Black Mesa Trust Submits Comments Opposing Peabody Coal Mine Expansion
(PHOENIX, (Ariz.), October 26, 2004)
Black Mesa Trust has submitted comments to the U.S. Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement (OSMRE) opposing Peabody Coal's February 2004 application to increase coal mining and water use on Black Mesa. Peabody's mining operations in northern Arizona have been a source of controversy since the 1960s when the Black Mesa Mine and Kayenta Mine first opened and Peabody began draining the N-aquifer of up to 4,400 acre feet a year of water to slurry coal from Black Mesa Mine to the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada. In its current application, Peabody seeks to increase the amount of water it will use for mining to 6,000 acre feet a year.
Black Mesa Trust is a grassroots organization of Hopis and Navajos who are trying to save their sole source of drinking water from Peabody's abuses. In recent years, under pressure from Black Mesa Trust and organizations such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club, Peabody seemed to be to backing away from its continued abuse of the water. Its most recent application, however, appears to be a reversal in Peabody's implied stance on water use.
According to Howard M. Shanker, of The Shanker Law Firm in Tempe, Arizona, "Peabody's application offers too little too late." Shanker, lead counsel for Black Mesa Trust, states, " Under the proposed plan, N-aquifer would continue to be the primary source of water for Peabody through approximately 2008. This is when Peabody anticipates utilizing a new well field that allegedly will utilize another aquifer. Peabody, however, previously assured OSMRE and Black Mesa Trust that no N-aquifer water would be used past 2005. It is also likely that there will be an actual increase in the per annum use of N-aquifer water during this period, as coal production increases and coal washing begins to take place. It is also of great concern to Black Mesa Trust that the application provides no analysis of the viability or impacts of the proposed future alternate water source. The application also makes clear that even if the alternate water supply is put into place, Peabody reserves the right to continue the use of N-aquifer water." While a possible alternative source of water for the coal slurry has been identified, that alternative has not been approved. Even if the alternative is approved and implemented, Peabody will still continue to take between 500 and 3600 acre feet a year of N-aquifer water for the slurry pipeline and other mining activities.
Black Mesa Trust also discusses the point that the Hopi Tribe was essentially tricked into signing the original coal and water mining leases in the 1960s, when it agreed to sell N-aquifer water-the only source of potable water on the reservation and water that is crucial in Hopi ceremonies and religious life-for the ridiculous price of $1.67 per acre foot.
John Boyden, who with the approval of the Department of the Interior was representing the Hopi Tribe in its mining negotiations, was at the same time representing Peabody in other legal matters. The leases were negotiated before environmental impact statements or public participation in such decisions were required; therefore, Mr. Boyden had an especially clear responsibility to the Tribe, which new evidence makes clear he did not meet. The resulting mismanagement of the Tribe's assets, which the Department of the Interior is charged with protecting, is in this case particularly appalling. A petition currently being circulated by Black Mesa Trust calls on the Hopi Tribe to cease all negotiations with Peabody until Mr. Boyden's illegal dealings are investigated.
Copies of the revised permit application are available to the public at the Hopi Office of Mining and Mineral Resources just outside Kykotsmovi, Forest Lake Chapter House, Navajo Nation Minerals Department in Window Rock, Office of Surface Mining Albuquerque Field Office, and Office of Surface Mining in Denver. To request a copy of the revised permit application on compact disk, contact Jerry Gavette at (303) 844-1400, ext. 1496 or at write Jerry D. Gavette, Black Mesa/Kayenta Mine Team Leader, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, P.O. Box 46667, Denver, Colorado 80201-6667. The public may also submit written comments or objections to the proposed revised mining plan to the address above or e-mail BlackMesa-Comments@osmre.gov. Visit www.blackmesatrust.org for sample letters, or call Black Mesa Trust's Flagstaff office at (928) 213-9009
