MacDonald joins call to derail Black Mesa plan By Bill Donovan, Special
to the Navajo Times, NOVEMBER 26, 2008
WINDOW ROCK - The time has come
for Peabody Coal Co. to leave Navajo land and
let other companies mine and market the coal
reserves it has controlled for close to 50 years,
a former tribal leader said Tuesday.
"The best thing that the Navajo
Nation could do is to get rid of Peabody,"
said former Chairman Peter MacDonald Sr.
He made the comment when asked for
his opinion on an environmental impact statement
concerning Peabody's plans for Black Mesa, where
it has over 65,000 acres under lease.
The U.S. Office of Surface Mining
is in the process of finalizing the study, and
is proposing to endorse the plan that Peabody
wants....
Hopi
chairman denounces fed finding on Black Mesa By Cindy Yurth, Tséyi’
Bureau, Navajo Times, NOVEMBER 20, 2008
KEAMS CANYON, Ariz. – Suspended
Hopi Tribal Chairman Benjamin Nuvamsa said last
week that a federal proposal to incorporate
Peabody Western Coal Co.’s idle Black Mesa coal
mine into the permit for its Kayenta Mine is
a premature decision that could effectively
shut out the tribe from decisions about its
coal for years to come.
On Nov. 7, the federal Office of
Surface Mining announced that folding Black
Mesa into the other permit is the preferred
alternative in its environmental impact statement
on future mining plans for the area.
The idling of the Black Mesa mine
in December 2005, when its sole customer shut
down, should have been the Hopi’s opportunity
to negotiate with Peabody to exert more control
over their mineral resources, Nuvamsa said....
State
officials: H.B. developer failed to rebury Indian
remains in a timely fashionBy
Cindy Carcamo, The Orange County Register, NOVEMBER
14, 2008
HUNTINGTON BEACH - A Surf City developer
scored a victory Thursday when
the state's Coastal Commission allowed him to
keep his building permit.
However, details revealed during
the hearing and earlier proceedings sparked
suspicion among commissioners and their staff
that Brightwater Hearthside Homes officials
may have mishandled ancient American Indian
remains on the Bolsa Chica mesa site where they
plan to build a 300-home community.
The state's Coastal Commission staff
said the developer has failed to document their
archeological discoveries for about a year and
failed to rebury them and an unclear number
of ancient American Indian remains in a timely
manner, said Teresa Henry, the commission's
South Coast Area district manager....
State
to review Bolsa Chica By Joe Segura, Staff Writer,
Long Beach Press Telegram, NOVEMBER 12, 2008
LONG BEACH - The state Coastal Commission
is set to take a close look today at the method
used to handle scores of ancient Native American
remains and thousands of buried artifacts unearthed
at the Huntington Beach-based Bolsa Chica wetlands.
The commission takes up the issue
at the Long Beach City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd.,
the City Council Chambers. The commission meeting
begins at 8a.m., but it's not clear at what
point the review begins.
The commission staff is recommending
the denial of a request to revoke the development
permit at the Bolsa Chica wetlands site, ruling
the ancient remains found there were handled
within state guidelines....
Black
Mesa Project EIS available By Kathy Helms, Diné
Bureau, Gallup Independent, NOVEMBER 11, 2008
WINDOW ROCK — The final Environmental
Impact Statement analyzing the effects of the
Black Mesa Project was published Friday in the
Federal Register by the U.S.
Office of Surface Mining and the Environmental
Protection Agency.
The waiting period for the record
of decision on the proposed project ends Dec.
8.
If the project is approved as proposed,
the existing facilities and unmined coal reserves
within the area where Peabody Western Coal Co.’s
Black Mesa Mine previously operated would be
added to the permit for the Kayenta Mine, which
supplies 8.5 million tons of coal per year to
the Navajo Generating Station at Page.
Since coal would no longer be supplied to Mohave
Generating Station from the Black Mesa Complex,
water consumption at the Complex would be reduced
from about 4,400 a cre-feet of Navajo aquifer
water per year to an average of 1,236 acre-feet
for mining-related and domestic purposes....
Black
Mesa Project Final Environmental Impact Statement
NOVEMBER 4, 2008 The Office of Surface Mining
and Reclamation released the FEIS for the Black
Mesa Project last week, on the day of the election,
November 4, 2008; many who asked for hard copies
of the Statement received them the next day.
It is available for your viewing on line at
the link above.
OSM's website states: "As a
starting point in reviewing the Final EIS, you
may want to read the Executive Summary . Below
you may access it by clicking the link to it.
The Executive Summary is an overview of the
Final EIS and its conclusions. It contains a
map of the project area and maps showing the
permit area for the Black Mesa Complex under
each of the three alternative decisions analyzed.
It also contains a table summarizing the impacts
by alternative." More of their description
can be read at their website at the link above.
Navajo,
Hopi challenged to prove radiation danger By S.J. Wilson, Navajo
Hopi Observer, NOVEMBER 4, 2008
UPPER MOENKOPI, Ariz. - "We
are following the law; I can't apologize for
the last 10 years. You must convince me that
there is an imminent threat."
Jack Reever, Director of Facilities,
Environmental and Cultural Resources for the
Bureau Indian Affairs (BIA), delivered that
challenge during a recent visit to the Hopi
village that included a tour of sacred springs,
farmland and the Tuba City Open Dump.
Lieutenant Governor Robert Sumatzkuku
of Upper Moenkopi and Harris Polelonoma, community
service administrator for Lower Moencopi, welcomed
Reever and other dignitaries to a meeting and
tour of the area.
Polelonoma described a meeting with
Reever in Washington on Sept. 24 that included
Hubert Lewis, Governor of Upper Moenkopi) and
Nat Nutongla (Director, Office of Water Resources
for the Hopi Tribe)....
Hardrock distrusts McCain due
to land dispute record By Wendy Kenin, Special
to the Navajo Times, OCTOBER 30, 2008
SAN FRANCISCO - “Senator John
McCain represents an Indian fighter just like
Colonel Kit Carson,” says Bahe Katenay,
Diné, resident of the Hopi Partition
Land.
Katenay has spent much of the past
three decades supporting the traditional elders
of the Big Mountain area as a translator and
advocate. His family has been among those resisting
federally mandated relocation from lands awarded
to the Hopi Tribe.
Since 2000 they have been living
under Hopi jurisdiction via a 75-year lease
as implemented through federal laws that Senator
John McCain introduced.
“Same as all the other senators
that preceded him” Katenay said. "They
were all Indian haters. They were all responsible
for making the laws against the Indians here
in Arizona.”
The Hardrock Chapter includes Diné
residents of the HPL, but land use is limited
to its part of the Navajo Partition Lands -
less than a quarter of the chapter's original
land base...
Opponents
of Desert Rock gain time
The EPA gives 30-day extension to comment on plant’s air permit
By Ted Holteen, Durango
Herald, AUGUST 22, 2008
Opponents of the proposed Desert
Rock power plant in northwest New Mexico won
a small victory Thursday when the Environmental
Protection Agency granted a 30-day extension
to allow several groups and the state of New
Mexico more time to review and appeal Desert
Rock's air-quality permit.
The new deadline to file an appeal
is Oct. 2.
Thursday's decision also allowed
Desert Rock representatives to participate in
the appeals process, and it also denied a request
by the opponents to stay a decision by the EPA
on carbon-dioxide emissions by Desert Rock.
The EPA issued the Prevention of
Significant Deterioration, or PSD, air-quality
permit July 31. By law, the EPA allows 30 days
from the issuance of the permit for appeals
to be filed, but Mike Eisenfeld, the energy
coordinator for San Juan Citizens Alliance in
New Mexico, said the Desert Rock case is an
exception to the regular rules....
Plaintiffs
in Peaks case considering appeal By Cindy Yurth, Tséyi'
Bureau, Navajo Times, AUGUST 21, 2008
CHINLE - Following a reversal of
fortune in the courts, eight plaintiffs in the
lawsuit to prevent the use of treated wastewater
to make snow on the San Francisco Peaks are
considering whether to take the case to the
U.S. Supreme Court, according to spokesmen for
President Joe Shirley Jr. and the Sierra Club.
In an en banc ruling published Aug.
8, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned
a previous ruling by a three-judge panel that
would have prevented the snowmaking scheme at
the Arizona Snowbowl ski area.
Among the appellants were the Navajo
Nation and three other tribes who claim the
use of reclaimed sewage effluent, even if cleaned
up enough to meet federal drinking water standards,
would defile a sacred mountain, render the area's
medicinal plants unusable, and nullify some
of their ceremonies....
Environmental
groups challenge Desert Rock decision
By Cornelia de Bruin, The Daily Times, AUGUST
15, 2008
BURNHAM — A coalition of seven environmental
groups, represented by Earthjustice attorney
Nick Persampieri, Thursday filed a challenge
to the federal Environmental Protection Agency's
July 31 decision to grant an air permit for
Desert Rock.
Desert Rock Power Plant is the 1,500
megawatt pulverized coal-burning plant proposed
near Burnham, about 30 miles southwest of Farmington
on the Navajo Nation.
Even so, Horn Creek eventually splashes
its way to the canyon bottom and into the Colorado
River, a vital water source for 25 million people
from Las Vegas to Los Angeles to San Diego.
In that mighty river, the Orphan’s radioactive
dribble is diluted to insignificance....
Freeze
residents impatient with planning process
By Cindy Yurth, Tséyi', Navajo Times,
AUGUST 14, 2008
TUBA CITY - The residents of the
former Bennett Freeze do not understand why
it is taking tribal planners so long to figure
out what they need.
In the words of Coconino County
supervisor and Tuba City resident Louise Yellowman,
"We need everything."
"The government keeps asking
us, 'What do you need?'" said Yellowman
at a final input meeting held Aug. 6 for residents
of the former Bennett Freeze....
Environmental
groups, tribes to continue efforts to protect
sacred Peaks
Navajo-Hopi Observer, AUGUST 12, 2008
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Arizona's sacred
San Francisco Peaks and the neighboring tribal
communities were denied environmental justice
Friday in a split decision by the Ninth Circuit
Court of Appeals, ruling in favor of the Arizona
Snowbowl ski resort in its efforts to expand
and contaminate the area.
"The court failed to consider
the claims of the impacts to human health form
coming into contact with the treated waste from
reclaimed water and did not take seriously the
tribes' legal claims because of a court technicality,"
said Andy Bessler with the Sierra Club in Flagstaff,
Arizona. "The decision leaves unaddressed
water quality issues, since the Court failed
to decide if using reclaimed water on the Peaks
was safe for the environment or for human health."
The San Francisco Peaks, north of
Flagstaff, Arizona, are sacred to 13 tribes
and are important spiritual and geographic boundaries.
The tribes had brought legal claims under the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and
the National Environmental Policy Act against
the U.S. Forest Service from implementing a
snowmaking proposal using reclaimed water to
make artificial snow on the Peaks....
Forest
Service, Snowbowl win right to use fake snow Money wins out over religion, some say
By S.J. Wilson, Navajo-Hopi Observer, AUGUST
12, 2008
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Just one day
after Indian Country registered its shock over
the settlement in Cobell v. Kempthorne - $455.6
million rather than the $58 billion sought -
13 Arizona tribes learned that they had lost
their bid to protect the sacred San Francisco
Peaks from desecration by the use of treated
wastewater to make artificial snow at the Arizona
Snowbowl ski resort.
Eleven Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
justices filed a split decision in Pasadena,
Calif. on August 8, with seven justices joining
Judge Bea in affirming the district court's
denial of relief on all grounds. Judge Fletcher
penned the dissent, joined by two justices.
Attorney Howard Shanker, who represents
the Navajo Nation, White Mountain Apache, Yavapai
Apache, Havasupai, the Sierra Club and other
plaintiff-appellants, said that the Ninth Circuit
en banc hearing was the last best chance for
tribes to have legal protection under RFRA....
Circuit
Court overturns peaks ruling
By Karen Francis, Diné Bureau, Gallup Independent,
AUGUST 11, 2008
WINDOW ROCK — In a long awaited
100-page decision, the 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled that using treated wastewater
on the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona to make
artificial snow does not violate the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act and overturned a previous
ruling that would have protected the mountain
that is sacred to at least 13 Indian tribes.
The Navajo Nation v. U.S. Forest
Services was heard by an en banc court on Dec.
11, and the latest ruling was issued Aug. 8.
The court’s majority opinion states,
“The only effect of the proposed upgrades is
on the Plaintiffs’ subjective, emotional religious
experience.”
The court found that there was no
substantial burden on the free exercise of religion
using the Supreme Court precedence of Sherber
v. Verner and Wisconsin v. Yoder. The court
also stated that the plaintiffs “cannot dictate
the decisions that government makes in managing
‘what is, after all, its land.’”
Because there was no substantial burden, the
compelling interest standard cannot be applied,
according to the court....
Snowbowl
wins latest court fight vs. Navajos
By Michael Kiefer, Arizona Republic, AUGUST
9, 2008
A federal appellate court on Friday
sided with a Flagstaff ski resort, ruling that
its plan for using reclaimed wastewater to make
artificial snow does not violate the religious
freedom of Native Americans.
The ruling sets up a potential showdown
at the U.S. Supreme Court, where Arizona tribal
leaders, environmental groups and their attorneys
pledge to appeal their case.
Regardless, there will be no snowmaking
at the Snowbowl this winter....
Snowmaking
OK'd at Snowbowl resort
By Michael Kiefer, Arizona Republic, AUGUST
8, 2008
A federal court of appeals on Friday
ruled that using reclaimed wastewater to make
artificial snow at a Flagstaff ski resort does
not violate the religious freedom of Native
Americans.
The decision out of the court's
Ninth Circuit in San Francisco overturns an
earlier appellate decision to the contrary.
The issue has see-sawed since January 2006,
when a federal judge in Prescott first ruled
that Arizona Snowbowl's plan to run a pipe up
the mountain from a water treatment plant in
Flagstaff was acceptable under federal environmental
law.
A coalition of tribes and environmental
groups led by the Navajo Nation appealed the
decision on religious grounds, and it was overturned
in March 2007 by a three-judge panel at the
Ninth Circuit. Snowbowl's owners asked that
the case be reviewed en banc - by the entire
bench of appellate judges - which came back
with a 9-3 decision in favor of Snowbowl....
Meetings held to educate public
on Black Mesa EIS Black Mesa Project document is lengthy and
confusing, some say
By S.J. Wilson, Navajo Hopi Observer, JULY 14,
2008
KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. - When one reads
the Black Mesa Project Draft Environmental Impact
Study (EIS), it appears that the Hopi Tribe
is a cooperating agency in the process-something
that is just plain wrong, according to Vernon
Masayesva of the Hopi Tribe.
"The Office of Surface Mining
wants you to know that the Hopi Tribe was involved
in creating this document," Masayesva said,
as fellow tribal member Jerry Honawa hoisted
the heavy bound document in the air for all
to see. "Now we are finding out, that's
not the way it is. This [the Hopi Tribe as a
cooperating agency] was never discussed by the
Hopi Tribe. This was never brought to the Hopi
Tribal Council."
Masayesva opened a public meeting
hosted by the Black Mesa Trust, Black Mesa Water
Coalition, the Natural Resources Defense Council
and the Sierra Club at the Hopi Veteran's Center
on July 1....
Upgrades
temporarily halted at Snowbowl
By Cindy Yurth, Navajo Times, JULY 10, 2008
CHINLE – The supervisor of the Coconino
National forest has denied the Arizona Snowbowl’s
request to upgrade its ski school area pending
a decision by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
on whether the ski area near Flagstaff can expand
its area and make snow using reclaimed wastewater.
“It’s a small victory,” declared
Robert Tohe, environmental justice coordinator
for the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter.
In a letter to Sierra Club chapter
director Sandy Bahr, forest supervisor Nora
B. Rasure said she received letters not only
from the Sierra Club but also from the Yavapai-Apache
Nation, the Pueblo of Acoma, and the Hopi and
Havasupai tribes opposing the upgrade....
EPA,
agencies finalize Navajo cleanup plan?
By Kathy Helms, Gallup Independent, JULY 1,
2008
WINDOW ROCK — The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and four other federal agencies
have finalized a five-year plan for cleaning
up a legacy of radioactive contamination resulting
from years of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.
The plan is outlined in a report
prepared for the House Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform chaired by Rep. Henry
Waxman, D-Calif.
The committee requested the plan
last October after four hours of testimony from
representatives of the Navajo Nation. Waxman
criticized the federal government for 40 years
of “bipartisan failure” that resulted in “a
modern American tragedy.”
The landmark plan by EPA, in partnership
with the Department of Energy, the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, Indian Health Service and the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission represents the
first coordinated approach created by the five
agencies....
Peabody
coal mine to reopen?
By Cyndy Cole, Arizona Daily Sun, MAY 25, 2008
Peabody Western Coal Company is
taking steps to possibly reopen Black Mesa Mine
on the Hopi Reservation.
The mine closed in 2005 when the
power plant it fed in Nevada shut down amid
pollution violations, putting about 150 people
out of work and costing the region close to
$100 million in direct and indirect payments.
The Office of Surface Mining is
rewriting some of the necessary plans to operate
the mine, according to a notice filed in the
Federal Register on Friday.
But instead of using groundwater
to slurry coal more than 270 miles to a now-closed
power plant in Laughlin, Nev., the coal could
possibly end up at the Navajo Generating Station
in Page....
The
Black Mesa Project is on again!
As of May 23, 2008, the Office of
Surface Mining has reopened the comment period
for the Black Mesa Project. All
comments must be received by July 7, 2008. Contact
information is available at the link above.
New information regarding the EIS can be found
here: Federal
Register Notices Announcing Reopened Comment
Period on Draft EIS
Only two alternatives are left,
Alternative B (which favors Peabody Western
Coal Company and its expansion on Black Mesa)
and Alternative C (the no action alternative).
Support the families who reside
on Black Mesa, and help stop the Black Mesa
Project from becoming a reality. Stay tuned
for new developments...
To
sponsor a walker, click on the graphic above
Local
tribal members taking part in The Longest Walk By Darin Fenger, Yuma
Sun, MAY 17, 2008
Armed with a tin can rattle in his
hand and the traditional songs of family and
tribe in his heart, a young Quechan man is delivering
a message to Washington, D.C. completely on
foot.
Lewis Jefferson, who will turn
21 on the road next month, started walking east
in late March. That's when the budding traditional
singer joined a small band of folks dedicated
to spreading the word about protecting the sacred
lands of native people.
Together Jefferson and his comrades
make up The Longest Walk 2, a historic march
spanning San Francisco to Washington, D.C.,
that began in early February and is expected
to end in late July....
The
Longest Walk 2 Takes Oklahoma By Storm By Brenda Golden, Native
Times, MAY 14, 2008
The Longest Walk 2 (LW2) Southern
Route forged ahead through pouring rain and
thunderstorms this week to reach Tulsa since
reaching Oklahoma on May 3, 2008.
LW2 began their journey on February
11, 2008 from San Francisco, California, to
cross the United States on the 30-year anniversary
of the Longest Walk of 1978. Walkers include
American Indian tribal members from all over
the nation, and international participants such
as the Nipponzan Miyohoji Buddhists from Japan....
Tribe:
Heritage lost to mining By Nikki Peralta, New
Mexico Daily Lobo, MAY 7, 2008
Big Mountain, an area near Black
Mesa, Ariz., used to be a place of peace and
tradition, but now the land is being destroyed
by the Peabody Coal Company, said Allen Cooper,
a former member of the Big Mountain Support
Committee.
Cooper said the Navajo land has
no electricity or water, and the people there
provide for themselves.
The land also happens to be extremely
rich in strippable coal.
Bahe Katenay, spokeswoman for the
tribe, said people of Big Mountain have lost
part of their simple traditions and culture.
The way of life on the mountain has changed
because the effect of having a coal-mining operation
near the land has left a large portion industrialized....
Longest
Walk spotlights issues important to American
Indians By Kevin Hoffmann, Kansas
City Star, MAY 3, 2008
The message was instilled in Cordell
Tulley when he was a boy growing up on an Indian
reservation in Arizona.
Take care of the land. Protect the
sacred sites.
That’s why Tulley doesn’t understand
why so many people pollute roadways, streams
and rivers. He doesn’t get why people are willing
to bulldoze trees and clear out wildlife for
so-called development....
No
relief
Coconino County ranchers denied drought relief
payments By Cindy Yurth, Tséyi
Bureau, MAY 1, 2008
LEUPP, Ariz. - 2008 started out
so well.
While the rest of us griped about
the mud, ranchers here in Western Navajo kept
anxious eyes on the San Francisco Peaks as the
snow piled up, daring to hope for the first
time in 12 years that it would be a wet spring.
Now look at Fred and Ethel Paisano's
stock tank. Other than a muddy puddle
of water about 10 feet in diameter, it's a jigsaw
puzzle of parched clay. Three little black ducks
paddle in pathetic circles but even though it's
the only water for miles, there are no cattle
tracks....
Group
marches in name of 'Mother Earth' By Mike Hall, The Capital-Journal,
APRIL 29, 2008
Halfway on their walk from San Francisco
to Washington, D.C., a group participating in
the Longest Walk 2 is in Topeka to promote their
message to protect "Mother Earth"
and the cultures and sacred sites of American
Indians.
About 20 walkers arrived at the
Statehouse at noon Monday and formed a circle
for an American Indian prayer song led by Cordell
Tulley, a member of the Dineh tribe of Arizona.
The original Longest Walk in 1978
resulted in the U.S. government dropping plans
to cancel all tribal agreements....
Black
Mesa studies to resume, slurry appears dead By Marley Shebala, Navajo
Times, APRIL 17, 2008
WINDOW ROCK — The 38-year-old Black
Mesa Pipeline is retiring.
The federal Office of Surface Mining
has directed the pipeline’s present owner, Black
Mesa Pipeline Co., to remove all trace of the
structure, which was used to transport coal
slurry from the Black Mesa Mine to the Mohave
Generating Station in Laughlin, Nev.
“BMPC must take down all structures
and facilities owned by them, regrade the area,
and revegetate the area under the interim regulations
of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation
Act of 1977,” said John Stucker, the tribe’s
senior mining engineer, in an April 10 memo.
“If we have any need for these facilities we
need to communicate with BMPC soon.”
At the same time, federal officials
plan to resume studies of another alternative
for Black Mesa coal, Stucker said in the memo,
which was directed to the Navajo Nation Black
Mesa environmental impact statement team....
No
power plant aids N-aquifer Black Mesa Environmental Impact Statement
to be reactivated By Kathy Helms, Diné
Bureau, Gallup Independent, April 14, 2008
WINDOW ROCK — The Black Mesa Environmental
Impact Statement is being reactivated, however
the preferred alternative, which includes the
C-aquifer pipeline, reportedly will be eliminated.
John Stucker, senior mining engineer
for the Navajo Nation Minerals Department's
Surface Mining Program, said Friday that with
the closure of Mohave Generating Station, Alternative
A is no longer necessary, because the coal slurry
pipeline that transported coal from Black Mesa
Mine to Mohave is no longer operating....
Prattans
to join in new Longest Walk By Gale Rose, reporter@pratttribune.com,
Pratt Tribune, April 11, 2008
Like their ancestors did for centuries,
a group of Native Americans is walking to their
destination. Only this walk is longer than most
tribes ever had to travel, over 4,400 miles,
and part of those miles will go through Pratt.
The Longest Walk 2 is a group of
Native Americans walking from Alcatraz off the
coast of San Francisco to Washington D.C. to
commemorate the 30 year
anniversary of the first Longest Walk in 1978....
Longest Walkers declare opposition to Desert Rock By Cindy Yurth, Tséyi' Bureau Navajo Times, APRIL 10, 2008
Chaco Rio, N.M. - Like their ancestors
did for centuries, a group of Native Americans
is walking to their destination. Only this walk
is longer than most tribes ever had to travel,
over 4,400 miles, and part of those miles
will go through Pratt.
The Longest Walk 2 is a group of
Native Americans walking from Alcatraz off the
coast of San Francisco to Washington D.C. to
commemorate the 30 year
anniversary of the first Longest Walk in 1978....
Longest Walk 2 Events Click on one
of the links below for further information:
The
Longest Walk is a cross-country march focused
on protecting American Indian rights and heritage By Christina M. Woods,
The Wichita Eagle, APRIL 8, 2008 Hundreds of
American Indian activists traveled through Kansas
in 1978 as they walked from California to Washington,
D.C., for Native American freedoms.
Wichitan Rick Regan, who met them
at the Mid-America All-Indian Center, said he'll
never forget the sea of people in red T-shirts
participating in the Longest Walk, a civil rights
march.
He's proud that his 23-year-old
daughter, Sage, is among roughly 200 people
now walking to commemorate the 30th anniversary
of the march....
'A
beautiful moment' Longest Walkers arrive in Window Rock By Karen Francis, Diné
Bureau, Gallup Independent, APRIL 7, 2008 WINDOW ROCK
— For Larry Anderson, Council delegate from
Fort Defiance , it was a beautiful moment to
welcome the Longest Walk 2 participants to the
Navajo Nation capital as a leader, especially
since 30 years ago he was a part of the original
Longest Walk.
“It’s a regeneration of 30 years
ago. I used to sit out here in this circle years
ago just wondering what kind of support we would
be getting, how well the Navajo Nation was going
to respond,” he said gesturing to the walkers
who were sitting on the ground listening to
various speakers on Friday evening. “Now I’m
a leader of the Navajo Nation receiving the
walkers and it makes me feel good, rejuvenated,
inspired. I really feel the energy of these
young people. Many of them weren’t born 30 years
ago.”
Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan, Iyanbito/Pinedale,
and other tribal leaders and members welcomed
the Longest Walk 2 to Window Rock with a reception
on Friday held at the Navajo Nation Fairgrounds....
Longest
Walk 2 arrival unifies local groups By Cindy Yurth, Tséyi'
Bureau, Navajo Times, APRIL 3, 2008 Nothing like
a bunch of outside environmentalists passing
through your territory to get the locals in
gear.
Since the Longest Walk 2 - a cross-country
trek for environmental justice - entered the
Navajo Nation Friday, Diné environmentalists
have been speaking with one voice and supporting
each other's causes, said Guadalupe Branch,
Navajo, the walk's western coordinator....
Navajos
set to tap power of the wind By Dennis Wagner and Ryan
Randazzo, The Arizona Republic, MARCH 28, 2008 Hundreds of
windmills reaching nearly 400 feet into the
sky could begin sprouting on the Navajo Reservation
north of Flagstaff under a new agreement to
harness wind energy for electrical use.
The Navajo Nation announced Thursday
that it will partner with a Boston company to
capitalize on the blustery conditions prevailing
on the high mesas of northern Arizona. The Diné
Wind Project, which would be the first commercial
wind farm in the state, calls for Citizens Energy
Corp. to invest millions of dollars to build
the energy-collecting towers....
As
Uranium Firms Eye N.M., Navajos Are Wary By Kari Lydersen, Washington
Post, MARCH 28, 2008 AMBROSIA LAKE,
N.M. -- Twenty years after uranium mining ceased
in New Mexico amid plummeting prices for the
ore, global warming and the soaring cost of
oil are renewing interest in nuclear power --
and in the state's uranium belt.
At least five companies are seeking
state permits to mine the uranium reserves,
estimated at 500 million pounds or more, and
Uranium Resources Inc. (URI), a Texas-based
company, wants to reopen a uranium mill in Ambrosia
Lake.
At least five companies are seeking
state permits to mine the uranium reserves,
estimated at 500 million pounds or more, and
Uranium Resources Inc. (URI), a Texas-based
company, wants to reopen a uranium mill in Ambrosia
Lake....
Walking
with a message Longest Walk 2 unites past and present in
Navajoland visit By Candace Begody, Special
to the Navajo Times, MARCH 27, 2008 Flagstaff –
Cultural genocide, centuries of warfare against
Native people, constant threats to tribal sovereignty
and forced relocation – plus blisters, poor
diet, homesickness and daily and nightly bodily
aches and pains?
Well worth it for those on the southern
route of the longest Walk 2, a trek of nearly
3,000 miles on foot to promote harmony with
the Earth and social justice for Native people....
Longest
Walk 2: Saving the land again By Steve Ayers, Courier,
MARCH 27, 2008 Dennis Banks
has plenty of reasons to have plenty of enemies.
But that is no longer his style.
Few living American Indians has
done as much to advance the rights and causes
of Indian people than Banks. But in doing so
he has stepped on more than a few toes....
Longest
Walk reaches Flagstaff By Samuel Stoker, Special
to the Navajo-Hopi Observer, MARCH 26, 2008 Far ahead of
a crowd of a few dozen Long Walkers, a Japanese
man waved a safety flag. He wanted to talk,
he wanted to be heard, but a language barrier
allowed him only to say, "All life is sacred."
He had been marching the southern
route - there is also a northern route - with
comrades since Alcatraz; all bound for Washington,
D.C.
An unusual mix of people, the Long
Walk 2 participants represented various cultures
and had come from palaces as far as Japan, Finland
and Australia. While each person was different,
encompassing different experiences, they marched
as one - chanting, singing, playing drums and
waving flags - as they made their way toward
Flagstaff along Route 180....
Global
warming bill delays Desert Rock By Kathy Helms, Diné Bureau,
Gallup Independent, MARCH 24, 2008 ST. MICHAELS
— The air permit for the Desert Rock Energy
Project is being held up by U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency over concerns with the Endangered
Species Act and global warming, and legislation
introduced March 11 in Washington is not going
to help the matter.
The bill places a moratorium on
either EPA or states issuing permits to new
coal-fired power plants without state-of-the-art
control technology to capture and permanently
sequester the plant’s carbon dioxide emissions.
The moratorium extends until a comprehensive
federal regulatory program for global warming
pollution is in place....
Native
tribes bring message on Longest Walk By Daniel Smith, Denver
Post, MARCH 24, 2008 About 50 members
of tribes involved in the Longest Walk 2 gathered
for a blessing and ceremonial singing at the
Denver Art Museum's Native Art Wheel March 24,
then rallied at the state capitol to raise awareness
of their five-month coast-to-coast walk for
Native American rights as well as concerns for
environmental degradation.
The walkers heard a presentation
at the capitol on behalf of Gov. Ritter in support
of the walk and its mission then marched to
Newmont Mining company headquarters to protest
the desecration of Shoshone sacred sites from
gold mining by Newmont....
'A
step in the wrong direction By Kathy Helms, Diné Bureau,
Gallup Independent, MARCH 20, 2008 WINDOW ROCK
— A lawsuit filed Tuesday by Desert Rock Energy
Co. LLC and Diné Power Authority against
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “is unfortunate
and premature,” according to New Mexico Environment
Department Secretary Ron Curry.
Desert Rock Energy Co., a wholly
owned subsidiary of Sithe Global Power LLC of
Houston, and DPA challenged EPA and Administrator
Stephen L. Johnson for failure to make a timely
decision on an air permit application for the
proposed 1,500 megawatt, coal-fired Desert Rock
Energy Project, to be located near Burnham....
To
honor Lori Piestewa means never repeating Iraq Our view: After five years
and 4,000 U.S. deaths, America's use of pre-emptive,
unilateral military force has not upheld the
invasion's promises. Arizona Daily Sun editorial,
MARCH 19, 2008 It is heartbreaking,
five years later, to look at the photograph
of
Lori Piestewa, shown smiling beside her best
Army buddy, Jessica
Lynch, and think of what could have been.
Yes, Lori's two children, Brandon
and Carla, are well-cared-for by
their grandparents. As Betsey Bruner reports
today, the Piestewas have
made their own domestic peace with Lori's death
in combat, leaving it
to others to sort out the geopolitical mess
in which this country
remains entangled....
As
U.S. border fence rises, a tribe tightens ties By Tim Gaynor, Reuters
posted at the Washington Post, MARCH 19, 2008 CAMPO, California
(Reuters) - As U.S. authorities tighten security
on the porous Mexico border in this election
year, some communities have been caught off
guard by government plans to build miles of
fencing and barriers.
But members of one Native American
tribe whose scattered settlements stud the rocky
highlands of southern California and northwest
Mexico, saw the build-up coming years ago and
have turned something they dreaded to their
advantage.
"There was a sense among a
lot of people that something needed to be done
to prevent us from losing touch ... and so that's
what we did," said Mike Connolly, a councilman
with the Campo Band of the Kumeyaay nation....
Tribe
takes on toxic waste By Stan Bindelll, High
Country News, MARCH 18, 2008 On the Navajo
Reservation, abandoned uranium mines and other
toxic waste sites now stand a much better chance
of remediation: The Navajo Nation Council just
passed one of the most comprehensive toxic waste
laws in Indian country.
The Navajo Nation Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability
Act became law in March. This sweeping legislation
gives the tribe new power to monitor and clean
up hazardous waste on its 27,000-square-mile
reservation in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah,
says Stephen Etsitty, executive director of
the Navajo Environmental Protection Agency....
Longest
Walk Talk Radio, live and uncensored By Brenda Norrell, Narcosphere
News, MARCH 17, 2008 MONTROSE, Colo.
Walking through the snow, the Longest Walk Northern
Route arrived at the Ute Indian Museum on Sunday,
March 16, after crossing on foot the states
of California, Nevada and Utah. Walking with
sacred staffs, American Indian walkers and their
allies are carrying the message to protect sacred
Mother Earth.
Jimbo Simmons, northern route coordinator,
said the walk is a prayer and the snow and cold
intensifies the prayer. “I consider it an honor
to walk through the snow and camp in the cold
for Mother Earth,” Simmons said after Long Walkers
walked through the snow in central Utah....
Navajos
Urge Ban On Mining By Michael Coleman , Albuquerque
Journal Washington Bureau, MARCH 13, 2008 WASHINGTON—
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley on Wednesday
urged Congress to ban any new uranium mining
on or near Navajo land.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee, chaired by Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a
New Mexico Democrat, took up the issue of uranium
mining, as well as a pending rewrite of laws
regulating hard rock mining and the cleanup
and reclamation of abandoned mines across the
United States.
Shirley told the panel that the
Navajo Nation has suffered pervasive illness
and death because of Cold War-era uranium mining.
He is worried that a surging interest in nuclear
power will lure more uranium mining companies
to the area....
Putting
to rest tribal remains Hundreds of human fragments unearthed at
a Gabrielino-Tongva burial site in Playa Vista
will be reburied. By Francisco Vara-Orta,
Los Angeles Times, MARCH 11, 2008 It was a five-year
tug-of-war that sparked a legal, political and
cultural showdown between some of the oldest
and newest residents of the Los Angeles region.
On one side: descendants of the
Gabrielino-Tongva tribe, natives of the Ballona
Wetlands thousands of years ago, outraged that
a burial site of almost 400 human remains was
being exhumed to clear the path for a waterway
in a multibillion-dollar project....
The
Longest Walk 2 Tehachapi News, MARCH 11,
2008 "The Longest
Walk is an Indian Spiritual Walk, a historical
walk, and it is a walk for educational awareness
to the American and world communities about
the concerns of American Indian people. We are
walking to protect sacred sites in our country.
We are walking to promote positive change in
our world.”
This is the manifesto of hundreds
of Native Americans who rallied in San Francisco
last month as they began a nationwide walk from
the west coast to Washington, D.C. At the conclusion
of the rally, walkers split into two groups,
one following a northern route, and another
headed south....
Navajo Times, MARCH 8,
2008 Burnham, N.M.
— On April 6, the Dooda Desert Rock campsite
will welcome the Longest Walk 2 to New Mexico.
“We are honored to be part of this
tradition as we support our brothers and sisters
who have committed themselves to a cross-country
walk for environmental protection and Native
American rights,: said Elouise Brown, presidernt
of Dooda Desert Rocik, in a statement released
Saturday....
STILL
IMPASSABLE A week later, Black Mesa area roads a mess By Kathy Helms, Diné
Bureau, Gallup Independent, MARCH 3, 2008 BLACK MESA
— Unless you’ve been there or seen the photos,
you might get the impression that Black Mesa
residents are a bunch of wimps, whining about
the mud. But that’s far from the truth.
“We don’t want everybody else to
think that we’re weak,” Delegate Amos Johnson
said Sunday evening. “We’re strong, resilient
people, and we will get through this.” But with
more snow this past weekend and snow levels
in the higher elevations of Black Mesa “up to
the belly of a horse,” there is going to be
a lot more water flowing down the mountain as
the snowmelt begins in earnest.
Black Mesa residents have a lot
of pride and normally would just tough out in
silence whatever hand they’re dealt by Mother
Nature. But with weeks of snow and mud bringing
travel to a standstill, it was time last week
to send out an SOS, and pray someone responded....
Claw:
Roads 'horrible' Apache County officials get stuck taking
fuel to chapter house By Kathy Helms, Diné
Bureau, Gallup Independent, FEBRUARY 29, 2008 FOREST LAKE
— Apache County Supervisor Jim Claw, District
1, got a taste Wednesday of what it feels like
to be a Black Mesa resident when he and his
roads engineer high-centered on their way to
the chapter house to make arrangements to deliver
fuel....
Back
to square one with Bennett Freeze Letter to the Editor, Navajo
Times, FEBRUARY 28, 2008 One lonely
winter night in December of 1998, I sat in a
motel room in Winslow, Ariz., typing on a typewriter
I borrowed from my sister, Gloria.
I wrote a letter to the editor of
the Navajo-Hopi Observer lamenting the Bennett
Freeze and how it personally affected my aged
and handicapped parents and how the Bennett
Freeze Diné were suffering under this
unjust and inhumane law....
Peabody
plane crash-lands By Bill Donovan, Special
to the Navajo Times, FEBRUARY 28, 2008 An aircraft
belonging to Peabody Western Coal Co. crash-landed
at the Black Mesa airstrip on Jan. 22
No major injuries were reported
but five of the 14 passengers in the plane were
treated for minor injuries at nearby hospitals.
All have been released....
Nearly
200 sets of human remains found at O.C. construction
site By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles
Times Staff Writer, FEBRUARY 28, 2008 Archaeologists
have removed 174 sets of human remains from
a controversial housing development under construction
in Huntington Beach, bolstering claims that
it was a significant prehistoric Native American
settlement.
Dave Singleton, program analyst
for the California Native American Heritage
Commission, said 87 sets of remains were removed
before Hearthside Homes broke ground on its
Brightwater development near the Bolsa Chica
wetlands in June 2006 and 87 more since then....
$1
million earmarked for Black Mesa mud By Kathy Helms, Diné
Bureau, Gallup Independent, FEBRUARY 27, 2008 WINDOW ROCK
— Since word went out Monday about snow and
mud conditions in the Black Mesa area, “it has
triggered a lot of response,” Delegate Amos
Johnson said Tuesday afternoon during a break
in the Navajo Nation Council's debate on allocating
$1 million for Emergency Management to deal
with weather-related emergencies.
"I got a call from Apache County,
Mr. Jim Clah, who is willing to help us with
fuel for our equipment, and then Apache County
is also willing to help us distribute some of
the food that was purchased for the people that
is still sitting there at the chapter house."
He said he also had spoken Tuesday
morning with Chief of Staff Patrick Sandoval
and learned that a request had gone in for assistance
from the National Guard....
HELP
US! Delegate: National Guard needed in Black
Mesa By Kathy Helms, Diné
Bureau, Gallup Independent, FEBRUARY 25, 2008 BLACK MESA
— Weekend rain and snow have left residents
of the Black Mesa area bogged down in the mud,
and Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amos Johnson
believes it’s time to call upon the National
Guard.
Johnson, who represents Black Mesa,
Forest Lake and Rough Rock chapters, said the
snow and rain are causing a lot of havoc for
road equipment and four-wheel drive vehicles.
“Our chapter road graders are starting
to wear down, we’re out of fuel, and temporary
workers are running out of resources. We need
help from Gov. Janet Napolitano and the federal
government,” he said Saturday....
Chapter
official wants emergency assessment now By Kathy Helms, Diné
Bureau, Gallup Independent, FEBRUARY 25, 2008 BLACK MESA
— Glenna Chee, an official with Black Mesa Chapter,
received a distress call Sunday evening from
a mother stuck somewhere on the road near Kitsillie,
but there was no way she could get there to
help.
Dorothy Yazzie, a teacher at Chinle,
accompanied by several family members, plowed
a path to her parents’ home Sunday morning to
remove her 82-year-old father and take him to
Black Mesa Clinic near Piñon for medical
treatment.
There may be others in the area
in need of help — a dialysis patient comes immediately
to Chee’s mind — but treacherous road conditions
have prevented those assessments from being
done....
Local
members of Quechan tribe take part in Longest
Walk 2 By Darin Fenger, Yuma Sun
Staff Wrtier, FEBRUARY 18, 2008 Some local
American Indians are hitting the highway on
a coast-to-coast trek dedicated to better protection
of Mother Earth and her sacred sites.
This trek, called the Longest Walk
2, took off this week from San Francisco with
hopes of arriving in Washington, D.C., by early
July.
Several members of the Quechan Indian
Tribe are on the road with this national event.
The local walkers arrived in San Francisco last
weekend to prepare for the long journey with
special rituals and celebrations at Alcatraz
Island....
Indian
walk crosses Nevada, nation By Matt Farley, Reno-Gazette
Journal, FEBRUARY 18, 2008 In the 30 years
since the first Longest Walk march flooded Capitol
Hill with activists fighting for American Indian
rights, thousands of places sacred to American
Indians continue to be desecrated and developed,
an official of the International Indian Treaty
Council said Monday.
Jimbo Simmons and other supporters
of American Indian sovereignty launched the
Longest Walk 2, a re-creation of the 1978 walk,
that stopped Monday at an informal pow wow at
the Carson Colony gymnasium....
American
Indians begin long trek
Longest Walk 2 to span 10 states over 5 months
By Jennifer Torres, Record
Staff Wrtier, FEBRUARY 15, 2008 Larry Bringing
Good has cleared out his apartment at the Hotel
Stockton and given away his television.
The electricity is set to be turned
off today, and all he has, he
said, is packed into two duffel bags.
He is joining a group of more than
100 people on a walk across the
country that officially began Monday. Over the
next five months,
participants will travel through more than 10
states to advocate for
environmental concerns, to support the preservation
of American Indian
sacred sites and to commemorate a similar cross-country
journey that
was completed 30 years ago....
Longest
Walk 2 begins trek across U.S. By Brenda Norrell, Special
to the Navajo Times, FEBRUARY 14, 2008 RUMSEY RANCHERIA,
Calif. - The Longest Walk 2 was launched as
several hundred walkers began their journey
acorss the continent here in the oak trees and
green rolling hills in California on Feb. 12..
Walkers were led by American Indian
Movement co-founder Dennis Banks and Chairman
Marshall McKay and council members of the Rumsey
Band of Wintun Indians.
The walkers arrived from tribes
across the United States and several countries
- including Japan, Israel, Poland, England,
Mexico, Peru, Sweden and Australia....
March
for American Indian awareness comes to Lodi By Chris Nichols, News-Sentinel
Staff Writer, FEBRUARY 14, 2008 More than 50
spirited marchers arrived in Lodi on Wednesday
as part of
the Longest Walk 2008, a five-month, cross-country
trek to raise
awareness for American Indian issues.
The group plans to walk to Washington,
D.C. to commemorate the 30th
anniversary of 1978's Longest Walk. .
Like marchers three decades ago,
their goals include promoting social
justice and protections for the environment
and American Indian burial
grounds, several said....
Urban
Exiles
Navajos reminisce about the relocation years
By Cindy Yurth, Navajo
Times FEBRUARY 14, 2008 CHINLE - If
the two BIA agents had caught James Tsosie on
a better day, his life might have been different.
As it was, he was plowing the cornfield
at his family's farm in Salina Springs, Ariz.,
with his cheii's two recalcitrant horses.
One horse was pulling one way, the
other horse the other way, and neither was as
the 12-year-old wanted them to go....
Navajos
help save Friendship House By Cindy Yurth, Navajo
Times, FEBRUARY 14, 2008 Chinle - Navajo relocatees
and their children were "definitely"
a factor in saving the Intertribal Friendship
House in Oakland, Calif., last year, IFH spokesman
George Galvis said in a recent telephone interview.
The first of many "Indian centers"
as a meeting place for urban relocatees, Friendship
House was on the county auction block last spring
after the staff discovered - only after some
developers expressed interest in buying it -
that it owed $30,000 in back taxes....
The
Cold War Threat to the Navajo New York Times Editorial,
FEBRUARY 12, 2008 It is alarming
that the nuclear power industry is talking about
resuming uranium mining near a Navajo reservation.
A mining company has applied for permits for
a new mine on privately owned land in New Mexico
just outside the reservation’s formal boundaries
but within what is commonly known as Navajo
Indian Country. Regulators must not allow this
to proceed until the enormous damage inflicted
by past mining operations has been fully addressed.
Residents of the Navajo Nation are
haunted by radiation threats from more than
a thousand gaping mine sites abandoned after
the cold war arms race. After decades of uranium
mining — and accumulating evidence of spikes
of cancer and other diseases — mining companies
walked away from their cleanup responsibilities....
1872
Mining Law reform a bottomless pit
By Kathy Helms, Dineh Bureau, Gallup Independent,
FEBRUARY 12, 2008
WINDOW ROCK — The Mining Law of
1872, signed into existence 135 years ago by
President Ulysses Grant, is either “the most
outdated natural resource law in the nation”
and sadly in need of overhaul, or working just
fine and any attempt at reform would be “unnecessary,
duplicative and unreasonable.”
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Committee chaired by U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman,
D-N.M., heard testimony recently from a number
of experts on the issue as well as representatives
of various public interest groups.
The U.S. House of Representatives
passed a comprehensive bill in November to reform
the mining law. Bingaman and Vice Chairman Pete
Domenici, R-N.M., are hopeful the Senate and
House can craft a bipartisan measure that will
be signed into law....
Desert
Rock: Tribal members push alternatives, Navajo
Nation wants EPA action
By Cornelia de Bruin, Farmington Daily Times,
FEBRUARY 11, 2008
FARMINGTON — Navajo tribal members
who believe their voices are needed in the fight
against the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant
their government supports claim a host of alternatives
to burning coal exist on the Navajo Nation.
The group, called Diné CARE,
holds a viewpoint that is squarely opposite
of Desert Rock supporters, such as project spokesman
Frank Maisano, of the Washington, D.C., law
firm Bracewell & Giuliani LLC....
Finding
a resting place for the Gabrieleno-Tongva ancestors
By Kristin S. Agostoni, Daily Breeze, FEBRUARY
09, 2008
Robert Dorame walked away from the
neat rows of condominiums and town houses and
followed the edge of a soccer field toward the
Westchester Bluffs.
As an archeologist guided him along
the base of the hillside, Dorame paused and
looked out over the plants lining a drainage
channel.
It was in this spot roughly four
years ago that archeologists began unearthing
hundreds of remains and burial artifacts from
his Gabrieleno-Tongva ancestors....
Fence
damage charge against elder dismissed
Navajo Times, FEBRUARY 07, 2008
KYKOTSMOVI — Judge Delfred Leslie
of the Hopi Tribal Court dismissed the criminal
charge of damaging fences against Rena Babbitt
Lane on Jan. 25, according to a news release
from her lawyer, James Zion.
The grounds for dismissal were that
when three Hopi Rangers went to her home on
Nov. 4, 2006, they illegally entered the "curtilage"
of the home without a search warrant.
Accordingly, the court was required
to suppress the evidence, consisting of photographs
of footprints and Lane's statements. There was no probable
cause to support the criminal complaint without that
evidence, so the court dismissed the complaint....
Paths
planned for energy lines across Navajo Nation By Chee Brossy, Special
to the Times, Navajo Times, JANUARY 31, 2008 Members of
the Navajo Nation learned this week that they
may find themselves hosting several federal
energy corridors - wide swaths of land for pipelines
and electrical lines - though it's still uncertain
which families would be affected.
The federal government is looking
to designate energy corridors in 11 Western
states as a solution to strengthen and expand
the nation's outdated power grid, and eliminate
roadblocks to the movement of fuel supplies
and electricity.
Three of the proposed pathways would
traverse the Navajo Nation....
Renewable
energy best choice for Diné By Andrew Curley, Special
to the Times, Navajo Times, JANUARY 24, 2008 The end of
2007 brought the world one step closer to a
responsible position on Climate change as a
result of the United Nations Climate Change
Conference in Bali, Indonesia.
Former Vice President Al Gore and
the UN Committee on Climate Change won the Noble
Peace Prize for their efforts to disseminate
knowledge about man-made climate change and
to begin counteracting the changes, sending
a signal to the world community about the need
for urgent and drastic action.
The international community, including
poor, developing nations, is moving towards
placing a cap on greenhouse gas emissions, using
either taxation or an emissions trading market
such as the European Union has created....
Diné
included in U.S. apartheid report to UN By Brenda Norrell, Special
to the Times, Navajo Times, JANUARY 24, 2008 San Francisco
– Navajo victims of coal mining and uranium
mining are among the indigenous peoples included
in a report on racism, forced assimilation and
apartheid in the United States.
The “Consolidated Indigenous Shadow
Report,” was released Jan. 16 by the International
Indian Treaty Council. The report will be presented
to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination in February.
Dedicated to Floyd Red Crow Westerman,
who passed away on Dec. 13, 2007, the report
is compiled from the testimony of individuals
and groups of indigenous peoples and includes
data from a wide range of sources....
Endangered
treasure? Groups: Uranium boom a threat to Grand Canyon By Kathy Helms, Diné
Bureau, Gallup Independent, JANUARY 23, 2008 WINDOW ROCK
— Thousands of mining claims, mostly for uranium,
have been staked in 12 Western states since
2003, resulting in a modern-day land rush that
is encroaching on some of America’s greatest
treasures including the Grand Canyon, Joshua
Tree, Arches, and Yosemite National Parks.
An Environmental Working Group analysis
of U.S. Bureau of Land Management data from
2007 shows that active mining claims in 12 Western
states increased more than 80 percent from January
2003 to July 2007....
Many
Navajo still living without electricity: Solar
and wind power a
solution for some By Alysa Landry, Farmington
Daily Times, JANUARY 14, 2008 SHIPROCK —
The drone of a small wind turbine is the only
sound punctuating the stillness on a plot of
land five miles south of Shiprock.
A few houses dot the horizon to
the east, and an occasional car passes by on
Navajo Route 36 — the only signs of civilization
Denton Blueeyes sees from his home near Chaco
Wash....
