Tó Nizhóní Ání: Coal Mining Devastated the Water and Brought Black Lung Disease -- Forest Lake Hearing on Coal

Ed Silverhatband from the community of Forest Lake shares his experience working as a coal miner and the long-term impacts it has had on his health, such as black lung, which has required two lung transplants. Photo courtesy Tó Nizhóní Ání.

Tó Nizhóní Ání executive director Nicole Horseherder provides her public comment before the Speaker of the Navajo Nation during the Public Hearing on Coal. Photo courtesy Tó Nizhóní Ání.

25th Navajo Nation Council Public Hearing on Coal

By Tó Nizhóní Ání

Sacred Water Speaks

On Friday, May 30, 2025, the Office of the Speaker held a public hearing on coal at the Forest Lake Chapter House in Forest Lake (Tsiiyi’ Be’ak’id), Arizona. This open forum allowed participants to share their input and comments regarding the Federal Executive Order 14241, “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry,” aimed at amending federal policies to boost the coal industry.

Book Launch for John Redhouse's 'Bordertown Clashes, Resource Wars, and Contested Territories: The Four Corners in the Turbulent 1970s'

Red Media is excited to announce our newest publication, Bordertown Clashes, Resource Wars, and Contested Territories: The Four Corners in the Turbulent 1970s by John Redhouse. The book hits the shelves on July 1, 2025. Save the date for our book launch events! Event details and spaces to be announced.

Navajos say 'NO!' to New Coal at Forest Lake

Louise Benally of Big Mountain speaks at hearing on revitalizing coal. Screenshot Censored News

Dine' tell Navajo Council 'NO COAL!'

The Monster has returned, and it is even more grotesque than the one before. Dine' remember forced relocation, the loss of water and medicine plants, and the loss of loved ones. Navajos say 'No!; to Trump and Navajo President Nygren's push for coal.

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, June 1, 2025

FOREST LAKE, Navajo Nation -- Dine' told the Navajo Nation Council that the coal industry has cost them their aquifer water, and their health. Combined with uranium mining, they have lost their loved ones to widespread cancer and black lung disease killing their people. Dine' remembered forced relocation and the stripping of the forest by Peabody Coal, during a hearing on Friday.

The Navajo Council was told to stand up for future generations, or step aside.

Navajo Council "Being Heard is First Step to Justice" Coal Hearing at Forest Lake

25th Navajo Nation Council holds public hearing on President Trump’s initiative to revitalize the coal industry

Article and photos by Navajo Nation Council

Censored News, June 2, 2025

FOREST LAKE CHAPTER — On Friday, the 25th Navajo Nation Council held a public hearing at the Forest Lake Chapter House to solicit community feedback on President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order 14241, “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry,” which seeks to expand coal development by revising existing federal regulations.

“This hearing was not just a forum, it was a long-overdue recognition of the voices that have too often been ignored,” said Speaker Crystalyne Curley. “For communities still living with the consequences of extraction, being heard is the first step toward justice.”