Navajo water protesters censored by tribe

by Jeff Abaata
WINDOW ROCK, Arizona – Navajos were censored while protesting secret deals with Peabody Energy and Desert Rock power plant, at the Navajo Nation Council chambers Monday.

Navajo protesters’ sign with a large red “X” on Navajo President Joe Shirley’s photo was seized by Shirley’s staff assistant Bessie Yellowhair-Simpson.

Calvin Johnson, of Dine’ for C-Aquifer, was among the grassroots Navajos protesting secret deals to allow Peabody Coal to use the pure aquifer water.

“Their excuse for taking the sign was we were promoting ‘Graffiti.’ We attempted to retrieve it but with no success. We expressed that it was our right as stated in the US Constitution and it was considered ‘censorship’ by the administration. Their response was ‘No, the sign is unnecessary and unpleasant.’”

Navajos resisting relocation from Black Mesa came to protest, where Peabody Coal attorneys orchestrated the so-called Navajo and Hopi land dispute more than 30 years ago, which later led to the removal of 12,000 Navajos from their ancestral homelands, so Peabody could expand mining operations. Peabody then began using the pure underground water to slurry coal in the area where Navajos do not have running water.

Navajos from grassroots organizations came from every region of the Navajo Nation to protest the ongoing secret water deals at the Navajo Nation Council. Protesters included Wahleah Johns from the Black Mesa Water Coalition, Anna Frazier and Calvin Johnson from Dine’ for C-Aquifer, Enei Begaye from Indigenous Environmental Network, Sarah White from Dooda Desert Rock Committee and Nicole Horseherder from To’ Nizhoni Ani.

While Navajos protested at the Navajo Council chambers and said they are tired of their family members dying of cancer and lung diseases, President Shirley told the Navajo Nation Council that he supports the Desert Rock power plant.

Shirley praised the expansion of Raytheon on tribal land at the Navajo Agricultural Products Industries, where the tribe goes commercial crops, like potatoes for potato chips.

But Raytheon is being protested in Tucson for poisoning the air and water and is accused of toxic dumping that leads to cancers in Hispanic neighborhoods in South Tucson.

President Shirley told the Navajo Council, “Raytheon Missile Systems is currently a tenant in the NAPI Industrial Park and is planning its expansion. Raytheon provides electronics assembly-line products for the U.S. Department of Defense missile program.” Shirley added that the tribe is “working closely with Raytheon to assist with its expansion request.”

Navajos from throughout the western and central areas of the Navajo Reservation came together at the Leupp Chapter House on April 2 and expressed total opposition to recently disclosed plans to pump and pipe Navajo groundwater from the Coconino Aquifer in northern Arizona for industrial use in connection with the controversial Black Mesa Pipeline and Black Mesa Mine.

The plans were the result of years of secret negotiations conducted behind closed doors by Southern California Edison Company, Peabody Coal Company, Salt River Project, Navajo Nation, and the Hopi Tribe on expanding coal and water mining on Black Mesa for the cloudy Mohave Power Plant in Laughlin, Nevada. The Department of Interior initiated the private mediation sessions in which affected Navajo communities were not even invited to the table.

Organizing under the umbrella of Dine’ CARE, the Navajo residents from Leupp and neighboring communities formed the C Aquifer for Dine, a grassroots group dedicated to the preservation and protection of the Coconino Aquifer. Also in attendance at the April 2nd meeting and supporting the new organization were To’Nizhoni Ani, another grassroots Navajo group that has and is successfully defending the Navajo Aquifer on Black Mesa, and other concern groups and individuals.

The united citizen army of Navajoland are taking President Shirley, Jr. to task for his lead role in developing these plans and agreeing to drop a tribal lawsuit against Peabody for short-changing the tribe in coal royalties by $600 million.

In recent years, the Leupp Chapter and other local self-governing communities in the Western Navajo Agency have passed resolutions opposing the planning depletion of the Coconino Aquifer and, in fact, have had several meetings with President Shirley to address these critical concerns. Yet, Dr. Shirley has proceeded ahead with the secret negotiations and planning. And now the C Aquifer for Dine are coming to town, armed with petition to stop the Navajo water grab, in Window Rock come Spring Session 2006.