Black Mesa Trust Looks to Past and Future
Acknowledges Traditional Elders Who Started Fight to Preserve N-Aquifer

For Immediate Release Contact: Vernon Masayesva (928) 734-9255

KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz., Feb. 9 - Black Mesa Trust Executive Director Vernon Masayesva responded to the news that Salt River Project (SRP) has decided not to try to reopen the Mohave Generating Station, thus effectively shutting the door on the power plant's future, with this statement:

"This ends over 30 years of struggle to stop the pumping of our sole source pristine drinking water to support a coal slurry operation, the only one of its kind in the United States. The fight to save the aquifer started with traditional Hopi elders, all of whom have returned to what the Hopis call the Cloud World. Therefore, our victory is for them as well as for future generations."

Black Mesa Trust is a grassroots organization founded in 2000 to stop the use of billions of gallons of N-aquifer water for Peabody Coal's slurry operation that transported coal from the Black Mesa Mine to Mohave in Laughlin, Nevada. The 1580 MW power plant went online in the early 1970s and by the 1990s was the dirtiest coal-fired power plant in the country. A 1999 court order mandated that the power plant's owners install pollution control equipment. When Southern California Edison (SCE) and the other owners failed to comply, the plant - and the pumps on Black Mesa - shut down on Dec. 31, 2005. SCE abandoned efforts to reopen the power plant in June, and SRP, a minority owner, stepped in to set up a new ownership group. On Feb. 6, SRP announced that it had decided the project would not be feasible.

The Trust is now looking to the future. Masayesva said, "A new chapter is opening for the Hopi and Navajo people. We are now standing at a crossroads. It is up to us to decide which road we should journey on. We can continue walking the Peabody road for another 35 years, or we can take a different one. That decision is up to us."

Clean, renewable energy development could be a source of revenue for the tribes and jobs for Hopi and Navajo tribal members. "The entire Southwest, indeed, the whole nation, desperately need more energy, energy that is not dependent on foreign countries in turmoil. Hopi and Navajo possess a wealth of resources that energy developers need. We can become key players in the national energy market, but we need to prepare ourselves first," said Masayesva.