Jan 1, 2007 10:39 PM
Communities at Ground-Zero of the Proposed Desert Rock Power Plant 12/27/2006
Burnham, NM and Sanostee chapters are located east of the Chuska Mountains. Burnham chapter has no economic base and source of employment is none, except for the Navajo coalmine where very few local people are employed. Revenues from the coal mine goes directly to the Navajo Nation government operating funds. A large portion of Burnham land is leased to Navajo mine and oil and gas development. The livestock owners have few heads, which supplements their welfare checks. Sanostee has a bigger population with an elementary school, pre-school, three trading posts with gas stations and a chapter house. Their chapter boundary goes into the mountains of the Chuskas, which provides water for the communities. The major source of income for the young families comes from jobs in Farmington, Shiprock and Kirtland, NM. The local chapter officials are elected every four years and they conduct monthly meetings.
Our land is rich in natural resources but has little other economic activity. Our tribal government, by virtue of its sovereign status, is constantly in need of funds to provide basic services to its people. Lacking strong leadership, our government has relied too heavily on royalties and rents from unscrupulous outside corporations eager to exploit our land. A series of these corporate exploitations has wrought widespread devastation.
In the coal fields of the Fruitland Formation in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico, surface mining is laying the ground to waste and coal-burning power plants are polluting the air. The Four Corners and San Juan power plants in northwest NM are among the worst point sources of pollution in the entire United States. They have contaminated the air shed of the San Juan Basin and fouled the waters of the San Juan River which flows through the New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah portions of the Navajo Reservation. Now, a third coal-fired electrical generating station is proposed to be built in Burnham, a small Navajo community located along the cottonwood bosque of Chaco Wash which runs into the polluted San Juan River. Fueling the Four Corners and San Juan generating stations is the Navajo Mine which will also provide strip-mined coal to the third power plant--the Desert Rock Energy Project--if it is built.
Under the recently enacted National Energy Policy Act, otherwise applicable federal environmental and cultural protections (such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act) would no longer apply in Indian Country. They could be waived by the Secretary of Interior on behalf of consenting energy resource Indian tribes. Also consensually waived would be the federal trust responsibility to the tribes. The Navajo Nation government supported this terrible law. We cannot disengage--we have to awaken our Tribal government to the need and value of protecting our heritage.
According to the 2000 US Census, the Navajo Nation is one of the poorest regions in the United States. Many people who live here pursue agriculture and raise livestock, both of which are under threat. In Burnham, the expansion of the Burnham Mine resulted in the significant loss of grazing land and resources. This major land use change adversely affected the already economically disadvantaged population of the Burnham community. Even the trading post was torn down to make way for the monster strip-mine. In the drought-stricken Southwestern Navajo Agency, water is life. But more depletion and pollution of water by the irresponsible energy industry is death.
As residents of the Navajo Nation, we serve the Navajo environmental interest. Our tribal members live and work in Navajo communities under stress in the New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah portions of the 25,000 square mile Navajo Reservation and Checkerboard Area. As a reservation-based, tribally chartered grassroots organization, we represent the environmental conscience of Diné and Diné Bi Keyah (our land).
Unsustainable development is no longer an option. Nurturing and building healthy ecosystems is now our challenge, as we walk in beauty and strive to live in balance and harmony with Mother Earth and Father Sky.
http://bulletin.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuse...83-88bfd7589c56
Communities at Ground-Zero of the Proposed Desert Rock Power Plant 12/27/2006
Burnham, NM and Sanostee chapters are located east of the Chuska Mountains. Burnham chapter has no economic base and source of employment is none, except for the Navajo coalmine where very few local people are employed. Revenues from the coal mine goes directly to the Navajo Nation government operating funds. A large portion of Burnham land is leased to Navajo mine and oil and gas development. The livestock owners have few heads, which supplements their welfare checks. Sanostee has a bigger population with an elementary school, pre-school, three trading posts with gas stations and a chapter house. Their chapter boundary goes into the mountains of the Chuskas, which provides water for the communities. The major source of income for the young families comes from jobs in Farmington, Shiprock and Kirtland, NM. The local chapter officials are elected every four years and they conduct monthly meetings.
Our land is rich in natural resources but has little other economic activity. Our tribal government, by virtue of its sovereign status, is constantly in need of funds to provide basic services to its people. Lacking strong leadership, our government has relied too heavily on royalties and rents from unscrupulous outside corporations eager to exploit our land. A series of these corporate exploitations has wrought widespread devastation.
In the coal fields of the Fruitland Formation in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico, surface mining is laying the ground to waste and coal-burning power plants are polluting the air. The Four Corners and San Juan power plants in northwest NM are among the worst point sources of pollution in the entire United States. They have contaminated the air shed of the San Juan Basin and fouled the waters of the San Juan River which flows through the New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah portions of the Navajo Reservation. Now, a third coal-fired electrical generating station is proposed to be built in Burnham, a small Navajo community located along the cottonwood bosque of Chaco Wash which runs into the polluted San Juan River. Fueling the Four Corners and San Juan generating stations is the Navajo Mine which will also provide strip-mined coal to the third power plant--the Desert Rock Energy Project--if it is built.
Under the recently enacted National Energy Policy Act, otherwise applicable federal environmental and cultural protections (such as the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act) would no longer apply in Indian Country. They could be waived by the Secretary of Interior on behalf of consenting energy resource Indian tribes. Also consensually waived would be the federal trust responsibility to the tribes. The Navajo Nation government supported this terrible law. We cannot disengage--we have to awaken our Tribal government to the need and value of protecting our heritage.
According to the 2000 US Census, the Navajo Nation is one of the poorest regions in the United States. Many people who live here pursue agriculture and raise livestock, both of which are under threat. In Burnham, the expansion of the Burnham Mine resulted in the significant loss of grazing land and resources. This major land use change adversely affected the already economically disadvantaged population of the Burnham community. Even the trading post was torn down to make way for the monster strip-mine. In the drought-stricken Southwestern Navajo Agency, water is life. But more depletion and pollution of water by the irresponsible energy industry is death.
As residents of the Navajo Nation, we serve the Navajo environmental interest. Our tribal members live and work in Navajo communities under stress in the New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah portions of the 25,000 square mile Navajo Reservation and Checkerboard Area. As a reservation-based, tribally chartered grassroots organization, we represent the environmental conscience of Diné and Diné Bi Keyah (our land).
Unsustainable development is no longer an option. Nurturing and building healthy ecosystems is now our challenge, as we walk in beauty and strive to live in balance and harmony with Mother Earth and Father Sky.
http://bulletin.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuse...83-88bfd7589c56