RECENT ARCHIVES
   Did you see an article that you want to share or use as a reference source but which has suddenly disappeared from SENAA's pages?
   It's still here. We just archived it for easier navigation of the Newsletter page. Click the RECENT ARCHIVES link above or go to Page 3, Page 4, or Page 5 to find the article you seek. 

RECENT ARCHIVES - SENAA West
  We have archived articles for easier navigation of the Newsletter page. Click on one of the RECENT ARCHIVES pages - 2008, 2007, or 2004-2006 - to find the articles you seek.

Let there be light
Black Mesa residents revel in new-found power
By Kathy Helms, Diné Bureau, Gallup Independent, MAY 23, 2009
  BLACK MESA, Ariz. — In all of Lillie Chief’s 84 years, one of the most amazing things she has witnessed is being able to flip a switch on the wall and watch her home light up instantaneously. It is the first time in her life that she has had electricity.
  “Now I can see inside here,” she told Navajo Tribal Utility Authority representatives during a May 12 visit to her home atop Black Mesa.
  The kerosene lamps she once used have now been stashed in various corners of the home, and a new electric stove sits in the corner wrapped in plastic, still waiting to be hooked up. A propane stove used for cooking meals sits near the kitchen door. But the new refrigerator her children bought for her can be heard humming away in the kitchen....

Hopis ready nuke suit
By Cindy Cole, Arizona Daily Sun, MAY 22, 2009
  After 12 years of asking various federal agencies to clean up a federal dump they contend is leaching radioactive waste into the local aquifer, the Hopi Tribe is tired of waiting for action.
  The Hopi Tribe filed a notice of intent to sue Thursday, stating that a plume containing uranium and other contaminants leaching from an open dump near Tuba City was within 2,500 feet of contaminating water supplies for two Hopi villages. The pollution left in the unlined dump -- a dump created by the Bureau of Indian Affairs -- is an "imminent and substantial" threat to public health and the environment, and is a result of multiple federal agencies approving Cold War-era mining and milling operations that have polluted multiple landscapes in Arizona, the tribe asserted.
  The Navajo Nation has already filed a notice that they intend to sue over the same issue....

Churchrock cleanup begins
URI assessment looks for radiation hot spots
By Kathy Helms, Diné Bureau, Gallup Independent, MAY 5, 2009
  CHURCHROCK — Uranium Resources Inc. and Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency began a weeklong assessment Monday of Section 17 in Churchrock where its subsidiary, Hydro Resources Inc., has proposed in situ mining of uranium.
  Rick Van Horn, chief operating officer for URI/HRI, said Tuesday that the two entities are looking at what the radiation values are and how they impact the air, soils, and water in the area of Section 17.
  As part of the field work,0D background levels will be established under the review of Navajo EPA. “We have people that are looking over our shoulders providing oversight on-site, real time, and that will be part of the data set that we collect,” Van Horn said....

'We were denied'
Groups appeal U.S. decision to meld Black Mesa Mine with Kayenta mine permit
By Cindy Yurth, Tséyi' Bureau, Navajo Times, JANUARY 29, 2009
  CHINLE - A coalition of tribal and environmental groups Jan. 22 filed an appeal seeking to reverse the U.S. Office of Surface Mining's recent decision to incorporate the idle Black Meas Coal Mine into Peabody' Western Coal Co.'s existing life-of-mine permit for its Kayenta Mine.
  Citing the impacts as diverse as the spiritual desecration of the mesa, ground water depletion and the eventual contribution to global warming caused by burning the estimated 670 million tons of coal left in Black Mesa, the coalition is asking the U.S. Interior Department to reconsider its Dec. 22 decision.
  The appeal was filed with Interior's Office of Hearings and Appeals by the Enrgy Minerals Law Center in Durango, Colo....

Going green for Navajo is all natural
By Karen Francis, Diné Bureau, Gallup Independent, JANUARY 19, 2009
  WINDOW ROCK - The tradition of the Navajo people long ago was to live a sustainable life in harmony with the earth.
  Navajo people would tend to the cornfields to provide nourishment and build hogans out of natural materials for shelter.
  So today’s Navajo Green Job initiative builds upon the traditions of the Diné, presenters said during the Power Shift to Navajo Green Jobs community summit Saturday at the Navajo Nation Museum....

Feds approve Black Mesa life-of-mine permit
By Cindy Yurth, TSÉYI Bureau, Navajo Times, JANUARY 8, 2009
  CHINLE – In a move that surprised no one, the U.S. Office of Surface Mining gave Peabody Western Coal Co. a Christmas present, approving the company's application to roll the closed Black Mesa Mine into the life-of-mine permit for the Kayenta Mine.
  The record of decision, available for download at www.wrcc.osmre.gov/, was published Dec. 22.
  Peabody's spokeswoman Beth Sutton said the move gives the company more "flexibility" in the use of its coal leases, although any new mining in the Black Mesa Complex, as the incorporated leases are being called, will still have to be approved by OSM....

Navajo, Hopi citizens vow to stop Peabody coal mine expansion
By Billy Parish, Native Times, JANUARY 2009
  FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. - Two days before Christmas, officials from the U.S. Office of Surface Mining have granted a permit to Peabody Coal Company to expand their mining operations on Navajo and Hopi lands, despite opposition from local communities and problems with the permitting process including lack of adequate time for public comment on a significant revision to the permit, insufficient environmental review, and instability in the Hopi government preventing their legitimate participation in the process. OSM's "Record of Decision" is the final stage of the permitting process for the proposed "Black Mesa Project," which would grant Peabody Coal Company a life-of-mine permit for the "Black Mesa Complex" in northern Arizona. Tribal citizens protest the expanding mining operations of Peabody Coal Company.
  Black Mesa Water Coalition, a Navajo and Hopi citizens organization working on indigenous sovereignty and environmental protection, has vowed to stop Peabody from causing further harm to Black Mesa. “We are looking into our options for how to stop this process from moving forward, including legal action. The permitting process was flawed and clearly rushed through before President Bush leaves office,” said Enei Begaye, Co-Director of Black Mesa Water Coalition....

The Acjachemen's victory
The Acjachemen quietly marked the win against the Foothill South toll road by honoring land that will not be disturbed.
By Karin Klein, Los Angeles Times, DECEMBER 27, 2008
  On the chilly morning of the winter solstice last Sunday, the sun was just cresting the ridgeline of San Mateo Canyon as the Acjachemen talking circle started. Twenty or so people stood around a campfire. They passed a smoking bundle of dried white sage from hand to hand, then took turns speaking.
  But rather than the cycle of seasons, the topic on everyone's mind was that they had won, they who are not accustomed to winning. The ground on which they stood, site of an Acjachemen village that flourished for more than 8,000 years, would not be traversed by a turnpike. Not likely, anyway, after the federal government three days earlier rejected an appeal to build the Foothill South toll road through San Onofre State Beach....

American Indians threaten suit over Peabody’s Arizona mine
Trend News, DECEMBER 24, 2008
  American Indian tribes are threatening legal action to challenge a federal permit allowing Peabody Energy Co. to extend mining on Navajo and Hopi lands, Bloomberg reported....

Peabody to combine mines, upsetting tribes
By Kelsey Volkmann, St. Louis Business Journal, DECEMBER 23, 2008
  Despite activists’ and tribal objections, the federal agency that regulates surface mining approved a permit revision that combines the coal reserves and facilities of Peabody Energy’s two Arizona coal mines.
  The permit, approved Monday by the U.S. Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, covers Peabody’s Kayenta Mine and now-closed Black Mesa mine.
  The permit runs through 2026, and the possibility of more mining at the site has tribes threatening to file a lawsuit....