CALL the Secretary of Interior & Office of Surface Mining - Support Indigenous Peoples!

Navajo and Hopi communities face threat of more coal mining in Black Mesa, Arizona.
The U.S. Office of Surface Mining (OSM) will soon determine whether to allow Peabody Coal, the world's largest coal company, to strip mine coal on Navajo and Hopi lands in Black Mesa. Watch Videos - Links Below

The Black Mesa region is sacred to the Navajo people and is key to the cultural survival of both Navajo and Hopi peoples. More coal mining will devastate these communities - potentially displacing families and impacting all forms of life in the area. The OSM has ignored the concerns of Black Mesa residents, who are preparing to take action.

TODAY - Monday December 8th: Hopi and Navajo activists are taking their concerns to the federal agency's regional headquarters in Denver, CO. 
Your help is needed to ensure the voices and concerns from Black Mesa are heard loud and clear.

YOU can Support the Hopi and Navajo peoples of Black Mesa:
Contact the Office of Surface Mining and/or the U.S. Secretary of the Interior know that you stand in solidarity with Navajo & Hopi people to oppose coal mining in Black Mesa! Please tell these agencies not to Permit the "Black Mesa Project"! Sample Letter/Email below.

Dennis Winterringer
Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement
Denver, CO
Phone: 303-844-1400, ext 1440
e-mail: bmkeis@osmre.gov

Dirk Kempthorne
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240
e-mail: exsec@ios.doi.gov


For more information, please call (928) 213-5909, cell# (928) 380-6296, cell # (928) 637-5281, or e-mail blackmesawc@gmail.com.

Click the Video Button To View Big Mountain - Part 5
And for more video information:
Big Mountain Part 1
Big Mountain Part 2
Big Mountain Part 3
Big Mountain Part 4

For More Information Visit Black Mesa Indigenous Support

Sample Letter

Please copy and paste the letter below into your email - edit to reflect your message and add your name and/or contact information. Then call the number(s) above to emphasize the urgency for the OSM to suspend all activity on the Black Mesa Project Final Environmental Impact Statement (DOI DES 08-49, OSM-EIS-33).

Thank you for your support. Click Image at the right - for more information.

Dirk Kempthorne
Secretary
Department of Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240


Dear Secretary Kempthorne:

I am writing to request your urgent attention and immediate action regarding a matter of highest importance to the integrity of your trust responsibility and to the credibility of the Department of the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM).

I request that you direct OSM to suspend all activity on the Black Mesa Project Final Environmental Impact Statement (DOI DES 08-49, OSM-EIS-33).  The Record of Decision (ROD) for the Black Mesa Project Final EIS will be announced by Dec. 7, 2008 and I strongly urge you to not give the applicant, Peabody Western Coal Company, a permit to mine more coal in Black Mesa, AZ.

OSM has rushed to approve a life-of-mine permit, first without making the permit revisions sufficiently available for public review, and then without adequate environmental review.  The power plant that previously used Black Mesa Mine coal shut down, and there is no other proposed use for the coal whose mining would be permitted by OSM.  As a result, there is no actual proposed project involving Black Mesa Mine coal to be analyzed, making the pending EIS not only premature, but in direct conflict with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.

The current proposal would also grant the applicant continued access to Navajo Aquifer water for the life-of-mine operations. For over thirty years, Peabody Coal Company's coal-slurry operation has a depleted precious drinking water and the drying of many sacred springs to the Navajo and Hopi as a result of using the Navajo Aquifer.  The Navajo Aquifer is the only source of drinking water for Black Mesa tribal residents.  OSM's current proposal to grant a permit for a mine-with no potential customers-and indefinite use of water rights to the Navajo Aquifer is an affront to tribal communities, and if allowed to proceed, would be a clear failure to meet the Secretary of the Interior's trust responsibility to the people of the Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation.

Thank you for your consideration,

Your Name
Contact Information

For immediate release: Monday, December 8, 2008

Contacts: Nikke Alex, (505) 879-7461 and Chelsea Chee, (928) 637-5592 (both on-site cell phones in Denver, CO)

Navajo & Hopi Tribal Leaders and Community Members Protest "Midnight Regulation" to Expand Peabody's Coal Mining Operation on Black Mesa, Arizona

Delegation Travels to Denver to meet with Office of Surface Mining, Hold Press Conference and Rally

WHEN:  Monday Dec. 8th, 1 PM (MST)

WHERE:  Sidewalk in front of The Office of Surface Mining - Downtown Denver
1999 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202

WHO: Speakers will include Hopi Chairman, Ben Nuvamsa; Hopi tribal member Maxine Wadsworth, Navajo tribal member Leonard Benally, Black Mesa Water Coalition Director Wahleah Johns

Denver, CO – It looks like another rushed "midnight regulation" from the Department of the Interior may be issued in favor of Peabody Coal, and the affected Navajo and Hopi people of Black Mesa are trying to stop it.  A large delegation has traveled to Denver to meet with top officials in the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) and hold a press conference and rally in downtown Denver to protest the pending decision, which will grant the coal company a "life-of-mine" permit, expanded mining operations and rights to tap the fresh water of the Navajo aquifer.

Navajo and Hopi citizen's were given 45 days to comment on a revised "Black Mesa Project" Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and were never offered a public commenting period.  Requests for commenting period extensions were denied by OSM as well as requests for OSM to come to Navajo and Hopi lands for question and answer meetings.

Arizona Congressman, and leading candidate for Secretary of Interior in the Obama Administration, Raúl M. Grijalva has asked current Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne to suspend further consideration of Peabody's permit. "At present, OSM is rushing to approve a life-of-mine permit, first without making the permit revisions sufficiently available for public review, and then without adequate environmental review."

"Mining at Black Mesa has caused springs on Hopi lands to dry up and jeopardized the sole source of drinking water for many Hopis and Navajos," stated Grijalva. "The Secretary, as the trustee for Native American tribes, must ensure that mining is done responsibly on tribal lands and that tribes actually want mining to occur. This project does not meet that test."

Former Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald Sr. also recently came out against the expanded permit for Peabody, "The best thing that the Navajo Nation could do is to get rid of Peabody."

The Hopi Tribal Council is officially opposed to this project, however, the Council is currently in turmoil over the suspension of the Tribal Chairman. As a result, proper consultation with the Tribe, as required by federal law, cannot occur.

"The Interior Department and OSM are moving forward on this project to try to approve it before the end of the year," said Grijalva. "During a time of sacred religious ceremonies on Hopi, OSM is expecting the Hopi people to understand a complicated legal process to approve mining without a functioning tribal council to represent them. The Secretary needs to suspend this process until the tribal council is once again functional and spiritual ceremonies have concluded. Doing otherwise ignores the important obligations the federal government has toward tribes."

In addition, the power plant that previously used Black Mesa Mine coal shut down, and there is no other proposed use for the coal whose mining would be permitted by OSM.  As a result, there is no actual proposed project involving Black Mesa Mine coal to be analyzed, making the pending decision not only premature, but in direct conflict with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act.  According to former Hopi Tribal Chairman, Vernon Masayesva, "No customer means no project – you can't do an EIS unless you have a real project, yet OSM is going ahead with getting a life-of-mine permit."

Black Mesa Navajo and Hopi residents are concerned about how this project will impact the future of their homelands given the history of Peabody's unwise use of the Navajo Aquifer.  "For decades coal and water from our lands have been taken to power Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Yet, we have have suffered the loss of our sole source drinking water to accomodate the over consumption of these areas," says Nikke Alex.

Black Mesa is the ancestral homelands to thousands of Navajo and Hopi families and is regarded as a sacred mountain to the Navajo people and plays an integral role in the cultural survival for the future generations of both the Navajo and Hopi people.  Many Navajo and Hopi people stand firmly in opposition to this mine expansion plan and are organizing to voice their concerns.