BIG MOUNTAIN
ISSUE ONE: Relocation
In 1974 Congress, after being financially coerced by special
interest lobbies,
including lawyers hired by Peabody Coal Company(PCC), passed
Public Law 93-531.
This law authorized the partitioning of the Hopi-Dine Joint Use
Area and the
removal of 10,000 Dine (Navaho) people from their sacred and
ceremonial lands
where they have lived for thousands of years. The Dine who
oppose relocation
face livestock confiscation, water diversion,fencing of
previously open land, the
discontinuation of road and educational improvements, clearing of
land and the
threat of destruction of their ceremonial grounds.
The reason the US government has given for the relocation is also
called the
Hopi-Dine land dispute. However, the real dispute is between
traditional Indians
who wish to protect their land and the tribal councils and
outside forces that
support intense mineral extraction.
The tribal council chairmen are employees of the US government
and could hardly
represent the interests of Native Americans. Clearly, there is a
conflict of
interests. Traditional tribal leadership represents the people
of the land and
is distinct from and does not recognize these government paid
tribal councils.
Furthermore, it is important to note that the designated land to
where these
people are to be relocated is the scene of the worst radioactive
spill in North
America. Miners have been poisoned and homes and schools built
out of the
radioactive waste. This is one more indication that the US
Government is still
involved in INDIGENOUS GENOCIDE!
ISSUE TWO: Peabody Coal Company
In remote areas of northern Arizona, the traditional Dine attempt
to continue
their way of life on lands where their families have lived for
thousands of
years. Enter PCC--a British owned corporation which operates the
Black Mesa
mining complex and has for years ignored all laws regarding
environmental
regulations.
The mine operates without the necessary permits for the
slurryline, access road,
and railroad, and without posting the reclamation bonds required
for strip
mining. A few hundred traditional Native Americans still live in
the communities
around the mine on disputed Hopi Partition Land. The Bureau of
Land Management
(BLM), together with Wackenhut Security (the "hiredgun slingers
of PCC"), and
Hopi tribal police and BIA officials, continue to confiscate
their livestock,
wood and wood cuttingtools.
The BLM and other government agencies refuse to allow the
indigenous people to
use or dig wells for water but allows PCC to ILLEGALLY PUMP ONE
BILLION GALLONS
OF PRECIOUS DRINKING WATER PERYEAR, WITHOUT A PERMIT, from the
aquifer for the
purpose of sending their coal through slurry pipes. This action
has dried up
springs and wells and has done serious and possibly irreparable
damage to the
semi-arid desert.
PCC has been cited many times for violations which they usually
ignore with the
apparent blessing of the Office of Surface Mining(OSM). The Dine
people are
presently engaged in a battle with OSM over illegal mining
practices, toxic
contamination of the water, air and soil and depletion of the
ground water
sources upon which they depend for survival. PCC had been
operating witha
TEMPORARY permit for 13 years.
Continual dynamite blasting damages the homes of the Dine, but
the BLM FORBIDS
THEM TO REPAIR OR REBUILD. The current policy is an attempt to
force the Dine
to sign an agreement which will pass the problems on to their
children and future
generations.
ISSUE THREE: Bureau of Indian Affairs
The BIA was established to protect Indian people and Indian lands
from
exploitation. However, the BLM supervises the BIA, and many
times in the past,
the BLM has instructed the BIA to withhold that protection.
Hence, since the BLM has licensing authority for lands, the BIA
is unable to
protect the concerns of the Indian people and a clear conflict of
interest exists
in which the Indian people lose.
WE URGE THAT RELOCATION ACT #93-531 BE RESCINDED AND THAT THE US
GOVERNMENT CEASE
THE FORCED RELOCATION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE FROM THEIR ANCESTRAL
LANDS.
WE URGE AN IMMEDIATE CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRY INTO PEABODY COAL
COMPANY'S MINING
PRACTICES.
WE URGE THAT AUTHORITY FOR HANDLING INDIAN LANDS BE RESTORED
TOTHE JURISDICTION
OF TRADITIONAL TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS.
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