Mohave shutdown brings new opportunities to Hopi

KYKOTSVMOVI, Ariz., December 14, 2004

Black Mesa Trust's mission is to preserve the N-aquifer-and the traditional ways of life it supports--for future generations of Hopi and Navajo children. Executive Director Vernon Masayesva believes that the California Public Utilities Commission's December 3 decision on the future of Mohave Generating Station is a major step toward accomplishing that mission and ending more than 30 years of corporate exploitation of Hopi and Navajo natural resources.

"The decision does not completely stop Peabody Coal from pumping the aquifer for coal mining activities, but we are very happy with this decision and optimistic that the Peabody pumping will soon stop forever. That's the most important thing because without water nothing else can happen," said Mr. Masayesva.

Administrative Law Judge Carol Brown issued the final decision on the Mohave proceeding, which has been before the California Public Utilities Commission for more than two-and-a-half years. The Commissioners voted 5-0 in favor of the decision, which provides that Mohave Generating Station will close at the end of December 2005. Whether it will ever reopen depends on whether outstanding coal and water issues can be resolved in time to make the power plant profitable to its Southern California Edison and its other owners.

Dr. Lon House of Water & Energy Consulting, who represented the grassroots groups Black Mesa Trust and To Nizhoni Ani in the CPUC proceeding, said, "The decision in California means Mohave will shut down at the end of 2005, and it is problematic that it will ever return to operation. It is now time for the Tribes to seriously embrace alternative sources of energy production like those ordered in the California decision.

" The Commission carefully considered the economic effects on the Hopi and Navajo Tribes of shutting down Mohave, and the decision orders the majority owner of Mohave, Southern California Edison, "to undertake a feasibility study of the options for replacing its share of Mohave's output if Mohave closes, or to be used in conjunction with Mohave if it returns to service, from sources that will provide the fullest possible benefit to the Hopi and Navajo while protecting the interests of Edison's ratepayers.

" One alternative option was proposed by Dr. House, who, working with Robert Liden of Stirling Energy, suggested investigating the feasibility and profitability of installing two 500 MW solar installations, one on Hopi land and the other on the Navajo Reservation.

Another was proposed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and involves constructing an integrated gasification combined cycle plant (IGCC) on the reservations or in Nevada. Black Mesa Trust believes these are options in keeping with Hopi history and ethics.

Said Mr. Masayesva, "The Hopi people have met many threatening situations more serious than closing Mohave and we prevailed. Hopi ethics teach that any time you let yourself become too comfortable and stop doing the things we are supposed to so, such as protecting the land, some form of discipline will be imposed. Mohave is that kind of situation and the closure will cause some hardship. But it is up to us what we do with that-whether we just give up or whether we make something positive out of this and understand that we can move forward and be the stronger for it.

" Mr. Masayesva thinks that the Hopi people are just beginning to understand that they are among the richest indigenous peoples, if you measure wealth in the white man's terms. "The Black Mesa hand contains tremendous wealth. If we use it properly, we can continue forever. The circle will never be broken.

"This moment in our history presents us with incredible opportunity; it is impregnated with all kinds of possibilities. It is up to the educated Hopis to say, 'Look, there are other ways we can take care of ourselves.' In our religion this is called wuwutsim, or new springing from old. Out of death comes rebirth, and so it goes. It is now time to take a new path. That is in Hopi teaching: You always learn from hardship. We learn from our mistakes. The Hopi and Navajo need to wake up and say, 'This is our coal and our water,' instead of acting like beggars on the street."

Leonard Selestewa, President of Black Mesa Trust, reflected on the momentous decision: "Much has been said-both positive and negative -about Black Mesa Trust over the five years since we organized. As Hopi people we have always known in our hearts the value and the role that water played in our culture and our way of life. It was here to Black Mesa that we were led long ago during our clan migrations to our homeland, known as 'Tuwanasavi,' or earth center. And those of us who call ourselves Hopi cannot deny this truth. And it was we, Hopi Sinom, who believed in the serious nature of what Peabody has been doing with our water for more than thirty years, and it was we who demanded the issue come to a point of possible closure.

"It has been said by Peabody that they have been working on finding an alternative water source for the slurry with the Navajo and Hopi Tribes for all these years, yet only recently have they admitted that they now understand the cultural value of our sole source of water (the N-aquifer) and what it means to our peoples. They waited until the 11th hour to give our beliefs the respect they are due and to try to find an alternative water source to continue the slurry. Now finding that water is their problem, not ours.

"I personally can find no reason why Peabody and the U.S government or its agencies should continue to move coal in a slurry pipeline, regardless of the source of the water in that pipeline. Peabody Coal still acts as if they own the water on their leasehold, both groundwater and surface water, and as if they have the right to deny us this precious and limited resource that comes from beneath and above Black Mesa."

The 70-page decision includes in addition the following points, quoted from the summary, "This decision authorizes Southern California Edison Company (Edison) to make necessary and appropriate expenditures on the Mohave Generating Station (Mohave), for critical path investments required by the 1999 Consent Decree to allow Mohave to continue operations post year-end 2005; to continue working on resolution of the essential water and coal issues including the funding of the C-Aquifer feasibility and environmental studies; to study options/alternatives to replace Mohave's power generation for Edison customers and Mohave's economic benefits for the Hopi and Navajo communities and other affected stakeholders if Mohave cannot continue as a coal-fired plant; and to establish a Mohave Employee-Related Memorandum Account (MERMA) to track worker protection benefit expenses incurred before January 1, 2006, associated with the temporary shut-down of Mohave at the end of 2005."