Youth of the Peaks Photos Week of Action 2011

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Protect the Peaks Week of Action Photos by Youths of the Peaks. Thank you from Censored News!
Please join us for weekly gathering in prayer on Holy San Francisco Peaks
Every Saturday at 11 am
Drive up Snowbowl rd and you will find people gathered on the left side near the meadow.
If the location changes look for the large circle of people gathered.
All people and faiths welcome.
Visit www.TrueSnow.org for more info.
Klee Benally
indigenousaction@gmail.com | www.twitter.com/eelk
www.indigenousaction.org - Independent Indigenous Media

EPA allows Chevron access to sensitive data on Navajo Nation

Navajo uranium workers exposed to radiation.

Chevron gains access to sensitive data on
Navajo soil and water

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

MARIANO LAKE, N.M. -- The US EPA is allowing Chevron USA Inc., access to sensitive data on the Navajo Nation, by allowing Chevron to investigate uranium contamination. Chevron is one of the world's primary exploiters and spoilers of Indigenous lands.

Navajo President Ben Shelly, however, said allowing Chevron to carry out the investigation on the Navajo Nation is a good thing.

President Shelly said, "On behalf of the communities in and around Mariano Lake, I extend my sincere appreciation for the agreement today between the U.S. EPA and Chevron. I look forward to the data that will be generated in this investigation, and I respectfully request U.S. EPA to understand our desires for the most protective clean up plans that will help restore harmony in our communities and homes."

While the EPA purports to be cleaning up uranium contamination, at the same time, corporations are targeting the Navajo Nation for more uranium mining. By giving Chevron access to geological data, soil and water data, the Navajo Nation is giving away sensitive information used by corporations for future destructive industries, including mining and oil and gas drilling.

Corporations such as Chevron have a long history of gaining access to Indian lands under the guise of cleanup or research.

The US EPA selected Chevron to investigate radium-contaminated soil at the Mariano Lake Mine site, a former uranium mine located on the Navajo Nation near Gallup, N.M. The EPA said in a statement that the agreement is the result of an effort by the EPA and Navajo Nation to address contamination of uranium mining in the Navajo Nation.

The EPA was persuaded by Chevron's offer of dollars.

Under the agreement, Chevron will conduct a radiological survey and sample radium-contaminated soil throughout the 31-acre Mariano Lake Mine site and surrounding area, including 10 residences and two nearby water wells. Chevron also agreed to pay EPA's oversight costs, the EPA said in a statement.

Chevron's fencing also concerns local Navajos.

EPA and the Navajo EPA will oversee field work, which will include construction of a fence and application of a sealant to contaminated soils where people live, work and play while the investigation is carried out. The order also requires Chevron to post signs, lock gates and prevent livestock from getting into areas of known contamination prior to cleanup, the EPA said.

The Mariano Lake Mine site operated as a uranium ore mine from approximately 1977 to 1982, and includes one 500-foot deep shaft, waste piles, and several surface ponds. Exposure to elevated levels of radium over a long period of time can result in anemia, cataracts, fractured teeth, and cancer, especially bone cancer.

The EPA said that Chevron is the fifth "responsible party" that the EPA has required to take actions at former uranium mines on the Navajo Nation.

Indigenous Peoples, however, have plenty of proof that Chevron is not a responsible party.

The EPA said the work with Navajo Nation is to identify and enforce against responsible parties is part of a 5-year plan to address the problem, which can be found at http://www.epa.gov/region9/superfund/navajo-nation/

Rattlesnake Island Press Statement Aug 2011

Rattlesnake Island Press Release Aug 2011

Facebook censors ownership info of Arizona Snowbowl

1986 special use permit for the Snowbowl reveals original owners

 

By Brenda Norrell

Censored News

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Facebook halted two posts exposing the fact that the owner of the Arizona Snowbowl, now destroying sacred San Francisco Peaks, lives in Scottsdale, not in Flagstaff. The ownership of corporations in Arizona is public information.

On Wednesday night, Facebook blocked this as a status update: "The owner of the Arizona Snowbowl doesn't even live in Flagstaff, according to Arizona State. Eric Borowsky lives in Scottsdale -- so he obviously doesn't care how he wrecks the San Francisco Peaks or ruins the environment of Flagstaff."

The link to the Arizona State link for Snowbowl ownership was also disabled: http://www.azsos.gov/scrip​ts/TNT_Search_engine.dll/Z​oomTNT?NME_ID=2010983&NME_​CODE=1LP

On Thursday morning, Facebook blocked posting the above screen capture, which shows the owner of the Arizona Snowbowl. (The image is a common jpeg, so there is no reason to block this image.)

The question remains how Facebook screens information so immediately to censor it, and why Facebook is preventing this information from being posted as a status update or image.

Meanwhile, a week of action to halt the Snowbowl ski resort damage resulted in the arrests of 17 area young people, including Navajos and Tohono O'odham, who were willing to be arrested to halt the destruction to sacred San Francisco Peaks, and the planned snow making for tourists out of sewage water.

This document online also reveals the 1986 special use permit for the Snowbowl and its original owners:

http://www.fs.fed.us/im/foia/frequent/Snowbowl/ArizonaSnowbowlResort_Permit.pdf

Already, the pipeline has resulted in clearcutting of the old growth forest.

High Desert Investment Company in Flagstaff is responsible for the clearcutting.

High Desert Investment Company clear cutting San Francisco Peaks is owned by G Allen Ribelin, who also owns Ribelin Residential Rentals and High Investment Logging. The logging company is located at 1349 N. Wakonda St and 504 E. Butler Ave., according to the Arizona Corporation Commission.

--brendanorrell@gmail.com
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