Hopi, Navajos say environmentalists not welcome
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (The Associated Press) - Sep 30 - By FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press Writer
> The leader of the country's largest Indian reservation threw his
> support behind the neighboring Hopi Tribe, whose lawmakers declared
> environmental groups unwelcome on the reservation.
>
> Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. and Hopi lawmakers say
> environmentalists' efforts could hurt the tribes' struggling economies
> by slowing or stopping coal mining.
>
> Shirley said Wednesday that he will stand in solidarity with the
> Hopi Tribe, and joined Hopi lawmakers in encouraging other tribes to
> re- evaluate their relationships with environmentalists.
>
> "Environmentalists are good at identifying problems but poor at
> identifying feasible solutions," Shirley said in a news release.
> "Most often
> they don't try to work with us but against us, giving aid and comfort
> to those opposed to the sovereign decision-making of tribes."
>
> Environmentalists and tribes have forged partnerships on a number
> of issues, including opposition to uranium mining and the protection
> of mountains that American Indians consider sacred.
>
> But coal is another story.
>
> Environmentalists have waged a campaign against coal as an energy
> source, in favor of renewable energy such as wind and solar. But the
> Navajo and Hopi long have depended on coal revenues to fund their
> governments and pay the salaries of tribal employees on reservations
> where half the work force is unemployed.
>
> On the Hopi reservation, revenues from coal mined by Peabody
> Energy in northern Arizona's Black Mesa area make up 70 percent of the
> tribe's
> $15
> million budget. On the Navajo Nation, those revenues make up nearly 10
> percent of the tribe's budget.
>
> That coal powers the Navajo Generating Station near Page, Ariz.,
> where environmentalists have been pushing for upgrades to reduce
> emissions. In 2006, environmentalists successfully forced the shutdown
> of the Mohave Generating Station on the Arizona-Nevada border - the
> only other customer for the tribes' coal - when the owner failed to
> install pollution- control upgrades as required by a settlement with
> environmentalists.
>
> "The tribe is still reeling from that," said Hopi legal counsel
> Scott Canty. "To talk about taking the remaining revenues away is just
> unfathomable. It would just set them back tremendously."
>
> Environmentalists also are fighting against a planned $3 billion,
> 1,500-megawatt coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Nation in New
> Mexico, saying it would further harm air quality in the Four Corners
> region.
> Navajo
> officials say it will be one of the cleanest coal-burning plants in
> the nation.
>
> Andy Bessler of the Sierra Club, one of a handful of
> environmental groups named in Hopi lawmakers' resolution, said the
> group respects tribal sovereignty and understands the need for tribes
> to develop their economies.
>
> But unless tribes can prevent carbon dioxide or air pollution
> from leaving the reservation, he said environmental groups will
> continue to address the issues that extend beyond tribal boundaries.
>
> "We work with anybody who wants to help protect the environment,
> stop global warming and transition our economy to a clean economy," he
> said. "We don't discriminate and we'll continue to honor the
> invitations we get from Hopi and Navajo communities to work with
> them."
>
> The Hopi resolution doesn't mean environmentalists will be
> arrested if found on tribal land. A spokeswoman said it was meant
> largely as a symbolic gesture.
>
> Coal puts environmentalists and the Navajo and Hopi governments
> on different sides of the fence, and it also has divided tribal
> members. Hopi and Navajo culture and tradition teaches members to be
> stewards of the land.
> Some view coal as a vital organ of Mother Earth that should be
> extracted only after thoughtfully weighing the benefits.
>
> Vernon Masayesva, a Hopi and director of the Black Mesa Trust,
> said environmentalists have helped present the other side to the Hopi
> Tribal Council's story that water used for 30 years to slurry coal to
> the shuttered Mohave plant hasn't significantly affected aquifers and
> that the tribe would be penniless without coal revenues.
>
> "These pro-Peabody legislators are making sure all the obstacles
> are eliminated, which means barring the environmental organizations
> who have responded," he said. "They're not coming in on their own.
> They're here by invitation."
>
> Shirley said the Navajo Nation supports the goals of many
> environmental organizations, and pointed to a commission to create
> green jobs and a 2005 ban on uranium mining as examples of good
> working relationships.
>
> But he said some Navajo environmentalists and the non-Navajo
> environmental groups that support them work to the detriment of tribal
> government and Navajo people.
>
> "Unfortunately, many of these people don't know about Navajos,
> sovereignty or self-determination," he said. "They just want any use
> of coal stopped. However, coal is the Navajo Nation's most plentiful
> resource, and our prosperity depends on it."
>
>
> The leader of the country's largest Indian reservation threw his
> support behind the neighboring Hopi Tribe, whose lawmakers declared
> environmental groups unwelcome on the reservation.
>
> Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. and Hopi lawmakers say
> environmentalists' efforts could hurt the tribes' struggling economies
> by slowing or stopping coal mining.
>
> Shirley said Wednesday that he will stand in solidarity with the
> Hopi Tribe, and joined Hopi lawmakers in encouraging other tribes to
> re- evaluate their relationships with environmentalists.
>
> "Environmentalists are good at identifying problems but poor at
> identifying feasible solutions," Shirley said in a news release.
> "Most often
> they don't try to work with us but against us, giving aid and comfort
> to those opposed to the sovereign decision-making of tribes."
>
> Environmentalists and tribes have forged partnerships on a number
> of issues, including opposition to uranium mining and the protection
> of mountains that American Indians consider sacred.
>
> But coal is another story.
>
> Environmentalists have waged a campaign against coal as an energy
> source, in favor of renewable energy such as wind and solar. But the
> Navajo and Hopi long have depended on coal revenues to fund their
> governments and pay the salaries of tribal employees on reservations
> where half the work force is unemployed.
>
> On the Hopi reservation, revenues from coal mined by Peabody
> Energy in northern Arizona's Black Mesa area make up 70 percent of the
> tribe's
> $15
> million budget. On the Navajo Nation, those revenues make up nearly 10
> percent of the tribe's budget.
>
> That coal powers the Navajo Generating Station near Page, Ariz.,
> where environmentalists have been pushing for upgrades to reduce
> emissions. In 2006, environmentalists successfully forced the shutdown
> of the Mohave Generating Station on the Arizona-Nevada border - the
> only other customer for the tribes' coal - when the owner failed to
> install pollution- control upgrades as required by a settlement with
> environmentalists.
>
> "The tribe is still reeling from that," said Hopi legal counsel
> Scott Canty. "To talk about taking the remaining revenues away is just
> unfathomable. It would just set them back tremendously."
>
> Environmentalists also are fighting against a planned $3 billion,
> 1,500-megawatt coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Nation in New
> Mexico, saying it would further harm air quality in the Four Corners
> region.
> Navajo
> officials say it will be one of the cleanest coal-burning plants in
> the nation.
>
> Andy Bessler of the Sierra Club, one of a handful of
> environmental groups named in Hopi lawmakers' resolution, said the
> group respects tribal sovereignty and understands the need for tribes
> to develop their economies.
>
> But unless tribes can prevent carbon dioxide or air pollution
> from leaving the reservation, he said environmental groups will
> continue to address the issues that extend beyond tribal boundaries.
>
> "We work with anybody who wants to help protect the environment,
> stop global warming and transition our economy to a clean economy," he
> said. "We don't discriminate and we'll continue to honor the
> invitations we get from Hopi and Navajo communities to work with
> them."
>
> The Hopi resolution doesn't mean environmentalists will be
> arrested if found on tribal land. A spokeswoman said it was meant
> largely as a symbolic gesture.
>
> Coal puts environmentalists and the Navajo and Hopi governments
> on different sides of the fence, and it also has divided tribal
> members. Hopi and Navajo culture and tradition teaches members to be
> stewards of the land.
> Some view coal as a vital organ of Mother Earth that should be
> extracted only after thoughtfully weighing the benefits.
>
> Vernon Masayesva, a Hopi and director of the Black Mesa Trust,
> said environmentalists have helped present the other side to the Hopi
> Tribal Council's story that water used for 30 years to slurry coal to
> the shuttered Mohave plant hasn't significantly affected aquifers and
> that the tribe would be penniless without coal revenues.
>
> "These pro-Peabody legislators are making sure all the obstacles
> are eliminated, which means barring the environmental organizations
> who have responded," he said. "They're not coming in on their own.
> They're here by invitation."
>
> Shirley said the Navajo Nation supports the goals of many
> environmental organizations, and pointed to a commission to create
> green jobs and a 2005 ban on uranium mining as examples of good
> working relationships.
>
> But he said some Navajo environmentalists and the non-Navajo
> environmental groups that support them work to the detriment of tribal
> government and Navajo people.
>
> "Unfortunately, many of these people don't know about Navajos,
> sovereignty or self-determination," he said. "They just want any use
> of coal stopped. However, coal is the Navajo Nation's most plentiful
> resource, and our prosperity depends on it."
>
>