Court denies injunction to halt Snowbowl development

Contact: Howard Shanker
howard@shankerlaw.net

Court Denies Injunction to Halt Snowbowl Development
By Klee Benally
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

 FLAGSTAFF, AZ -- The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied an emergency motion to stop Snowbowl ski area and the U.S. Department of Agriculture from cutting down thousands of trees on the San Francisco Peaks, outside of Flagstaff, Arizona.
The Save the Peaks Coalition and other plaintiffs filed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit and sought an emergency injunction that would stop all tree cutting and construction in furtherance of snowmaking pending the outcome of the appeal.
Judge Murguia, at the District Court level, previously denied the Coalition any injunction pending appeal.
“The ski resort can start their destruction tomorrow and there isn't a legal recourse that can be taken.” stated Jeneda Benally, a plaintiff in the case. “The legal system has failed to protect citizens and the delicate ecosystem of the San Francisco Peaks and instead compromised it's ethics by protecting a single for profit business that has blatant disregard for our children's health.”
According to Howard Shanker, the attorney for the Save the Peaks Coalition and other plaintiffs, “We are gravely disappointed in the decision not to grant an injunction but will vigorously pursue our appeal in any event.” According to Shanker, “we remain hopeful that, at some point, the courts will properly apply the law to the facts of this case.” Shanker previously represented a number of the Tribes and environmental organizations in the first round of litigation opposing snowmaking with reclaimed sewer water.
The Justice Department under the Obama Administration continues to vigorously fight to cut down trees and to spray reclaimed sewer water to make snow on the San Francisco Peaks while the Administration has held ‘listening sessions’ on sacred sites protection, including the San Francisco Peaks, across the country.
Snowbowl threatens to clear-cut approximately 28,994 trees from 76.3 acres for construction of water impoundments, buildings, and trails. They would also begin cutting down 167 trees along the 14.8 mile snowmaking transmission line and approximately 800 trees in approximately 47.4 acres within the Agassiz and sunset trail areas.
In 2006, the Snowbowl Ski area, which operates under a permit on federal land, was granted permission by the U.S. Forest Service, part of the Department of Agriculture, to make snow using 100% reclaimed sewer water. Something that is not done anywhere else in the world. The project would use sewer water treated to Arizona A+ standards – A+ water in Arizona is known to contain endocrine disruptors, which block or mimic normal hormone activity. It also contains a host of personal care products and pharmaceuticals, including things like steroids, antibiotics, and caffeine, which are neither tested for, nor adequately removed from the water during the treatment process.
The San Francisco Peaks, including the area used by Snowbowl, are sacred to 13 of the Native American Tribes in the southwestern United States.
In 2006, the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, the Yavapai-Apache Nation, the White Mountain Apache Tribe, the Havasupai Tribe and the Hualapai Tribe filed suit to stop the project which, they asserted, amounted to federally approved and sanctioned desecration of one of the best documented Native American sacred sites on record. The tribes were joined by a number of individuals and organizations, including the Sierra Club and the Center for Biological Diversity. After a unanimous ruling by a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of the tribes and environmental groups, the Ninth Circuit, however, agreed to re-hear the case en banc – something they only do about one or two percent of the time. In an eight to three decision, the en banc panel reversed the prior panel decision and allowed Snowbowl and the Forest Service to go forward with the planned desecration of the area.
Shortly thereafter, a group of concerned citizens from the Flagstaff area, including the Save the Peaks Coalition, filed suit under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) challenging the Forest Service’s review of the impacts associated with the potential ingestion of snow made from reclaimed sewer water. The prior three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit unanimously found that the Forest Service failed to adequately consider such impacts. The en banc panel, however, vacated that decision without addressing the merits of the claim. On review of the issue in the current litigation, District Court Judge Mary Murguia found, contrary to the prior Ninth circuit ruling, that the Forest Service review was adequate and that the case should not be allowed to go forward.
Initial approvals for the controversial project were made under the administration of George W. Bush. It was initially the Bush Justice Department and Department of Agriculture that vigorously fought to spray potentially unsafe reclaimed sewer water onto the sacred site. The Obama Administration, which has made a public show of respecting tribal sovereignty and sacred sites, was however, quick to pick up the mantle. Judge Murguia was nominated by Obama to go to the Ninth Circuit. Shortly after ruling against the Save the Peaks Coalition, her appointment was confirmed.
It appears that the prior three-judge panel consisted of Democratically appointed judges. The en banc panel appears to have split in its eight to three decision largely on political party lines. With the three dissenting judges having been appointed by Democratic Presidents. In any event, the Administration continues to expend resources and time fighting to disrupt a unique and sensitive ecosystem, which also happens to be sacred land to Native Americans. All to provide Snowbowl, a private, for profit company that operates on federal land, a consistent and reliable operating season.

Klee Benally
indigenousaction@gmail.com
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PHOENIX DEMONSTRATION: Chernobyl Day: April 26, 2011

Chernobyl Day: Phoenix, April 26, 2011

By Nuclear Resister
Photo: Nevada Test Site in Western Shoshone territory, 1953.

We're going to be in Phoenix on Chernobyl Day, and are seeking endorsers/publicity for the following event. Already on board: Arizona Alliance for Peace and Justice, Codepink Arizona, Black Mesa Indigenous Support, Nuclear Resister, Pax Christi-Phoenix, Prescott Peace & Justice Center, Progressive Democrats of America, Phoenix Chapter
Peace, Jack & Felice
Organizations in Arizona are invited to join a growing list of endorsers of the STAND TOGETHER FOR A NUCLEAR-FREE FUTURE statewide demonstration on April 26, 2011. Endorsing organizations will be listed in outreach (emails, flyers, etc.) and are asked to invite their members to attend. If your group would like to endorse, contact Felice at nukeresister@igc.org ASAP. More information is below.
STAND TOGETHER FOR A NUCLEAR-FREE FUTURE
Statewide demonstration in Phoenix on Tuesday, April 26, the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe. We gather to remember the radioactive legacy of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Three Mile Island, Rio Puerco, Chernobyl, Fukushima and many more... and to say NO to the relicensing of Palo Verde (Arizona's only nuclear power plant, 50 miles west of Phoenix, operated by Arizona Public Service) and NO to uranium mining near the Grand Canyon. It's time to shut down the nuclear industry and invest in a nuclear- and carbon-free energy future!
APRIL 26, TUESDAY
12 noon - 2 p.m. at Arizona Public Service (APS) Headquarters, 400 N. 5th St., Phoenix
Contact Felice for more information at nukeresister@igc.org or 520-323-8697.
No uranium mining - no nuclear power - no nuclear weapons
YES to solar power and other renewables - YES to nuclear disarmament
YES to a nuclear-free future!
the Nuclear Resister "a chronicle of hope"
Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, editors
P.O. Box 43383, Tucson AZ 85733 Now 30 years In Print!
- information about and support for imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists -
phone/fax (520)323-8697 email: nukeresister@igc.org
US$25/year/US$30 Canada/US$35 overseas: Downloadable current and recent issues, updated prisoner addresses & archived issues can be read at our blog:
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Navajo President Ben Shelly: Another sellout politician for coal fired power plants

Mr. Shelly goes to 'Washindon'

Gives Mixed Messages in Bizarre Testimony

By Dine' Care

Dine' Citizens Against Ruining our Environment


On April Fool’s Day, 2011, Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly testified at an oversight hearing held by the U.S. House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs in Washington, D.C. on “Tribal Development of Energy and the Creation of Energy Jobs on Indian Lands.”

In a rambling, inconsistent, and grammatically challenged seven-page statement, Shelly claims to favor a “multi-prong” approach to energy development as the answer to Navajo poverty and unemployment. He takes a passing sniff at wind and solar potential, but then circles back to the familiar poisoned trough of good ol’ dirty coal, even raising the ghost of Desert Rock.

This is where Shelly’s script really gets mixed up, starting with plagiarism and going downhill from there. He begins by cutting and pasting language from the San Juan Citizens Alliance web site, including the fact that most of the electricity that would have come out of the Desert Rock Energy Project, was “slated for Tucson/Phoenix and the Las Vegas markets. [Only] a small percentage, up to 5%, of the proposed power from Desert Rock would stay on the Navajo Nation, where many citizens continue to live without electricity.”

This was just one of the many compelling arguments against Desert Rock, but in Shelly’s nonsensical cut and paste world, who cares? He tosses in a reference to “Clean Coal Technology” and thousands of jobs, both of which are pure fantasy, and calls it good.

First of all, it is troubling that an elected leader and spokesman of America's largest Indian nation would stoop to such a low, unprofessional level of plagiarism and intellectual property theft while testifying before an official Congressional body. Secondly, it confirms up-until-now whispered rumors that the Navajo tribal president hasn't had an original thought since Jesus was a little boy. And third and most distressing is the fact that his public testimony was recklessly conceived in nature and wildly inaccurate upon delivery in a number of highly important policy areas as regards critical Navajo energy and water futures.

During his vice presidency, Shelly supported Desert Rock until he announced his presidential candidacy. Then he said he opposed it. And now that he is president he is supporting it again, or at least that's what he told the congressional subcommittee under oath. What about all the Navajo people who voted for him last year because he said that he opposed DR? The truth is that he lied to them–the Navajo voting majority—and that's no April Fool’s joke.

"Clean Coal Technology" (CCT) is a technological myth. There is no such thing as clean coal–just like there is no such thing as clean uranium. In fact, strip mining and burning coal activates and releases as much if not more deadly radioactive materials into the environment than mining and milling uranium. So if he supports the continuation of the Navajo Nation uranium ban because of its radioactive dangers–as he testified–then he should also support a Navajo Nation-wide ban on coal for the same reason.

We, Diné CARE, have the renewable energy plan that would actually fulfill Ben Shelly’s campaign promise to bring clean renewable solar and wind power to our energy- deprived and suffering people, who are forced to burn dirty and dangerous coal in their woodstoves. In order to make that happen we would be more than willing to work in true partnership with the Silly and Shim administration. But first, he needs to stop sending out people like Steven Etsitty to openly blame the innocent Navajo victim for "causing" indoor air pollution before all those white people in the EN3 farce.

Speaking of shameful acts, Shelly should be ashamed for approving the recent Four Corners Power Plant lease extension for a mere $7 million a year until 2041 (or is it 2064–the year he quoted to Congress?). The CEO of Arizona Public Service Company makes over $5 million a year alone, yet our tribal leaders, who are working furiously to bargain their way out of corruption charges, betrayed us and sold out our precious future generations for a box of beads and trinkets.

Equally shameful is our government’s and Mr. Shelly’s rejection of SCR pollution control at Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Generating Station. Instead he spoke of “a phased approach to emissions reductions for the plants, in coordination with the glide path from 2004 to 2064.” A sixty year soft landing for our leaders’ industry friends. Meanwhile, how many hundreds or thousands of our Diné people will sicken and die from sixty years of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and the other poisons coming out of those stacks?

The Navajo Nation has no energy policy because of tribal leadership failure. APS controls our energy future. All the off-reservation, non-Indian power company had to do was threaten to close the Four Corners Power Plant if the tribe did not renew its lease. And because of the threat, it got its way. That's not tribal sovereignty. That's economic blackmail. Salt River project is threatening to do the same thing with the Navajo Generating Station lease. That too is extortion by a non-Navajo energy corporation, but we can probably count on our President going to bat for these SRP thugs too.

Mr. President, during your presidential campaign, you and your running mate said that both of you opposed the proposed Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement, and its NGS Water Provisions. Those provisions install forever the illegal waiver of Navajo water rights to the Arizona portion of the Upper Colorado River Basin. But now that you are both in office, you haven't acted to rescind the agreement that you said you opposed. What's the matter, cat got your tongue? A copy-cat, perhaps?

Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment
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Note: President Shelly's testimony, along with others on the panels, is at:
http://naturalresources.house.gov/Calendar/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=229900

PHOTOS Long Walk horseback to support elderly occupation Pine Ridge

The Long Walk 3 northern route walked into Pine Ridge, South Dakota, last week, then walked to the bordertown of White Clay to offer prayers for healing. They supported the occupation of the elderly center on Pine Ridge and in turn, received support for the Long Walk 3 for the reversal of diabetes. On Sunday, the walkers were in Wanblee, South Dakota. Thanks to Carl Bad Bear Sampson, Western Shoshone, and his father, for sending the photos to Censored News via cell phone.

Update Tuesday, April 5, 2011 from LW3 northern route: "We are in Rosebud, and walking to Mission which is about 12 miles. Runners will be running from Mission to Carter, the reZ border. Lower Brule is sending runners to help us run from Reliance to Lower Brule SD. Schedule was change because we wanted to support the soberity Walk to White Clay and the Elderly occupation. Schedule will be change but we'll keep posting. Some place we don't have phone receptions or internet but I'll try to keep posted. thank you for supporting Longest Walk 3." Chris Francisco

Photos Pine Ridge Badlands, SD, Long Walk 3

Photos by Carl Bad Bear Sampson, Western Shoshone, via cellphone. Long Walk 3 northern route photos from Pine Ridge, SD., Friday, April 1, 2011. Happy Birthday today to Carl Bad Bear Sampson!
Top: Long Walk 3's Manny with runners from the Weaselbear and Two Bulls families on Pine Ridge. Photo 2: Carl Bad Bear Sampson and high school runner in the Badlands on Pine Ridge. Photo 3: Izak, Autum, Carl and Manny. Thank you for sending photos to Censored News!