Jan 1, 2007 10:43 PM
December 22, 2006
An open letter from the members of the Dooda Desert Rock Committee to the Navajo Nation Government and Sithe Global Power.
We are writing this letter to you in the hopes that there is still the possibility for genuine understanding. There are reasons for both our opposition to the location of a coal-burning power plant in our midst, and for the vigil we have undertaken at the proposed construction site since December 12th. We are not doing this because we enjoy it, or enjoy causing trouble. We are doing this because, as grandmothers, mothers, and children of Diné heritage, we feel compelled to act to protect our land, our children, and our way of life.
Our opposition to this plant has been open and pointed for nearly three full years. No one has addressed our primary concerns, including:
1) Pollution and our health: no matter how clean it is purported to be, the Desert Rock plant will add to what have already been characterized by the EPA as some of the worst emissions in the United States from the two existing power plants in our area (San Juan and Four Corners Power Plants). You will excuse us for being suspicious of your promises when we have asthma rates far in excess of national averages, cancer rates in excess of national averages, reproductive disorders and other health related concerns that are attributable to pollution from coal-burning power plants.
2) Lack of real economic benefit: We are told that this plant will bring “hundreds of jobs” to Navajo workers. This is a promise we’ve heard many times before, with regards to oil and gas development, uranium mining, forestry, and various other coal mining and burning operations. In each case, the costs to our people in terms of health and loss of traditional livelihood have far outweighed any economic development from added jobs. Therefore the “jobs” argument is invalid.
3) Infrastructure issues: You will also excuse us for being suspicious of the promises that this plant will somehow benefit those members of the Navajo Nation who lack access to electricity. The Navajo Nation is already a net exporter of electricity, and many of our people still lack access to the electrical grid. How, exactly, will the presence of this plant change that situation? It will not. Lack of electricity supply is not the problem on the Navajo Nation. Lack of will or resources to connect our people is the problem.
4) Failure of political participation: We have been forced to accept this plant as a “done deal” since the plan’s first inception. Members of our community were bought out of traditional use access for dollar amounts that were orders of magnitude below fair value – as if these people had the ability to just move anyway. The people of the affected areas were bullied, lied to and coerced into accepting this arrangement. And yet our leadership insists it is the will of the people.
5) Impact to Diné livelihoods: The proposed plant, and related mining activities, will disrupt large portions of land that are sensitive
6) Provides no progress to real development. We have attempted dialogue with our Navajo Nation government, to suggest that there are alternative pathways to energy development and economic prosperity on Navajo land. Sadly, there has been too severe a lack of vision, imagination and leadership to consider any alternatives. Foreign energy companies with no sense of Diné values for the land, no grounding in our cultural traditions, and no concern at all for our people are dictating energy policy in the Diné homeland. This should not be happening.
For all these reasons, we have continued to oppose the plant. We were forced to escalate our opposition to this plant, to stage a protest vigil at the site of the proposed construction, for the following reasons.
1) We were never informed of what was going on. Elouise Brown, a member of the community, encountered a worker in a truck on December 12 and had no idea what he was going there for. She knew that no authorization for development had been given to the parties involved, that no cultural heritage or environmental impact assessment had been conducted. She believed, in absence of any notification being given, that illegal development activity was taking place.
2) As we were only later to learn, without any public input, the Bureau of Indian Affairs provided a “Categorical Exclusion” to Sithe Global Power to conduct evaluation of the aquifer. As concerned parties whose land will be affected by this, we should have been notified.
3) We continue to be kept in the dark as to what is going on there. Responsibility falls on the BIA and Navajo Nation to explain why these activities aren't covered under the EIS, and on a project of this magnitude, why a Categorical Exclusion was accomplished through back-channel processes, rather than out in the open in a transparent, responsible manner. We have submitted a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request, after unsuccessful attempts to see these documents, despite repeated requests.
4) Only after our blockade, did we receive copies of the Categorical Exclusion document. However, we received an anonymous call warning us the documents were doctored.
5) We question whether the activity at the site is actually permitted under the Categorical Exclusion. Our understanding is that geophysical assessments are more readily approved for Categorical Exclusion, but that geotechnical assessments, which involve deeper drilling, might not be. We also understand that this aquifer assessment will involve deep drilling. We therefore wonder why it was granted the exclusion.
6) We have been careful, per instructions from our lawyer, not to interfere with any of the work activities going on at the site, despite the fact that we disagree with their legality. The “temporary restraining order” delivered on December 19th does not prohibit our presence at the site. We have obeyed that order, and have not physically interfered.
7) Despite that, we have been harassed. Contrary to the allegations that President Shirley and others have made, the police at the site have not been doing everything possible to make us comfortable.
These are the reasons we oppose the plant, and continue to post a vigil to observe the dealings and activities going on at the proposed site. Our government, and Sithe Global, have proven time and again that they can not be trusted to act in any interests other than that of making money for themselves. We will not sit by, or disperse, and let our land be destroyed by unscrupulous outsiders bent only on making a quick profit. We will remain here to give witness to our opposition, to observe and report what we see as long as we are needed.
Dooda Desert Rock Committee
Elouise Brown
President
505-947-6159
thebrownmachine@hotmail.com
December 22, 2006
An open letter from the members of the Dooda Desert Rock Committee to the Navajo Nation Government and Sithe Global Power.
We are writing this letter to you in the hopes that there is still the possibility for genuine understanding. There are reasons for both our opposition to the location of a coal-burning power plant in our midst, and for the vigil we have undertaken at the proposed construction site since December 12th. We are not doing this because we enjoy it, or enjoy causing trouble. We are doing this because, as grandmothers, mothers, and children of Diné heritage, we feel compelled to act to protect our land, our children, and our way of life.
Our opposition to this plant has been open and pointed for nearly three full years. No one has addressed our primary concerns, including:
1) Pollution and our health: no matter how clean it is purported to be, the Desert Rock plant will add to what have already been characterized by the EPA as some of the worst emissions in the United States from the two existing power plants in our area (San Juan and Four Corners Power Plants). You will excuse us for being suspicious of your promises when we have asthma rates far in excess of national averages, cancer rates in excess of national averages, reproductive disorders and other health related concerns that are attributable to pollution from coal-burning power plants.
2) Lack of real economic benefit: We are told that this plant will bring “hundreds of jobs” to Navajo workers. This is a promise we’ve heard many times before, with regards to oil and gas development, uranium mining, forestry, and various other coal mining and burning operations. In each case, the costs to our people in terms of health and loss of traditional livelihood have far outweighed any economic development from added jobs. Therefore the “jobs” argument is invalid.
3) Infrastructure issues: You will also excuse us for being suspicious of the promises that this plant will somehow benefit those members of the Navajo Nation who lack access to electricity. The Navajo Nation is already a net exporter of electricity, and many of our people still lack access to the electrical grid. How, exactly, will the presence of this plant change that situation? It will not. Lack of electricity supply is not the problem on the Navajo Nation. Lack of will or resources to connect our people is the problem.
4) Failure of political participation: We have been forced to accept this plant as a “done deal” since the plan’s first inception. Members of our community were bought out of traditional use access for dollar amounts that were orders of magnitude below fair value – as if these people had the ability to just move anyway. The people of the affected areas were bullied, lied to and coerced into accepting this arrangement. And yet our leadership insists it is the will of the people.
5) Impact to Diné livelihoods: The proposed plant, and related mining activities, will disrupt large portions of land that are sensitive
6) Provides no progress to real development. We have attempted dialogue with our Navajo Nation government, to suggest that there are alternative pathways to energy development and economic prosperity on Navajo land. Sadly, there has been too severe a lack of vision, imagination and leadership to consider any alternatives. Foreign energy companies with no sense of Diné values for the land, no grounding in our cultural traditions, and no concern at all for our people are dictating energy policy in the Diné homeland. This should not be happening.
For all these reasons, we have continued to oppose the plant. We were forced to escalate our opposition to this plant, to stage a protest vigil at the site of the proposed construction, for the following reasons.
1) We were never informed of what was going on. Elouise Brown, a member of the community, encountered a worker in a truck on December 12 and had no idea what he was going there for. She knew that no authorization for development had been given to the parties involved, that no cultural heritage or environmental impact assessment had been conducted. She believed, in absence of any notification being given, that illegal development activity was taking place.
2) As we were only later to learn, without any public input, the Bureau of Indian Affairs provided a “Categorical Exclusion” to Sithe Global Power to conduct evaluation of the aquifer. As concerned parties whose land will be affected by this, we should have been notified.
3) We continue to be kept in the dark as to what is going on there. Responsibility falls on the BIA and Navajo Nation to explain why these activities aren't covered under the EIS, and on a project of this magnitude, why a Categorical Exclusion was accomplished through back-channel processes, rather than out in the open in a transparent, responsible manner. We have submitted a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request, after unsuccessful attempts to see these documents, despite repeated requests.
4) Only after our blockade, did we receive copies of the Categorical Exclusion document. However, we received an anonymous call warning us the documents were doctored.
5) We question whether the activity at the site is actually permitted under the Categorical Exclusion. Our understanding is that geophysical assessments are more readily approved for Categorical Exclusion, but that geotechnical assessments, which involve deeper drilling, might not be. We also understand that this aquifer assessment will involve deep drilling. We therefore wonder why it was granted the exclusion.
6) We have been careful, per instructions from our lawyer, not to interfere with any of the work activities going on at the site, despite the fact that we disagree with their legality. The “temporary restraining order” delivered on December 19th does not prohibit our presence at the site. We have obeyed that order, and have not physically interfered.
7) Despite that, we have been harassed. Contrary to the allegations that President Shirley and others have made, the police at the site have not been doing everything possible to make us comfortable.
These are the reasons we oppose the plant, and continue to post a vigil to observe the dealings and activities going on at the proposed site. Our government, and Sithe Global, have proven time and again that they can not be trusted to act in any interests other than that of making money for themselves. We will not sit by, or disperse, and let our land be destroyed by unscrupulous outsiders bent only on making a quick profit. We will remain here to give witness to our opposition, to observe and report what we see as long as we are needed.
Dooda Desert Rock Committee
Elouise Brown
President
505-947-6159
thebrownmachine@hotmail.com