US poisons Navajo river water in scorched earth campaign

After poisoning the river water of Navajos and farmers, the United States immediately began a dirty tricks campaign to get Navajos to sign waivers of liability

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

The United States has poisoned the Four Corners river water, and immediately began a dirty tricks campaign, attempting to have Navajos sign 'waivers of liability.'

When the power plants first poisoned the air, water and land of the Four Corners region, the United States declared the Four Corners region -- including this area of the Navajo Nation -- is a "sacrifice zone." 

This is because the electricity produced here is for distant US cities. Power plants, and the dirty coal mining it depends on, use lots of water.

Now, with the poisoning of the Animas River by the US EPA, with water from the Gold King mine -- whether it was intentional or accidental by the US -- the US has once again carried out a scorched earth campaign.

The US EPA has poisoned the water of those with the least financial resources to recover and survive: Navajos and farmers in the Four Corners region who depend on this river for water, livestock and crops. The US EPA admits it is responsible for this spill.

At the same time, the US and Arizona Congressmen have been using every trick possible to get Navajo area river water for power plant use, including trying to secretly steal it, as was revealed in attempts to steal the nearby Colorado River water by the US Interior and Arizona Congressmen for the Navajo Generating Station at nearby Page, Arizona. 

Now the US has poisoned the river water in the Four Corners region.

Not only has the US poisoned the Animas River water in this area of New Mexico and Colorado, but the US EPA immediately began a dirty tricks campaign, attempting to get Navajos to sign waivers of liability to release the US from financial liability, to prevent Navajos and others from recovering.

Already, the US has presented these forms to Navajos in Shiprock, N.M., and Aneth and Oljato in Utah, along the San Juan River, which is being poisoned from the heavy metals in the Animas River spill. These are remote areas where many Navajo elders still speak Dine' (Navajo.)

Navajo President Russell Begaye has warned the people not to sign these waivers of liability in this latest attempt by the US to continue genocide against Native Americans and America's poor.

Navajo President Russell Begaye said, "The U.S. EPA has been seeking signatures from the Navajo People on Standard Form No. 95 which, if signed, will waive future claims against the U.S. EPA.

"The Federal Government is asking our People to waive their future rights because they know without the waiver they will be paying millions to our People. This is simple; the Feds are protecting themselves at the expense of the Navajo people and it is outrageous," President Begaye said.

See President Begaye's statement and warning, with French and Dutch translations provided at Censored News 
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015/08/us-epa-tells-navajo-people-to-waive.html

Wikipedia: A scorched earth policy is a military strategy that involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. It is a military strategy where all of the assets that are used or can be used by the enemy are targeted, such as food sources, transportation, communications, industrial resources, and even the people in the area. The practice can be carried out by the military in enemy territory, or in its own home territory. It may overlap with, but is not the same as, punitive destruction of the enemy's resources, which is done for purely strategic/political reasons rather than strategic/operational reasons.

Also see: Leaked doc: Interior Sec. Salazar and Arizona Congressman Kyl attempt to steal Navajo water rights http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2012/11/leaked-documents-mainstream-media.html

For permission to republish this article:  brendanorrell@gmail.com

VIDEO: Dine' Louise Benally responds to Navajo Attorney General on Coal Fired Power Plants

CENSORED NEWS VIDEO
Dine' Louise Benally: No to coal fired power plants!

Louise Benally responds to Navajo Attorney General in DC this week attempting to halt US EPA air pollution standards on Navajoland
'Dismiss these Navajo leaders who don't care about nature or the people'

Narcosphere article translated in French:
Traduction française de l'article "Louise Benally, Arizona's Cultural Genocide" on www.chrisp.lautre.net/wpblog/?p=638"

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Louise Benally, Dine' from Big Mountain, resisting relocation on Black Mesa, describes the destruction caused from Peabody Coal's coal mining on Black Mesa and the Navajo Generating Station in nearby Page, Ariz., on the Navajo Nation. It is now poisoning Navajoland, the Grand Canyon region and the Southwest.
On the video, Louise responds after Navajo Attorney General Harrison Tsosie spoke to a House committee in Washington this week, attempting to halt US EPA regulations. Tsosie said the standards, which would lower mercury emissions, were "too harsh."
Benally responded and said the Navajo Attorney General went to Washington to “beg” to keep the Navajo Generating Station open.
Benally describes the pollution to the land, water, air and people. “He doesn’t seem to see all the bad problems people are living with each day.”
She said Navajos on Black Mesa are without water and have to haul water. In some cases, Navajos on Black Mesa have to drive 80 miles a day to haul water in barrels.
She describes the air pollution, depletion of the aquifer, and the water scheme underway by Arizona Senator Jon Kyl for more theft of Navajo water.
As for Navajo Attorney General Harrison Tsosie, Benally said he is not looking at the arsenic and mercury released into the air and how this impacts climate change.
“There are plants dying. There is no rain, no snow, it makes things worse than usual. The drought is very intense and it is going to get worse as time goes on.”
Benally described the harm being done by the current Navajo elected leaders.
“These so called leaders of the Navajo Nation are totally uneducated and they just totally don’t care about the environment, all in the name of profit. And that is a danger.
“I think we need to dismiss these leaders and replace them with leaders who do care about nature and the survival of the people," Benally told Censored News.
The Navajo Generating Station, one of three corporate owned coal fired power plants on the Navajo Nation, is one of the top producers of greenhouse gases in the US.
While the electricity goes to distant Southwest cities, many Navajos live without running water and electricity, suffering from respiratory problems and other illnesses.
Interview recorded by Brenda Norrell/Censored News, Friday, Feb. 10, 2012


ALSO LISTEN to Louise Benally, on First Voices Indigenous Radio, WBIA New York and broadcast nationwide. Louise was the guest of show host Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Cheyenne River Lakota: http://www.firstvoicesindigenousradio.org/program_archives