Schedule Dine' CARE Eastern People's Convention June 21--23, 2018 -- Ní’híł hastíł: Our world has fractu

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Halliburton destroying Greater Chaco Region near Lybrook, NM, in Jan. 2018 Photo Daniel Tso

Diné C.A.R.E.‎Eastern People's Convention: Ní’híł hastíł: our world has fractu

Leona Morgan, Dine' -- U.S. Targets Native Americans and Poor with Nuclear Dumping, Transport and Mining

Leona Morgan speaking at Dine' CARE's Peoples Convention on Saturday.
Photo two: Earl Tulley, Dine' CARE, joins Leona at presentation in Dilkon on Navajo Nation..
Photos by Brenda Norrell.

The United States goal is to develop nuclear weapons to control the rest of the world, and dump the radioactive waste on Native Americans and the poor people of New Mexico. -- Leona Morgan, Dine'

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Listen to Leona Morgan at Spirit Resistance Radio
French translation by Christine Prat

DILKON, Navajo Nation -- Leona Morgan, Dine', has spent her life fighting uranium mining and hauling and nuclear dumping. Now, the U.S. is targeting the poor people of southern New Mexico with nuclear dumping, and in northern New Mexico, uranium mining again threatens the Navajos Sacred Mountain of Mount  Taylor.
"We are fighting all of it," Leona said at Dine' CARE's Western Peoples Convention on Saturday.
The most vulnerable are the unborn children.

Collusion by Feds Uncovered on Navajo Coal Plant Deal

MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2015

CONTACTS:

·         Nicole Horseherder, To' Nizhoni Ani, nhorseherder@gmail.com

·         Jihan Gearon, Black Mesa Water Coalition, jihan.gearon@gmail.com

·         Mallory Kindsfather, DU Environmental Law Clinic, mkindsfather17@law.du.edu

Illegal government collusion and secrecy uncovered in EPA and Dept. of Interior deal on air pollution control at Navajo Generating Station

Navajo community groups file civil action to address harmful smokestack emissions without delay

BLACK MESA, Ariz. – One of the nation's oldest and dirtiest coal-burning power plants will be able to continue dumping pollution into the skies above the Navajo Nation for another three decades because of a plan that was hatched in secrecy by government agencies, a coalition of Navajo groups claim in a complaint filed on Oct. 26, 2015.

The Navajo community organizations, To' Nizhoni Ani, Black Mesa Water Coalition, and Diné Citizens Against Ruining our Environment ("Diné CARE") say that newly uncovered evidence shows the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of the Interior colluded on a plan that will delay cleaning up harmful air pollution from the Navajo Generating Station ("NGS"), located on Navajo land near Page, Ariz. and Lake Powell.

"This is discrimination and genocide for our people and way of life. Our people still make a living off the land, and we have a right to participate in meetings that affect our future. This plan was brokered in secret," said Nicole Horseherder, a Black Mesa resident and founding member of To' Nizhoni Ani. "We didn't know these agencies were concocting a plan until they had already reached a final agreement that completely ignores the health and livelihoods of those who live in the shadow of the plant's smokestacks."

The Navajo Generating Station was built 40 years ago, and as the fifth largest power plant in the nation is also one of America's biggest polluters. Nowhere is the impact of the plant's toxic emissions felt greater than on the Navajo Nation, which suffers some of the highest rates of asthma and other lung problems in any community in the country.

In February 2013, the EPA proposed requiring cuts of 85 percent in the plant's harmful smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions over the next five years in order to meet clean air safeguards. Documents obtained by the groups, however, show that from March to July of that year, a working group that included the EPA and DOI met in secret to develop a plan that skirted most of the EPA's initial recommendations.

Federal open government and accountability laws require agencies to conduct their work in public. But the working group met in secret without providing any notice of its meetings or opening them to the public. To the surprise of the Navajo groups, the EPA adopted a final plan in July 2013 that will allow NGS to continue polluting the air with high levels of smog-forming nitrogen oxides for at least another 30 years, long past the expected operational life for a coal-fired power plant. 

"EPA and DOI deceived the public by lying about their involvement in the working group," said Mallory Kindsfather, one of three student attorneys working on the case for the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Denver. "The federal government has been shutting tribal communities out of decision-making for a very long time. These violations underscore the lengths to which federal agencies are willing to go in order to silence indigenous voices."

The groups assert that what emerged from the improper and illegal behind-closed-door Federal Government agency collusion was a deal that excused the one power plant in the U.S. owned by the U.S. Government from the same kinds of timely air pollution cleanup within five years, measures being required for coal plants across the region and the country. 

The groups filed their complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in San Francisco, where EPA Region 9 issues its regulations – more than 800 miles from the Navajo Nation. They are asking the court to overturn the plan under the grounds that it violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act.  The facts and law at the center of this complaint are as follows:

·         Through a request for public information, tribal conservation organizations uncovered emails and other correspondences pointing to the Federal Government's collusion and secrecy in establishing an advisory committee for the sole purpose of offering regulatory recommendations.

·         This information supports an inference that EPA participated in the advisory committee meetings, advised along the way, and provided assurances that the advisory committee's end product would be approved.

·         The advisory committee did not provide public notice of its meetings or open them to the public.  

·         EPA and Interior violated FACA by establishing and utilizing an advisory committee without abiding by these transparency safeguards.

# # #

Dine' join New Mexicans: 'NO!' to dirty coal of San Juan power plant

NEW MEXICO GROUPS URGE PRC TO PROTECT RATEPAYERS, REJECT PNM COAL PLAN

San Juan Power Plant
on Navajo Nation
in New Mexico

PRC Concludes Hearings on PNM’s Plan for Costly, Outdated San Juan Generating Station

Monday, February 2, 2015

By Shane Levy, Sierra Club – shane.levy@sierraclub.org

Mike Eisenfeld, San Juan Citizens Alliance - meisenfeld@frontier.net

Joan Brown, New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light (NMIPL) info@nm-ipl.org

Colleen Cooley, Dine' CARE ccooley22@gmail.com

Julie Ruth, Positive Energy Solar julie@lokacreative.com

ALBUQUERQUE - A coalition of New Mexico community groups today called on the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) to reject a plan from PNM that would extend the utility’s commitment to the San Juan Generating Station coal plant, thereby threatening the health and financial security of New Mexico families across the state for years to come. The PRC recently concluded hearings on PNM’s proposal, which generated strong opposition from New Mexico faith leaders, public health groups, clean energy advocates, environmental organizations, and more.

“Enough is enough, it is time for PNM to start investing in cleaner energy sources for the sake of our kids and future generations,” said Colleen Cooley of Diné C.A.R.E. “The Diné people who reside between the San Juan Generating Station and the Four Corners Power Plant have suffered the burden of climate injustices for far too long and it needs to stop now. We are not fortunate enough to just relocate from our communities, and we all deserve clean air and clean water.”    

"We are in what Christians call a Kairos time or a decisive moment of action to address environmental and economic justice in our community by choosing cleaner, renewable energy instead of a future of dirty coal." said Sister Joan Brown, osf Executive Director of New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light (NMIPL).  "People of faith are very concerned and are taking actions to protect our sacred air, land and water from dangerous coal pollution. More and more houses of worship in New Mexico are investing in clean energy solutions by installing solar panels and doing energy efficiency upgrades. We pray that the PRC realizes their responsibility for the common good, life and future generations as they deliberate."

Over the past few weeks, support for continued burning of coal at the San Juan Generating Station has evaporated as admissions by the company have revealed serious financial risks for the future of the plant. Earlier this month, the home city of the plant, Farmington, New Mexico, abandoned its utility’s plans to acquire an increased portion of the plant due to reliability concerns and the huge costs that would be passed onto the community. Other New Mexico stakeholders have also pulled away from an agreement that would continue PNM’s use of coal at the plant, citing the overall uncertainty about San Juan’s operations.

“While PNM charges ahead with its plan to increase its ownership share of the dirty and expensive San Juan Generating Station, cities and utilities in our region are stepping back to safeguard communities from the growing risks of the plant,” said Nellis Kennedy-Howard, Senior Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “Stakeholder after stakeholder has withdrawn their support for PNM’s plan, but PNM refuses to budge.  PNM’s actions affect the health and financial security of families across New Mexico by locking customers into the dirty, expensive San Juan Generating Station coal-fired power plant while fighting affordable clean energy solutions. We deserve better.”

“With insurmountable evidence that continued investment in San Juan Generating Station is a bad business decision, it appears that PNM will be subjecting ratepayers to the costs of pollution controls and environmental liabilities,” said Mike Eisenfeld, New Mexico Energy Coordinator for San Juan Citizens Alliance.  “To add insult to injury, PNM is also considering ownership of the coal source for San Juan Generating Station: the troubled San Juan Mine or a new coal mine. The story gets worse and worse.”   

The future of coal at the San Juan Generating Station has grown increasingly uncertain in recent weeks as more costs and challenges continue to arise, including the uncertainty of where the plant will get its coal after 2017. Last month, Tucson Electric Power (TEP) in Arizona announced that it would not purchase the San Juan coal mine that supplies the San Juan Generating Station. In addition, PNM announced that the total bill for their plan to increase reliance on dirty coal and other expensive fuels had jumped by over $1 billion, with those costs likely being passed onto local ratepayers. This comes just weeks after PNM introduced a rate proposal that if approved would result in nearly a $10 month increase to the average residential home bill due to utility’s plans to continue burning coal at the plant for the foreseeable future.

"The tipping point is behind us. New Mexicans want affordable renewable energy – even PNM acknowledges this in their new advertising campaign. In the hearing, it was shown that renewable energy is cheaper, safer and keeps the lights on for New Mexicans. The PRC must rule for the people on this case and lead New Mexicans into the clean energy future they demand," said Regina Wheeler, CEO of Positive Energy Solar.

“The League of Women Voters of New Mexico opposes the plan proposed by PNM of New Mexico for replacing the power produced by Units 2 and 3 of the San Juan Generating Station (SJGS), in part because of the over-reliance on fossil fuels and the under-reliance on renewables, and in part because of the billions of gallons of water used annually in coal and nuclear facilities,” said Judy Williams of The League of Women Voters of New Mexico.