Photos Navajo Action! Navajos pump CAP water, press end to dirty coal industry

Photos by Black Mesa Water Coalition

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Photos by Black Mesa Water Coalition

Black Mesa Water Coalition said on Tuesday, June 18, 2013, "At 9 am this morning Navajo people dropped pumps into the Central Arizona Project's canal and began pumping water into buckets then into the back of a water tank in the back of a truck. We came to demonstrate that water can be pumped using solar power. We came to demand Power Without Pollution and Energy Without Injustice! SRP can transition NGS to Solar. Navajos want a Just Transition!" 

CONTACT: Enei Begaye, Black Mesa Water Coalition, 928.380.6296, eneibegaye@gmail.com

CONTACT: Raina T. Gearon, 915.342.2624, rt_gearon@yahoo.com

 More: News article at Arizona Central: http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/20130618navajo-plant-fires-up-protesters-advocates.html

Unique Demo in Scottsdale: 
Navajo Community Members to Pump CAP Canal Water with Solar Power

Event to press Navajo Generating Station owners for transition from polluting coal industry on Navajo Reservation that has powered CAP pumps

WHEN: promptly at 9am Tuesday, June 18; Press Conference to follow at about 10am

WHERE: Scottsdale Soleri Bridge at the intersection Camelback Rd & Scottsdale Rd.

This Action will be followed by a Press Conference in the Scottsdale Fashion Square parking lot.

WHAT:

• Navajo community members using a solar-powered generator to pump CAP canal water into trucks and barrels that Navajo Nation residents use to haul water on the reservation.
• Colorful rally by dozens of Navajo tribal members and supporters with handmade signs and banners. Event slogan: Energy Without Injustice – Power Without Pollution
  

More than 50 Navajo Nation community members and supporters will park water trucks that families use on the reservation alongside the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal in Scottsdale today at 9am and use a solar-powered generator to pump water from the canal to the vehicles.

Tribal members are staging the demonstration to send a message to the owners of the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) coal-fired power plant near Page, Arizona that Navajo families want a transition away from a polluting coal industry on Navajo land that has powered CAP pumps for decades at the expense of residents’ land, health, water, and culture.
Major NGS owners include Salt River Project (SRP)(plant operator) and the U.S. government’s Department of Interior. Today SRP provides Arizonans less than 1 percent solar power.
The “Energy Without Injustice – Power Without Pollution” action demonstrates solar power as a solution. There is enough old mine land on Black Mesa to generate thousands of megawatts of solar energy, providing thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars for the regional economy.

Aging Navajo Generating Station (NGS) is among the most polluting coal-fired power plants in America and after decades of coal industry on Navajo Nation, many Navajo families have not benefitted; thousands still lack electricity and running water to their homes and haul water in trucks every week for cooking, cleaning, and drinking.

Livestream video will be available at http://ustre.am/FAE0

Images and video will be available after the event at http://www.facebook.com/blackmesawc and twitter@blackmesawc