Navajo Elders Blockade Power Plant Site
Submitted by Western Shoshone Defense Project
By Brenda Norrell
December 14, 2006
BURNHAM, NEW MEXICO, USA - Elderly Navajo women and their children formed a blockade, built a fire and camped at the site of a proposed power plant on tribal land in northwest New Mexico. The blockade of traditional Navajos halted site work in a region that is already toxic with air and water pollution from power plants, oil and gas wells and scattered radioactive tailings from the Cold War.
Now facing the threat of arrest by tribal police at the blockade, Navajo elderly, including one medicine man, said they are willing to go to jail to protect their land and way of life.
Most of the elderly are already ill from living in an area where power plants have released 100 tons of coal combustion waste that is blowing in the wind. One of the Navajo elderly resisters is in a wheelchair and another has severe asthma.
For the second night on Wednesday night, Dec. 13, Navajo resisters camped in the cold at the site.
"I have said 'No' over and over again and you keep coming over!" said Nenanezah elder Alice Gilmore, who holds the grazing permit for the area of the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant. The Navajo Nation and Sithe Global LLC plan to build the power plant, which would be the third power plant in the Farmington/Bloomfield area.
Confronting Sithe and Navajo DPA employees, Gilmore was adamant that she has not given permission for the power plant on her land. Navajo elders from Burnham, Sanostee and Nenanezah chapter, all taking a bold action to fight the tribal government and corporate aggression, joined Gilmore at the blockade.
"We're fed up with them," said Sarah J. White, president of the Doodá Desert Rock Committee. "The grandmas and the grandpas are being walked over by these monsters and they're being denied information. We're standing our ground now."
White said Navajos at the barricade need everything in the way of food, firewood and supplies. "We need everything from A to Z," White said.
The blockade was formed just 10 days after Navajo Nation elected leaders gathered with representatives from 14 countries and formulated a global ban on uranium mining on Native lands. The power plant blockade also comes as Navajo Nation leaders are fighting in the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to protect San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Ariz., from the desecration of snowmaking from recycled wastewater for tourism.
The mountain is sacred to 13 area Indian tribes. However, both Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., and the Navajo Nation Council support the construction of the Desert Rock Power Plant and accompanying coalmine, which Navajos say would add more pollution to the air, land and water, already saturated with disease-causing toxins.
The Navajo Nation tribal government has attempted to censor the voices of Navajos speaking out against the Desert Rock power plant in New Mexico and the use of aquifer water for coal mining by Peabody Coal on the western side of the Navajo Nation in Arizona.
The proposed site of the new Desert Rock power plant is in the Four Corners Region, targeted since the 1970s as a national sacrifice area for energy production. It is also the sacred region of Dinetah, the place of origin of Navajos. However, the air is so polluted in the region of Dinetah near Bloomfield that persons with asthma and respirator diseases find it difficult to breathe.
Further, Navajos say while they struggle with respiratory diseases, cancer and the death of their loved ones in this region, many Navajos must also haul water and live without electricity, since the power plants on Navajo land primarily provide electricity for non-Indians.
The Navajo blockade comes as O'odham in Sonora, Mexico, challenge a secret plan by the government of Mexico, with the knowledge of the US EPA, to create a hazardous waste dump near the sacred site of Quitovac where O'odham hold ceremonies. The Navajo blockade coincides with an action by Pima on Gila River tribal land in Arizona to halt expansion of a hazardous dumpsite.
At the same time, Yaqui in Sonora, Mexico, gathered to prohibit the use of banned pesticides in agricultural fields, now resulting in cancer and deaths.
At the proposed new Desert Rock power plant site in New Mexico, Navajo residents confronted the Diné Power Authority/Sithe Global on Dec. 12, after discovering that water drilling was carried out without the knowledge and notification of local Navajo residents.
Members of the Doodá Desert Rock committee gathered to support Gilmore's opposition and asked Sithe/DPA to disclose drilling permits that allowed drilling activity to occur. However, no permits were provided.
The residents refused to leave after the Navajo Nation Police attempted to give access to DPA/Sithe Global, claiming that permits for the Desert Rock project are not for public disclosure.
The Burnham residents barricaded the roads to disallow traffic into the Desert Rock
site and Navajos remained at the blockade. Members of Diné CARE/Doodá Desert Rock Committee met Dec. 13, at the Shiprock tribal courthouse to get answers about drilling permits.
Navajo residents said a tribal police lieutenant denied Gilmore and other residents access to view the permits. Navajo residents are asking for a copy of the categorical exclusion,
which would allow the drilling activities to commence, and copies of the Clean Water Act Sections 401, 402 and 404, that would prove compliance with regulatory requirements have been met.
"There are major disturbance taking place and according to the Clean Air Act, these permits are a pre-requisite for drilling activity," Navajo residents said in a public statement.
Further, Navajos say tribal boundary lines were redrawn to accommodate the power plant corporation. The proposed area is home to extended families, but arbitrarily drawn
political boundaries by the Navajo Nation and company representatives have the families separated into the three chapters: Burnham, Sanostee, and Nenahnezad.
Navajo residents said the boundary defining Burnham and Nenahnezad was moved to the south for the benefit of DPA/Sithe within the past two years.
Elouise Brown of Sanostee said, "The local residents are not protesters but are resisters. Who would be happy if a well is being dug in their backyard especially when it is done in secrecy? So, how can those residents be considered protesters when they are simply standing up for their rights to have clean air, water, and environment."
Burnham, Sanostee and Nenanezah residents are not waiting for remedy; many have set up camp at the proposed site and are refusing to move until they get the needed documents.
Navajos said this incident follows accusations made against Sithe/DPA about environmental injustices, EPA's proposed issuance of prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit Air Quality Permit for Desert Rock Energy Facility and the creation of Navajo Nation Energy Policies without public input.
For more information on the Navajo blockade:
Lori Goodman
Dine' CARE
PH: (970) 259-0199
FAX: (970) 259-2300
kiyaani@frontier.net
dinecare.org
DAYISH VISITS DESERT ROCK RESISTERS
Submitted by Eleanore Fanire, Mojave Downwinders
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK -- Drillers on their way Tuesday to the proposed future site
of the Desert Rock Energy Facility encountered a slight problem. Grandma
blocking the roadway.
On Wednesday, Grandma was back. On Thursday, back again.
And like a "tree planted by the water," Grandma will not be moved.
At least, not before Monday anyway, when the grandmas, grandpas, children
and grandchildren that make up the grassroots groups Dooda Desert Rock and
Dine Care have asked to meet with Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. at
2 p.m. at their campsite to discuss concerns.
Chief among those: Their voice is not being heard.
Vice President Frank Dayish Jr. met Thursday with Dine Power Authority
and BHP Billiton, owners of Navajo Mine which will supply coal for the 1,500
megawatt mine-to-mouth coal-fired plant.
He also visited Desert Rock resisters who have set up camp at a BHP
access road to the site.
Maxine Etter of the Vice President's Office said Dayish told DPA and BHP
representatives, "I don't want this to turn into another Grandma Thomas
issue, because people listen to Grandma Thomas."
"He told them, taking the high road is the best approach."
Grandma Marjorie Thomas of Chinle and others concerned about elderly
abuse recently marched into Window Rock to voice their complaints, only to
find nobody home.
Etter said she spoke with Grandma Thomas on Wednesday to let her know
that the Vice President's Office had not been aware that she was coming.
On the day of Grandma's visit, Dayish was in the Farmington area trying
to help the family of a young soldier who had been injured in Iraq. Etter
said she expressed a message to Grandma on behalf of the Vice President.
"Had we known that you were going to come by, we would have definitely
been here, because we have always reached out to help you and support you
with your fund-raising efforts and your walks."
Etter said Dayish also stressed to DPA, "This is a situation that can't
get escalated, that we need to be culturally sensitive. No matter how you
look at the situation, there are going to be some people who say this is
elderly abuse.
He said, "We're not going to have another Grandma Thomas situation.
There's not going to be any elderly abuse under my watch in New Mexico."
Etter was deeply moved when she got her first look at the resisters'
camp. One thing, at the entrance where we met the police escort, gave her "a
sad, strange feeling."
"There was an American flag that was hung upside-down. I know what that
means. It's a distress signal," she said.
"When we got out there, they had a small fire going and just a little bit
of wood, and a small white tent." Etter said she saw more women than men
present.
"We saw Lucy Willie standing there in the road, along with Sarah White.
It was kind of sad to me. It was a little overwhelming.
"Lucy was standing there in the middle of the dirt road with a long stick
in her hand, like a sheepherding stick. Just standing there.
"The conditions were kind of sparse and it was kind of cold, a little bit
windy. And they were standing there in the middle of the road, taking their
stand. I was like, 'Oh, wow.'
Etter said the Vice President went over to the group, started talking to
them in Navajo, and expressed his clan. "They started talking about their
concerns and he just listened," she said.
"They were talking about how this has been their homestead and this land
has been in their family for generations. They talked about who was born
here, who was buried there, and that their umbilical cords were buried in
the ground, those kinds of things."
Etter said they told Dayish, "This might just look like rocks and hills
and dirt to you, but these are sacred sites to us."
The message was: "We feel like as local people, we're not being heard,"
according to Etter.
She said Dooda Desert Rock President Sarah White expressed her concerns
about the plant possibly adding to global warming and what impact it would
have to their water, "because we know that things get filtered down into the
water and how it's going to affect our health and future generations."
White told them, "We're concerned that we're exchanging our land for
progress and also for money. ... We're not here to cause harm or to hurt
anyone. We want to be listened to."
Dayish requested full removal of the equipment and that it be stored for
now to defuse the situation and make sure everybody's safe and comfortable.
"He implored the help of BHP, DPA and Sithe to all come together to have
open dialogue and really listen to the people and make sure that their
freedom of speech would be honored," Etter said.
The vice president can see all aspects of the situation. "He sees the
business side and the potential it could be. He told them we have about
three weeks left (before leaving office). He urged them to continue to ask
for accountability from the new leadership.
"Grandma Lucy Willie started crying. She just hugged him and said,
'Thank you, my son, for coming out and checking on us.' And the Vice
President said (in Navajo), 'We want peace from today on. We're here to
listen to you.'
It was a good meeting, Etter said. "We came away from it feeling like,
'OK, this is not totally resolved, but it's a good start and it needs to
continue.' "
Dayish told representatives of DPA, BHP, and Sithe Global, "It's better
to be proactive than reactive."
He told them they can't even begin to address all the technical issues
they're talking about until they address the human side, Etter said.
"We need to be culturally sensitive to the people and listen to them,"
Dayish said.
TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.
NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.
Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.
By Brenda Norrell
December 14, 2006
BURNHAM, NEW MEXICO, USA - Elderly Navajo women and their children formed a blockade, built a fire and camped at the site of a proposed power plant on tribal land in northwest New Mexico. The blockade of traditional Navajos halted site work in a region that is already toxic with air and water pollution from power plants, oil and gas wells and scattered radioactive tailings from the Cold War.
Now facing the threat of arrest by tribal police at the blockade, Navajo elderly, including one medicine man, said they are willing to go to jail to protect their land and way of life.
Most of the elderly are already ill from living in an area where power plants have released 100 tons of coal combustion waste that is blowing in the wind. One of the Navajo elderly resisters is in a wheelchair and another has severe asthma.
For the second night on Wednesday night, Dec. 13, Navajo resisters camped in the cold at the site.
"I have said 'No' over and over again and you keep coming over!" said Nenanezah elder Alice Gilmore, who holds the grazing permit for the area of the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant. The Navajo Nation and Sithe Global LLC plan to build the power plant, which would be the third power plant in the Farmington/Bloomfield area.
Confronting Sithe and Navajo DPA employees, Gilmore was adamant that she has not given permission for the power plant on her land. Navajo elders from Burnham, Sanostee and Nenanezah chapter, all taking a bold action to fight the tribal government and corporate aggression, joined Gilmore at the blockade.
"We're fed up with them," said Sarah J. White, president of the Doodá Desert Rock Committee. "The grandmas and the grandpas are being walked over by these monsters and they're being denied information. We're standing our ground now."
White said Navajos at the barricade need everything in the way of food, firewood and supplies. "We need everything from A to Z," White said.
The blockade was formed just 10 days after Navajo Nation elected leaders gathered with representatives from 14 countries and formulated a global ban on uranium mining on Native lands. The power plant blockade also comes as Navajo Nation leaders are fighting in the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to protect San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Ariz., from the desecration of snowmaking from recycled wastewater for tourism.
The mountain is sacred to 13 area Indian tribes. However, both Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., and the Navajo Nation Council support the construction of the Desert Rock Power Plant and accompanying coalmine, which Navajos say would add more pollution to the air, land and water, already saturated with disease-causing toxins.
The Navajo Nation tribal government has attempted to censor the voices of Navajos speaking out against the Desert Rock power plant in New Mexico and the use of aquifer water for coal mining by Peabody Coal on the western side of the Navajo Nation in Arizona.
The proposed site of the new Desert Rock power plant is in the Four Corners Region, targeted since the 1970s as a national sacrifice area for energy production. It is also the sacred region of Dinetah, the place of origin of Navajos. However, the air is so polluted in the region of Dinetah near Bloomfield that persons with asthma and respirator diseases find it difficult to breathe.
Further, Navajos say while they struggle with respiratory diseases, cancer and the death of their loved ones in this region, many Navajos must also haul water and live without electricity, since the power plants on Navajo land primarily provide electricity for non-Indians.
The Navajo blockade comes as O'odham in Sonora, Mexico, challenge a secret plan by the government of Mexico, with the knowledge of the US EPA, to create a hazardous waste dump near the sacred site of Quitovac where O'odham hold ceremonies. The Navajo blockade coincides with an action by Pima on Gila River tribal land in Arizona to halt expansion of a hazardous dumpsite.
At the same time, Yaqui in Sonora, Mexico, gathered to prohibit the use of banned pesticides in agricultural fields, now resulting in cancer and deaths.
At the proposed new Desert Rock power plant site in New Mexico, Navajo residents confronted the Diné Power Authority/Sithe Global on Dec. 12, after discovering that water drilling was carried out without the knowledge and notification of local Navajo residents.
Members of the Doodá Desert Rock committee gathered to support Gilmore's opposition and asked Sithe/DPA to disclose drilling permits that allowed drilling activity to occur. However, no permits were provided.
The residents refused to leave after the Navajo Nation Police attempted to give access to DPA/Sithe Global, claiming that permits for the Desert Rock project are not for public disclosure.
The Burnham residents barricaded the roads to disallow traffic into the Desert Rock
site and Navajos remained at the blockade. Members of Diné CARE/Doodá Desert Rock Committee met Dec. 13, at the Shiprock tribal courthouse to get answers about drilling permits.
Navajo residents said a tribal police lieutenant denied Gilmore and other residents access to view the permits. Navajo residents are asking for a copy of the categorical exclusion,
which would allow the drilling activities to commence, and copies of the Clean Water Act Sections 401, 402 and 404, that would prove compliance with regulatory requirements have been met.
"There are major disturbance taking place and according to the Clean Air Act, these permits are a pre-requisite for drilling activity," Navajo residents said in a public statement.
Further, Navajos say tribal boundary lines were redrawn to accommodate the power plant corporation. The proposed area is home to extended families, but arbitrarily drawn
political boundaries by the Navajo Nation and company representatives have the families separated into the three chapters: Burnham, Sanostee, and Nenahnezad.
Navajo residents said the boundary defining Burnham and Nenahnezad was moved to the south for the benefit of DPA/Sithe within the past two years.
Elouise Brown of Sanostee said, "The local residents are not protesters but are resisters. Who would be happy if a well is being dug in their backyard especially when it is done in secrecy? So, how can those residents be considered protesters when they are simply standing up for their rights to have clean air, water, and environment."
Burnham, Sanostee and Nenanezah residents are not waiting for remedy; many have set up camp at the proposed site and are refusing to move until they get the needed documents.
Navajos said this incident follows accusations made against Sithe/DPA about environmental injustices, EPA's proposed issuance of prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit Air Quality Permit for Desert Rock Energy Facility and the creation of Navajo Nation Energy Policies without public input.
For more information on the Navajo blockade:
Lori Goodman
Dine' CARE
PH: (970) 259-0199
FAX: (970) 259-2300
kiyaani@frontier.net
dinecare.org
DAYISH VISITS DESERT ROCK RESISTERS
Submitted by Eleanore Fanire, Mojave Downwinders
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK -- Drillers on their way Tuesday to the proposed future site
of the Desert Rock Energy Facility encountered a slight problem. Grandma
blocking the roadway.
On Wednesday, Grandma was back. On Thursday, back again.
And like a "tree planted by the water," Grandma will not be moved.
At least, not before Monday anyway, when the grandmas, grandpas, children
and grandchildren that make up the grassroots groups Dooda Desert Rock and
Dine Care have asked to meet with Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. at
2 p.m. at their campsite to discuss concerns.
Chief among those: Their voice is not being heard.
Vice President Frank Dayish Jr. met Thursday with Dine Power Authority
and BHP Billiton, owners of Navajo Mine which will supply coal for the 1,500
megawatt mine-to-mouth coal-fired plant.
He also visited Desert Rock resisters who have set up camp at a BHP
access road to the site.
Maxine Etter of the Vice President's Office said Dayish told DPA and BHP
representatives, "I don't want this to turn into another Grandma Thomas
issue, because people listen to Grandma Thomas."
"He told them, taking the high road is the best approach."
Grandma Marjorie Thomas of Chinle and others concerned about elderly
abuse recently marched into Window Rock to voice their complaints, only to
find nobody home.
Etter said she spoke with Grandma Thomas on Wednesday to let her know
that the Vice President's Office had not been aware that she was coming.
On the day of Grandma's visit, Dayish was in the Farmington area trying
to help the family of a young soldier who had been injured in Iraq. Etter
said she expressed a message to Grandma on behalf of the Vice President.
"Had we known that you were going to come by, we would have definitely
been here, because we have always reached out to help you and support you
with your fund-raising efforts and your walks."
Etter said Dayish also stressed to DPA, "This is a situation that can't
get escalated, that we need to be culturally sensitive. No matter how you
look at the situation, there are going to be some people who say this is
elderly abuse.
He said, "We're not going to have another Grandma Thomas situation.
There's not going to be any elderly abuse under my watch in New Mexico."
Etter was deeply moved when she got her first look at the resisters'
camp. One thing, at the entrance where we met the police escort, gave her "a
sad, strange feeling."
"There was an American flag that was hung upside-down. I know what that
means. It's a distress signal," she said.
"When we got out there, they had a small fire going and just a little bit
of wood, and a small white tent." Etter said she saw more women than men
present.
"We saw Lucy Willie standing there in the road, along with Sarah White.
It was kind of sad to me. It was a little overwhelming.
"Lucy was standing there in the middle of the dirt road with a long stick
in her hand, like a sheepherding stick. Just standing there.
"The conditions were kind of sparse and it was kind of cold, a little bit
windy. And they were standing there in the middle of the road, taking their
stand. I was like, 'Oh, wow.'
Etter said the Vice President went over to the group, started talking to
them in Navajo, and expressed his clan. "They started talking about their
concerns and he just listened," she said.
"They were talking about how this has been their homestead and this land
has been in their family for generations. They talked about who was born
here, who was buried there, and that their umbilical cords were buried in
the ground, those kinds of things."
Etter said they told Dayish, "This might just look like rocks and hills
and dirt to you, but these are sacred sites to us."
The message was: "We feel like as local people, we're not being heard,"
according to Etter.
She said Dooda Desert Rock President Sarah White expressed her concerns
about the plant possibly adding to global warming and what impact it would
have to their water, "because we know that things get filtered down into the
water and how it's going to affect our health and future generations."
White told them, "We're concerned that we're exchanging our land for
progress and also for money. ... We're not here to cause harm or to hurt
anyone. We want to be listened to."
Dayish requested full removal of the equipment and that it be stored for
now to defuse the situation and make sure everybody's safe and comfortable.
"He implored the help of BHP, DPA and Sithe to all come together to have
open dialogue and really listen to the people and make sure that their
freedom of speech would be honored," Etter said.
The vice president can see all aspects of the situation. "He sees the
business side and the potential it could be. He told them we have about
three weeks left (before leaving office). He urged them to continue to ask
for accountability from the new leadership.
"Grandma Lucy Willie started crying. She just hugged him and said,
'Thank you, my son, for coming out and checking on us.' And the Vice
President said (in Navajo), 'We want peace from today on. We're here to
listen to you.'
It was a good meeting, Etter said. "We came away from it feeling like,
'OK, this is not totally resolved, but it's a good start and it needs to
continue.' "
Dayish told representatives of DPA, BHP, and Sithe Global, "It's better
to be proactive than reactive."
He told them they can't even begin to address all the technical issues
they're talking about until they address the human side, Etter said.
"We need to be culturally sensitive to the people and listen to them,"
Dayish said.
TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.
NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.
Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.
posted by Bobbie Hart O'Neill @ 10:25 AM
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