Appalled by Shirley's statements on environmentalists
by CALVIN JOHNSON
Leupp, Arizona
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
President Shirley released a statement on September 30, 2009 stating that “he strongly supports the Hopi Tribe’s resolution to declare local and national environmental groups unwelcome on Hopi land and environmental activists and organizations are among the greatest threat to tribal sovereignty, tribal self-determination, and our quest for independence.”
This statement stems from the Hopi Council’s and Shirley’s belief that environmental groups helped the closure of the Mohave Generating Station, the demise of Navajo logging and the closure of a sawmill at Navajo, New Mexico, shutdown of the Black Mesa Mine and now Desert Rock Energy Project.
This statement is appalling and misleading because as elected leaders, we are suppose to protect our people and mother earth from harmful containmants that cause numerous health diseases, destroy sacred sites and deplete and contaminate precious water resources attributed to mining and power plants (coal).
Providing information that Desert Rock Energy Project is the cleanest coal plant is also misleading. I want to reiterate that the best machines in the world can not remove 100% of the sulfur, mercury and other pollutants from coal and burn it free of emissions. This “Clean Coal” is non existent. If there was such a thing as “clean coal” (free of pollutants), our people would be embracing Desert Rock happily.
Shirley also states that most often they (environmental groups) do not try to work with us but against us, giving aid and comfort to those opposed to the sovereign decision-making of tribes.
This statement is also misrepresented because most environmental groups are made up of impacted grassroots indigenous individuals (youth, elders and future generations) who want their concerns and voices to be heard instead of meetings and plannings that are held with Peabody, Sithe Global, Mohave Generating Station and the Gaming Commission (Twin Arrows Casino) behind closed doors.
Over the past few decades, impacted residents have been brushed aside and forgotten about because all we focus on is the dollars being promised. That is why they (grassroots) seek help from other environmentalists who have a goal to help protect the health of the people including our mother earth that we all live on.
Shirley states that our people die as a result of poverty, which is manifest as social problems like alcoholism, drunk driving, drug abuse, child neglect, child abuse, domestic violence, divorce, teen pregnancy, gangs, and lethal violence. This could be reduced by investing millions into small local businesses across the reservation such as grocery stores, auto shops, feed stores, restaurants, shopping centers, laundromats, hotels, farming, ranching, in partnerships with local vendors, which would create thousands of jobs, generate taxes and revenues which would fund education, police departments, and health agencies. The money generated would stay on the Navajo Nation. This can be accomplished by involving and including impacted grassroots from the very beginning to the end.
Creating power plants and casinos and blaming and disrespecting our own grassroots people (youth, elders and future generations) is not the answer to these problems.
Calvin Johnson
Leupp, Arizona
October 2, 2009
Navajo organization responds to Navajo president's chastisement of 'environmental' groups
Contact: Wahleah Johns, (928) 637-5281 (928) 637-5281
Enei Begaye, (928) 380-6296 (928) 380-6296
Navajo Organization Responds to Navajo Nation President's Chastisement of "Environmental" Groups
Black Mesa Water Coalition
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Black Mesa Water Coalition (BMWC) is an Indigenous non-governmental organization that is dedicated to preserving and protecting Mother Earth and the integrity of Indigenous Peoples' cultures, with the vision of building sustainable and healthy communities. BMWC strives to empower young people while building sustainable communities.
"We are troubled by the recent statements of the Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley. They demonstrate a disregard for the real concerns of Navajo and Hopi people about coal development which is harmful to the the land, water and all forms of life," said Enei Begaye, a Navajo citizen and Co-Director of the Black Mesa Water Coalition.
"We believe that President Shirley is misinformed as to the benefits of coal mining and coal-fired power plants and out of touch with the kind of economy the Navajo people want," said Wahleah Johns, also a Navajo citizen and Co-Director of Black Mesa Water Coalition. "Our organization has been working to support the traditional lifeways of weavers, ranchers, artisans and a new clean energy economy. After over 30 years of coal development on the Navajo reservation, most of our people still live below the national poverty line, and now there are increasing health problems due to fossil fuel development pollution and global warming."
In July of 2009, the Navajo Nation 21st Council officially adopted the Navajo Green Economy Commission and Fund to begin a process of diversifying the Navajo economy and building thousands of well-paying Navajo jobs that do not pollute. The Black Mesa Water Coalition formed the Navajo Green Economy Coalition, consisting of both Native and non-native organizations and individuals. This Coalition's partnership with the Navajo Nation's Speaker of the Council, Lawrence T. Morgan, was a large contributor to the successful establishment of a Navajo Green Economy plan and is a model for how tribal governments and tribal citizen's groups can work together.
"Despite our collaborative successes it comes as a shocking blow to hear our elected President condemn Navajo citizens who have opposing views to coal development as 'the greatest threat to tribal sovereignty, tribal self-determination, and our quest for independence'," states Begaye, "We strongly believe in tribal sovereignty and self-determination. As Navajo citizens, it is our duty to voice concerns about the actions of our government, and we will continue to hold our elected leaders accountable. The President's statement is a stinging insult and threat to all Navajo citizens who don't align their opinions with corporate values or President Shirley's energy agenda."
"We regret the loss of jobs for our people from the closure of the Black Mesa coal mine," says Begaye, "However, more than money has been lost in the past four decades from mining operations in our backyards. Our communities, our grandparents, our children and grandchildren have sacrificed our sole source of drinking water, the air we breathe, and a chance to put food on the table for our families without having to tear apart our sacred relationship with the earth."
"Governments have ignored the social, cultural and human right impacts created by Peabody Coal Company's legacy on Black Mesa which has been producing unsustainable energy for the entire southwestern United States" states Johns.
In 1974, the U.S. government passed the 1974 Relocation Act which forcibly removed over 10,000 Navajos from their homes on Black Mesa to make way for coal mining. For over 30 years Peabody Energy used an annual average of 4,700 acre feet of water from the Navajo-Aquifer, the sole-source of drinking water for Navajo and Hopi communities in the Black Mesa region, to transport coal through a 273 mile pipeline to the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada that fueled the electric grid for Southern California. Currently, in the area of the proposed Desert Rock power plant in New Mexico, there are already two existing coal-fired power plants impacting Navajo and non-native community air quality.
"Today these issues go unresolved, and yet big energy companies like Peabody Coal Company, Sithe Global and Salt River Project get away with exploiting our lands and resources for their billion dollar profit", states Johns, "and when these companies leave our lands, our communities are left to deal with the irreversible damage of mining."
"As a young Navajo person, it's crucial to dig deep into our history to understand how today's reality on the reservation is connected to past United States policies of colonization and assimilation especially in regards to energy development," states Nikke Alex (Navajo), a recent University of Arizona graduate, "More and more Native young people are voicing their concerns about decisions being made today that will impact our future."
"Black Mesa Water Coalition is Navajo citizens who want healthy communities and who oppose the Desert Rock power plant and further coal development!" states Begaye, "Our stances have been formulated not from 'outside environmental' groups, but from our elders and our experiences. Our positions have been shaped from ceremony and from long standing traditional directives to care for All Living Beings, because we are all tied together in survival."
"It's important for people to know that Native grassroots people are in the leadership of tribal issues on and around tribal lands," says Alex, Youth Organizer with BMWC, "and we greatly appreciate the non-native individuals and environmental organizations that have respected and supported our leadership as a Navajo grassroots organization."
"The individuals we've worked with from the Sierra Club, NRDC, and the Grand Canyon Trust have respected our leadership, in fact many of these individuals are Native themselves," says Begaye, "However, we do want to push the national environmental organizations to do more to respect Native grassroots effort and to follow the leadership of directly affected, 'frontline' communities. We eagerly await the call from Carl Pope, Sierra Club's Executive Director, to sit down and talk."
P.O. Box 613 Flagstaff, AZ 86002 US
Enei Begaye, (928) 380-6296 (928) 380-6296
Navajo Organization Responds to Navajo Nation President's Chastisement of "Environmental" Groups
Black Mesa Water Coalition
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Black Mesa Water Coalition (BMWC) is an Indigenous non-governmental organization that is dedicated to preserving and protecting Mother Earth and the integrity of Indigenous Peoples' cultures, with the vision of building sustainable and healthy communities. BMWC strives to empower young people while building sustainable communities.
"We are troubled by the recent statements of the Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley. They demonstrate a disregard for the real concerns of Navajo and Hopi people about coal development which is harmful to the the land, water and all forms of life," said Enei Begaye, a Navajo citizen and Co-Director of the Black Mesa Water Coalition.
"We believe that President Shirley is misinformed as to the benefits of coal mining and coal-fired power plants and out of touch with the kind of economy the Navajo people want," said Wahleah Johns, also a Navajo citizen and Co-Director of Black Mesa Water Coalition. "Our organization has been working to support the traditional lifeways of weavers, ranchers, artisans and a new clean energy economy. After over 30 years of coal development on the Navajo reservation, most of our people still live below the national poverty line, and now there are increasing health problems due to fossil fuel development pollution and global warming."
In July of 2009, the Navajo Nation 21st Council officially adopted the Navajo Green Economy Commission and Fund to begin a process of diversifying the Navajo economy and building thousands of well-paying Navajo jobs that do not pollute. The Black Mesa Water Coalition formed the Navajo Green Economy Coalition, consisting of both Native and non-native organizations and individuals. This Coalition's partnership with the Navajo Nation's Speaker of the Council, Lawrence T. Morgan, was a large contributor to the successful establishment of a Navajo Green Economy plan and is a model for how tribal governments and tribal citizen's groups can work together.
"Despite our collaborative successes it comes as a shocking blow to hear our elected President condemn Navajo citizens who have opposing views to coal development as 'the greatest threat to tribal sovereignty, tribal self-determination, and our quest for independence'," states Begaye, "We strongly believe in tribal sovereignty and self-determination. As Navajo citizens, it is our duty to voice concerns about the actions of our government, and we will continue to hold our elected leaders accountable. The President's statement is a stinging insult and threat to all Navajo citizens who don't align their opinions with corporate values or President Shirley's energy agenda."
"We regret the loss of jobs for our people from the closure of the Black Mesa coal mine," says Begaye, "However, more than money has been lost in the past four decades from mining operations in our backyards. Our communities, our grandparents, our children and grandchildren have sacrificed our sole source of drinking water, the air we breathe, and a chance to put food on the table for our families without having to tear apart our sacred relationship with the earth."
"Governments have ignored the social, cultural and human right impacts created by Peabody Coal Company's legacy on Black Mesa which has been producing unsustainable energy for the entire southwestern United States" states Johns.
In 1974, the U.S. government passed the 1974 Relocation Act which forcibly removed over 10,000 Navajos from their homes on Black Mesa to make way for coal mining. For over 30 years Peabody Energy used an annual average of 4,700 acre feet of water from the Navajo-Aquifer, the sole-source of drinking water for Navajo and Hopi communities in the Black Mesa region, to transport coal through a 273 mile pipeline to the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada that fueled the electric grid for Southern California. Currently, in the area of the proposed Desert Rock power plant in New Mexico, there are already two existing coal-fired power plants impacting Navajo and non-native community air quality.
"Today these issues go unresolved, and yet big energy companies like Peabody Coal Company, Sithe Global and Salt River Project get away with exploiting our lands and resources for their billion dollar profit", states Johns, "and when these companies leave our lands, our communities are left to deal with the irreversible damage of mining."
"As a young Navajo person, it's crucial to dig deep into our history to understand how today's reality on the reservation is connected to past United States policies of colonization and assimilation especially in regards to energy development," states Nikke Alex (Navajo), a recent University of Arizona graduate, "More and more Native young people are voicing their concerns about decisions being made today that will impact our future."
"Black Mesa Water Coalition is Navajo citizens who want healthy communities and who oppose the Desert Rock power plant and further coal development!" states Begaye, "Our stances have been formulated not from 'outside environmental' groups, but from our elders and our experiences. Our positions have been shaped from ceremony and from long standing traditional directives to care for All Living Beings, because we are all tied together in survival."
"It's important for people to know that Native grassroots people are in the leadership of tribal issues on and around tribal lands," says Alex, Youth Organizer with BMWC, "and we greatly appreciate the non-native individuals and environmental organizations that have respected and supported our leadership as a Navajo grassroots organization."
"The individuals we've worked with from the Sierra Club, NRDC, and the Grand Canyon Trust have respected our leadership, in fact many of these individuals are Native themselves," says Begaye, "However, we do want to push the national environmental organizations to do more to respect Native grassroots effort and to follow the leadership of directly affected, 'frontline' communities. We eagerly await the call from Carl Pope, Sierra Club's Executive Director, to sit down and talk."
P.O. Box 613 Flagstaff, AZ 86002 US
Chief Red Cloud to Obama: Black Hills are not for sale
Chief Oliver Red Cloud, Lakota, issued a statement to President Obama requesting a meeting more than two weeks ago and is yet to receive a response. Chief Red Cloud, 90, told Obama the Black Hills are not -- and have never been -- for saleSeptember 13, 2009
The Honorable Barack H. Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
I am the Itancan (chief) of the Oglala Lakota Band of the Great Sioux Nation and Chairman of the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, the traditional governing body of the eight bands of the Lakota Nation.
The Lakota Nation entered into and has always abided by the provisions of the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868. However, the United States of America has repeatedly violated and unilaterally attempted to abrogate the Treaties in violation of accepted international standards and codified international treaty law.
The Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, acting under the guidelines of Article XI of the U.S. Constitution, reaffirms its declaration of inherent authority as a separate and distinct entity from the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act Government of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Interior Department of the United States Government. The Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council is committed to upholding the 1851 and 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaties and will employ its' inherent authority to decision making and leadership to protect the integrity of, and our rights in these treaties.
The I.R.A. Government acts as an extension of the United States and carries out its orders.
Your office has sent a mandate to Lakota Bands to initiate a dialogue concerning the Black Hills Land Claim Settlement. How can the United States Government negotiate with I.R.A. Governments, which is an extension of itself?
It is necessary to issue this statement due to current discussions between I.R.A. Tribal Presidents, regarding the United States Governments' Supreme Court action to award monies for the illegal taking of the 1851 and 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty Territory and other Treaty violations.
We forever oppose the acceptance of any money for our sacred lands.
We recently met with U.S. Senator John Thune's staff to discuss our frustration with the I.R.A. Governments blatant disregard for our inherent authority over treaty issues.
I am 90 years old now. I have spent the better part of my adult life fighting for the return of our sacred He Sapa (Black Hills). I want to create something better for the next seven generations.
I would like to meet with you as soon as possible to address our concerns. Please have your staff contact my administrative assistant, Natalie Hand at (605) 867-5762 (605) 867-5762 , for scheduling.
Sincerely,
_____________________________________________
Chief Oliver Red Cloud
/nnh
Cc: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
U.S. Senator John Thune
U.S. Senator Tim Johnson
U.S. Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin
U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
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