Black Mesa Trust accuses DOI of bullying tactics

(KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz., Sept. 25, 2004)

During the very week that saw an unprecedented celebration of the indigenous peoples of the Americas in Washington, DC, the federal government was intensifying its long-standing strong-arm tactics to wrest natural resources from the Hopi and Navajo people, according to Black Mesa Trust Executive Director Vernon Masayesva.

Steven Griles, former lobbyist for the energy and mining industries and now a top Interior Department official, has ordered Hopi and Navajo government officials to meet with Southern California Edison and Peabody for an "all hands on deck meeting" to reach agreement "in a quick manner" for securing C-aquifer water to supply the slurry operation that moves coal from Black Mesa Mine to the Mohave Generating Station," according to an Associated Press story by Michele Roberts published last week.

Deputy Secretary Griles' involvement in any discussions regarding Mohave is ethically questionable, according to environmental watchdog groups. As a condition of his appointment to Interior, he signed a recusal agreement saying that he would not, in his capacity as a government official, be involved in matters that concerned his former clients. Documents obtained by environmental groups show that Mr. Griles has met with former clients, including the National Mining Association (of which Peabody Energy is a member) and Edison Electric Institute, on numerous occasions since taking office.

The C-aquifer water of which Mr. Griles spoke is necessary to keep the Black Mesa Mine-Mohave Generating Station slurry operation alive, but Peabody Energy has made exquisitely clear in its filing before the California Public Utilities Commission that development of another groundwater source will not end pumping of water from the N-aquifer, the sole supply of drinking water for the Hopi Tribe and the 27,000 Navajos living on Black Mesa, as well as the source of seeps and springs crucial to the ceremonial life of both tribes. In fact, keeping Mohave open using the C-aquifer would guarantee the use of between 500 and 3600 acre feet N-aquifer water a year for maintenance and emergency purposes for another twenty years. So again, Native peoples lose and Peabody and Southern California Edison win.

Peabody's economic stake in Black Mesa Mine is huge. Peabody CEO Irl Engelhardt was a major contributor to the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign and Peabody was one of the corporate entities at the table when the Cheney energy plan was crafted early in 2001. The company went public (NYSE:BTU) just after the national energy policy plan was released in mid 2001. According to the August 6, 2004 issue of the St. Louis Business Journal, Mr. Englehardt plans to sell 40% of his stock before the end of 2005. As of April 2, 2004, he owned almost 650,000 shares. At the Friday, September 24, 2004 closing price of $58.75/share of BTU, Mr. Englehardt stands to garner more than $15 million as he cashes in 40% of his stock.

Another problem that faces the tribes is that the U.S. Department of Reclamation, which Mr. Griles supervises, is co-owner of Navajo Generating Plant. NGS has a contract with Peabody to buy coal from Kayenta Mine. Under the mine plan submitted by Peabody last February Black Mesa Mine will be merged with Kayenta Mine.

The Bureau of Reclamation, according to the Office of Surface Mining (also supervised by Mr. Griles), will be most likely the "lead agency" in conducting the environmental impact studies of the C-aquifer groundwater pumping proposal. BOR has already concluded that there is sufficient water in the C-aquifer to provide 6,000 acre feet a year for Peabody's mining operations on Black Mesa. (An acre foot is approximately 326,000 gallons of water, or enough water to cover a football field to the depth of one foot.)

"So now we have a situation where the buyer of Peabody coal extracted from Black Mesa is expected to conduct an objective study of the C-aquifer that will allow Peabody to keep mining. Something is clearly wrong here," said Mr. Masayesva.

Also according to Mr. Masayesva, this possible conflict of interest will further complicate the unresolved issues surrounding allegations and new evidence that John Boyden, former chief attorney for Hopi Tribe, was also working for Peabody in 1964-1965 when he was negotiating coal and water leases between Hopi and Peabody. New evidence includes a November 1967 "Personal and Confidential" statement to Peabody "for work done to date" written by Mr. Boyden. The statement of work went back three years to 1964-the height of coal lease negotiations.

"The Interior Department should step back and take a hard look at the real issues before bullying us into continuing to allow what amounts to an illegal taking of Native Americans' trust assets, of which the federal government, explicitly DOI, is the trustee," said Mr. Masayesva.

He continued, "Both the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation should take a more aggressive stance. It is as if they are playground supervisors under the direction of the Department of the Interior. It is their duty to protect Hopi and Navajo children from Peabody, the bully, who is stealing their water while DOI looks the other way."