2005
"All effective propaganda must be confined to a
few bare essentials and these must be expressed as far as possible
in stereotyped formulae. These slogans should be persistently
repeated until the very last individual has come to grasp the idea
that has been put forward... Propaganda must not investigate the
truth objectively and, in so far as it is favorable to the other
side, present it according to the theoretical rules of justice:
the very first condition which has to be fulfilled is a
systematically one-sided attitude towards every problem. It must
present only that aspect of the truth, which is favorable to its
own side... the receptive powers of the masses are very
restricted, and their understanding is feeble... The art of
propaganda consists precisely in being able to awaken the
imagination of the public through an appeal to their feelings. It
consists in putting a matter so clearly and forcibly before their
minds as to create general conviction regarding the reality of a
certain fact, the necessity for certain things. It must be limited
to a few simple themes and these must be repeated again and
again".
(Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf)
Said by some
to be more dangerous than Osama bin-Laden, he has been condemned
as a "war maniac," called a "moron" by the
Canadian prime minister�'s chief spokeswoman, ridiculed as
"The English Patient" for his struggles with language,
and likened to Adolf Hitler.
Of all
the labels hung on George W. Bush, the hardest to shake may be the
comparison with Hitler.
Perhaps
the clearest likeness between the two men lies in their use of
emotionally induced hypnosis to plant in the mass consciousness an
image of themselves as protectors of their subjects from threats
to national survival both inside and outside the fatherland....
Navajo
Allottees Locked Out of Their Tribe's Water Rights Settlement Farmington Daily-Times - JAN 29, 2005
HUERFANO - More than 25,000 Navajos
living in the checkerboard area between Bloomfield and
Crownpoint have found themselves locked on the outside of the
Navajo Nation Water Rights Settlement Agreement on the San Juan
Basin.
Navajos
who live on federal trust land�but not on the reservation�would
not gain any Navajo water rights once the settlement is passed
by Congress and the New Mexico 11th Judicial District Court.
The
Navajo allottee families who live on plots of land�some as big
as 160 acres�have individual land rights held in trust by the
Bureau of Indian Affairs....
Tribes
Protest Waste Water Snow on Sacred Mountain - Indian Country Today - JAN 26, 2005
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - American Indians and local
residents protested a plan to make snow from wastewater at a ski
resort near the Grand Canyon. Skiers and snowboarders were told
that San Francisco Peaks are sacred to 13 area Indian tribes and
among the Navajos' four sacred mountains.
Among those protesting with signs at the base of
the mountain were members of the Navajo punk rock band
Blackfire. The Benally family, members of the Save the Peaks
Coalition, sang traditional Navajo songs to honor the mountain,
which has been assaulted by various industries.
Jeneda Benally said, ''We are here to let people
know what the ski area is trying to do to this sacred mountain.
We want to bring in the new year with respect!
''We are not here to tell people what they can or
can't do, we want people to know that there are respectful uses
of the mountain. Snowmaking with 180 million gallons of
contaminated wastewater, and clear cutting 74 acres, is
certainly not one of them.''...
Snowmaking Looms for New Forest Chief - Arizona Daily Sun,
DEC 26, 2004
Nestled in eight, 4-inch ring binders at the Coconino National
Forest office on Lake Mary Road are all 4,000 comments submitted on the Arizona Snowbowl's proposed upgrade and
snowmaking plan.
Since the day the comment period closed in April, Coconino National Forest staff have culled the variety of
opinions and views expressed both for and against the proposal to used reclaimed wastewater to make snow.
"I've read all of those comments that have been pulled," said Coconino National Forest Supervisor Nora Rasure, in a sit-down interview with the Daily Sun this month.
"We're working through all of the comments and we are responding to them."
The responses will become part of the final environmental impact statement for the Snowbowl snowmaking plan, which
Forest Service staff expects will reach completion within the next two or three months....
Nuclear
and Chemical Warfare Operations - Unwanted Neighbors
- Brenda Norrell - DEC 20, 2004
DUCKWATER, Nev - Beyond genocide, the
poisoning of ancestral lands of the Shoshone, Paiute
and Goshute in Nevada and Utah constitutes ecocide,
the death of all life forms, and punctuates the
pivotal point in state-sanctioned environmental
violence toward American Indians.
''The Western Shoshone are the most bombed nation in
the world,'' said Ian Zabarte, secretary of state for the Western
Shoshone Nation Council. Pointing out that the nuclear test site
is on Western Shoshone ancestral land, Zabarte said nuclear
testing and radiation has taken its toll on his people, but their
land rights remain in tact, secured by the Treaty of Ruby Valley
of 1863....
A
Slow and Toxic Genocide - Brenda Norrell - DEC 20, 2004
FORT WINGATE, N.M. - A new study shows American
Indians have been exposed to the toxic legacy of two World Wars
and the Cold War, with undetonated bombs, nerve gas and live
shells littering Indian country and borderlands.
The United States policy of locating dangerous
military operations near Indian communities is described as
national racism, reflective of apartheid practices in South
Africa.
''Consider apartheid: The South African state
deliberately and systematically located black communities
'downwind and downstream' of polluting industries and poorly
managed waste landfill sites.''...
EPA
Looking at Human Testing - NY Times/AP - NOV 30, 2004
Washington - In setting limits on chemicals in food and water, the
Environmental Protection Agency may rely on industry
tests that expose people to poisons and raise ethical questions.
The new policy, which the EPA is still developing, would
allow Bush administration political appointees to
referee any ethical disputes. Agency officials are
putting the finishing touches on a plan to take a
case-by-case approach....
Update
from Big Mountain - Bahe Katenay - Big Mountain - NOV 1, 2004
Big Mountain, AZ - Supporters for the traditional Dineh
resisting forced relocation have reported that BIA Hopi
Agency Law Enforcement Rangers have been monitoring the
resistance area intensely. On Sunday, October 31st, an
elder woman was forced not to collect vegetation for
ceremonial use. These supporters reported that it was
unusual to see law enforcement personnel very active on
a weekend. It is assumed that this is a campaign to stop
"unpermitted wood cutting" in the areas but
it goes further than that by keeping up the pressure of
harassments and intimidations to remind the Dineh
resisters to: "Give up. They lost the battle to
keep their lands!"
The supporters monitored the area to see why there
was an active surveillance and perhaps an impoundment of
animals might be taking place....
URGENT:
Support Needed for Dineh Resister - Bahe Y. Katenay -
OCT 27, 2004
A Dineh resister is facing numerous charges against
him for trying to live and care for his livestock. The Rena B.
Lane family has lived on the western margin of the Black Mesa
geography (and within what is known today as the "HPL")
for many generations. Because they have a strong tie to their
ancestral lands, they have never signed up for relocation
benefits, or the Accommodation Lease Agreement. Jerry Lane, a
traditionally inspired son of Rena, has had run-ins with the BIA
laws before regarding trespassing and "illegal activites"
which means using your lands normally.
Today,
he faces more charges and he is due to appear in court at the
BIA-Hopi Agency court near Keams Canyon on the Hopi Indian
reservation....
Dineh Resisters
Face Continued Threats/Harassment - Bahe Y. Katenay
- OCT 23, 2004
I would like for you to take a moment
and remember that the traditional indigeneous resistance
still continues on Black Mesa. This resistance has obviously,
in previous decades, been an extreme expression of a
fight for liberation. It is of course not your typical
subtle expression of a politically, opinionated protest
that involves basic environment or heritage issues.
This traditional resistance has been a continuation
of the very core of a land-based, indigenous society's
struggle for survival....
Your prayers and support is very much
needed! I have been approached by individuals who are
concerned for the welfare of these resisters. And because
of the lack of a stable network and volunteer/support
personnel, we are unable to make a complete assessments
of the situation in the regions of resistance. It is
assumed that other elder and younger residents are experiencing
hardship at this time. Currently, there are two critical
hardships taking place.... Lawrence Altsisi needs support (though,
details are not specific yet). He is a Dineh resident
whose parents and relatives have abandoned the ancestral
lands for relocation benefits and now, he is still defying
orders from the BIA Hopi Agency Law Enforcement to either
relocate or sign the Accommodation Agreement. His only
means of transportation has been impounded by the BIA
Indian agency, and he is unable to haul firewood or
water to this residence. He resides about 6 miles SE
of the Rocky Ridge General Store. We will try to update
you more pending available time and resources to get
out there to visit with him.... Rena B. Lane and her son have also been
threatened and harassed. They reside in one of the most
remote region of Black Mesa. Due to the intense drought,
the Lane family had moved their sheep herd to a more
suitable grazing area within their ancestral ranging
area. The BIA Hopi Agency discovered the family's sheep
camp and began to threatened them with livestock impoundment
but they remained with the sheep camp until the herd
gained back its health. More recently, Rena's son was
preparing for the winter when the Agency law enforcement
personnel charged him again (for about the third time
now) with "illegally" cutting firewood. All
his tools were confiscated and with that he has lost
his second chainsaw to the BIA. Shortly after that their
only functioning vehicle has broken down and they are
now coping with transportation problems.... I wish to ask for your support on behalf
of these resisters...
The
Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute: Hopi
Tribe Threatens to Demolish Living and Historic
Navajo Home Site Monday,
May 10, during the 2004 Spring Survival Gathering,
Hopi Tribal Officials approached guests of
the family at the Blackgoat home, a Navajo
home site located on the disputed Hopi Partition
Land (HPL). Officials told the guests that
they should remove personal belongings from
the structures there, because the Hopi Tribe
intends to level the home and the Hogan (traditional
round structure, used for living quarters
as well as for ceremonies). They also instructed
the guests to move the family's livestock,
as a herd of sheep still roams the hills as
they have for generations.
This home
site was lived in by the late Roberta Blackgoat, an
internationally known Matriarch and great grandmother who traveled
the world educating the masses about the Dineh (Navajo) people�s
plight to remain on their land in order to practice their
religion. Blackgoat passed on April 23, 2002. Her children Danny,
Sheilah, Harry, and Vici still consider this place to be their
home, and they visit on weekends with their children, while
=friends care for the site during the week....
A
Letter From Dineh Bahe Katenay Roberta
Blackgoat's Home Place Threatened
Fighting in a true revolution is difficult. That is why
a few of us continue to rekindle a struggle on Big
Mountain. A struggle that compose of much reality like
making a stand upon actual ancestral land. It is not
like making a stand on city property where the police
has given a permit to protest. It is not making a stand
where we claim a basic right of government privileges
such as Freedom of Religion or U.S. Constitution.
We
are a few because we stand for the Right of the Core of
Indigenous Beliefs. At Thin Rock Mesa in west central
Big Mountain, the late Roberta Blackgoat's home site
still sits with the life and all the glory of the belief
systems associated to the Sacred Mountain Soil Bundle of
the Dineh. This is true sovereignty. That is why the
U.S. Justice systems is coercing the Hopi tribal rangers
to be the point in this aggression to eliminate the
continuous, flickering flame of aboriginal
sovereignty....
SENAA
West Report
Big Mountain Spring Survival Gathering 2004 by
Sara Hayes, Director, SENAA West
Big Mountain Spring Survival Gathering 2004,
held to honor the memory of Grandmother Roberta
Blackgoat, brought together supporters of Din�
People still residing on the HPL who continue
to resist relocation. As a result of this gathering
a sense of renewal of this support emerged;
it also allowed all who attended to interact
with one another, thus building the support
network, as well as giving them the opportunity
to interact with some of the residents and family
members who also attended. The numbers of those
present varied as there were comings and goings
all the days of this gathering....
ACTION
ALERT! Grave Desecration in Southern
California- SENAA International -
10 MAR 2004
An Indigenous American cemetery
has been discovered in Playa Del Rey, California.
Part of the cemetery was uncovered at the Playa
Vista development that began in October of 2003.
Currently, there has been destruction of Indigenous
American burials, removal of Indigenous American
human remains, and the separation of funerary
objects from the human remains to which the
objects belong....
Below are links to documents released
by the Gabrielino/Tongva detailing the issue.
You will find three fact sheets that will inform
you of the situation, a letter that you can
download and/or print to voice your support
for preservation of the site, and a list of
names and addresses of those who should be contacted
and urged to stop the desecration and restore
the disturbed graves....
Roberta
Blackgoat: Her Life and Legacy
- Al Swilling - SENAA
International - 17 MAY 2004
This
Page and those linked to it are dedicated to the memory,
bravery, and legacy of Dine'h Elder and spiritual leader
Roberta Blackgoat and to the preservation of her memory
and her home site for the rightful heirs to her legacy.
The
pages in this series contain statements and photos of
Roberta Blackgoat, as well as photos of Roberta's home
site taken by SENAA members during what would prove to
be our last visit with her. These are only a few of the
statements made by Roberta Blackgoat regarding the human
rights violations and attempted relocation of Dine'h from
their rightful ancestral homes. It is not intended to
be a comprehensive collection.
It
is the intention of this collection to offer some insight
into the values and dedication that Roberta Blackgoat
embodied. Hopefully it will also show the importance of
preserving the home site of this beloved woman who has
become an icon of spiritual strength to her fellow resisters
and to countless people around the world who have stood
in support of the Dine'h Big Mountain relocation resistance.
Roberta Blackgoat's work is an inseparable part of the
history of the that resistance. Likewise, her home site
is an historic and historical landmark that should be
preserved as part of that area's history....
Plan
Would Create Eco-terrorism List- AP - 26 FEB 2004
OLYMPIA -- Tucked into the Senate Republicans'
budget is $50,000 to create a database of people and
organizations believed to be involved in eco-terrorism.
Opponents say the proposal smacks of McCarthyism,
and they worry that overzealous list makers could label peaceful
activists as terrorists.
"Almost anybody could end up in this
database," said Sen. Karen Fraser, D-Olympia, who tried
unsuccessfully yesterday to delete the provision, which she
called "spooky" and "scary....
FBI
Issues Alert Against Almanac Carriers - Associated Press
- 30 DEC 2003
WASHINGTON - The FBI (news - web sites) is
warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying
almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering
everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used
for terrorist planning....
Servicemembers,
Veterans, and Members of Their Families can
now search for education scholarships that fit their particular
needs at Military.com.
The improved Scholarship Search system contains over 1,000
scholarships worth millions of dollars, and includes details
on individual scholarship eligibility, monetary amount,
and deadlines. Use the new service today....
Commission
Releases Report On Indians, Civil Rights
- Staff and Wire Reports
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has released
two reports saying the government fails to provide adequate
health care, law enforcement and education to American
Indians, and that civil rights of American Indians are
not protected. It is old news to Kevin Siva, a councilman
for the impoverished Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and
Cupeno Indians near Warner Springs...
Diabetes
Among Native Americans -The American
Diabetes Association Approximately 105,000Native Americans and Alaska Natives,
or 15.1% of the population,
receiving care from Indian Health Services (IHS), have
diabetes. At the regional level, diabetes prevalence
is 5.3%
among Alaska Natives and 25.7%
among Native Americans in the southeastern United States.
With its complications--heart attack and stroke, blindness,
kidney disease, and amputations--diabetes is the fifth
deadliest disease in the United States, and it
has no cure....
