|
|
|
For the most up to date information about the Desert Rock Power Plant, please visit: http://www.desert-rock-blog.com/.
| on this page | contact information / more pages |
| Dec 12, 2006 :background) | Dec. 12, 2006 : Blockade |
| Dec 13, 2006 :URGENT Support requested) | Contacts for Dine CARE and the Dooda Desert Rock Committee |
| Dec 13, 2006 :P.R. Doodá Desert Rock) | contacts for Sithe |
| Dec.14, 2006 :Navaho Traditiona Elders Blocade Power Plant Site | |
| Dec 21, 2006 :Dooda/Dine' CARE Desert Rock Committee Statement | http://www.desert-rock-blog.com/ |
| Feb. 26, 2007 :Update | |
| Feb. 28, 2007 :Media Alert! | |
INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK ALERT!
|
BURNHAM, SANOSTEE & NENANEZAH RESIDENTS BLOCKADE DESERT ROCK PROJECT Burnham, NM --Burnham, Sanostee & Nenanezah Elders and citizens are braving the cold to protect the land from the encroaching Diné Power Authority (DPA) and Sithe Global LLC at the proposed Desert Rock site. Navajo residents confronted the Diné Power Authority/Sithe Global on Tuesday afternoon after learning of water drilling that had been occurring without the knowledge and notification of local residents. “I have said ‘No’ over and over again and you keep coming over!” Nenanezah elder Alice Gilmore exclaimed to Sithe/DPA employees at the confrontation. For Gilmore, the issue is despicable and uncalled for since she gave no consent to allow DPA/Sithe into her grazing area. Members of the Doodá Desert Rock committee gathered to support her opposition and asked Sithe/DPA to disclose Drilling permits that allowed drilling activity to occur, to no avail. The residents refused to leave after the Navajo Nation Police attempted to give access to DPA/Sithe Global, claiming that permits for the Desert Rock project are not for public disclosure. The Burnham residents barricaded the roads to disallow traffic into the Desert Rock site and have remained in place since the Tuesday incident occurred. Members of Diné CARE/Doodá Desert Rock Committee met this morning at the Shiprock Courthouse to get answers about drilling permits yet the Lieutenant Dempsey denied access to Gilmore and other concerned residents to view the permits. Residents are asking for: 1.) A copy of the categorical exclusion that is allowing the drilling activities to commence. 2.) Copies of the Clean Water Act Sections 401, 402 and 404, that would prove compliance with regulatory requirements have been met. There are major disturbance taking place and according to the Clean Air Act, these permits are a pre-requisite for drilling activity. The proposed area is home to extended families, but arbitrarily drawn political boundaries by the Navajo Nation and company representatives have the families separated into the three chapters: Burnham, Sanostee, and Nenahnezad. The boundary defining Burnham and Nenahnezad has been moved south for benefit of DPA/Sithe as recently as two years ago. “The local residents are not protesters but are resisters. Who would be happy if a well is being dug in their backyard especially when it is done in secrecy? So, how can those residents be considered protesters when they are simply standing up for their rights to have clean air, water, and environment.” Stated, Elouise Brown of Sanostee. Burnham, Sanostee and Nenanezah residents are not waiting for remedy; many have set up camp at the proposed site and are refusing to move until they get the needed documents. “We’re fed up with them,” states Sarah J. White, President of the Doodá Desert Rock Committee, “the grandmas and the grandpas are being walked over by these monsters and they’re being denied information. We’re standing our ground now.” This incident follows accusations made against Sithe/DPA about environmental injustices, EPA’s proposed issuance of prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit Air Quality Permit for Desert Rock Energy Facility and the creation of Navajo Nation Energy Policies without public input. ### Lori Goodman, |
|
NAVAJO TRADITIONAL ELDERS BLOCKADE POWER PLANT SITE By Brenda Norrell BURNHAM, NEW MEXICO, USA – Elderly Navajo women and their children formed a blockade, built a fire and camped at the site of a proposed power plant on tribal land in northwest New Mexico. The blockade of traditional Navajos halted site work in a region that is already toxic with air and water pollution from power plants, oil and gas wells and scattered radioactive tailings from the Cold War. Facing the threat of arrest by tribal police at the blockade, Navajo elderly, including one medicine man, said they are willing to go to jail to protect their land and way of life. Most of the elderly are already ill from living in an area where power plants have released 100 tons of coal combustion waste that is blowing in the wind. One of the Navajo elderly resisters is in a wheelchair and another has severe asthma. For the second night on Wednesday night, Dec. 13, Navajo resisters camped in the cold at the site. “I have said ‘No’ over and over again and you keep coming over!” said Nenanezah elder Alice Gilmore, who holds the grazing permit for the area of the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant. The Navajo Nation and Sithe Global LLC plan to build the power plant, which would be the third power plant in the Farmington/Bloomfield area. Confronting Sithe and Navajo DPA employees, Gilmore was adamant that she has not given permission for the power plant on her land. Navajo elders from Burnham, Sanostee and Nenanezah chapter, all taking a bold action to fight the tribal government and corporate aggression, joined Gilmore at the blockade. “We’re fed up with them,” said Sarah J. White, president of the Doodá Desert Rock Committee. “The grandmas and the grandpas are being walked over by these monsters and they’re being denied information. We’re standing our ground now.” White said Navajos at the barricade need everything in the way of food, firewood and supplies. “We need everything from A to Z,” White said. The blockade was formed just 10 days after Navajo Nation elected leaders gathered with representatives from 14 countries and formulated a global ban on uranium mining on Native lands. The power plant blockade also comes as Navajo Nation leaders are fighting in the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to protect San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Ariz., from the desecration of snowmaking from recycled wastewater for tourism. The mountain is sacred to 13 area Indian tribes. However, both Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., and the Navajo Nation Council support the construction of the Desert Rock Power Plant and accompanying coalmine, which Navajos say would add more pollution to the air, land and water, already saturated with disease-causing toxins. The Navajo Nation tribal government has attempted to censor the voices of Navajos speaking out against the Desert Rock power plant in New Mexico and the use of aquifer water for coal mining by Peabody Coal on the western side of the Navajo Nation in Arizona. The proposed site of the new Desert Rock power plant is in the Four Corners Region, targeted since the 1970s as a national sacrifice area for energy production. It is also the sacred region of Dinetah, the place of origin of Navajos. However, the air is so polluted in the region of Dinetah near Bloomfield that persons with asthma and respiratory diseases find it difficult to breathe. Further, Navajos say while they struggle with respiratory diseases, cancer and the death of their loved ones in this region, many Navajos must also haul water and live without electricity, since the power plants on Navajo land primarily provide electricity for non-Indians. The Navajo blockade comes as O’odham in Sonora, Mexico, challenge a secret plan by the government of Mexico, with the knowledge of the USEPA, to create a hazardous waste dump near the sacred site of Quitovac where O’odham hold ceremonies. The Navajo blockade coincides with an action by Pima on Gila River tribal land in Arizona to halt expansion of a hazardous dumpsite. At the same time, Yaqui in Sonora, Mexico, gathered to prohibit the use of banned pesticides in agricultural fields, now resulting in cancer and deaths. At the proposed new Desert Rock power plant site in New Mexico, Navajo residents confronted the Diné Power Authority/Sithe Global on Dec. 12, after discovering that water drilling was carried out without the knowledge and notification of local Navajo residents. Members of the Doodá Desert Rock committee gathered to support Gilmore’s opposition and asked Sithe/DPA to disclose drilling permits that allowed drilling activity to occur. However, no permits were provided. The residents refused to leave after the Navajo Nation Police attempted to give access to DPA/Sithe Global, claiming that permits for the Desert Rock project are not for public disclosure. The Burnham residents barricaded the roads to disallow traffic into the Desert Rock site and Navajos remained at the blockade. Members of Diné CARE/Doodá Desert Rock Committee met Dec. 13, at the Shiprock tribal courthouse to get answers about drilling permits. Navajo residents said a tribal police lieutenant denied Gilmore and other residents access to view the permits. Navajo residents are asking for a copy of the categorical exclusion, which would allow the drilling activities to commence, and copies of the Clean Water Act Sections 401, 402 and 404, that would prove compliance with regulatory requirements have been met. “There are major disturbance taking place and according to the Clean Air Act, these permits are a pre-requisite for drilling activity,” Navajo residents said in a public statement. Further, Navajos say tribal boundary lines were redrawn to accommodate the power plant corporation. The proposed area is home to extended families, but arbitrarily drawn political boundaries by the Navajo Nation and company representatives have the families separated into the three chapters: Burnham, Sanostee, and Nenahnezad. Navajo residents said the boundary defining Burnham and Nenahnezad was moved to the south for the benefit of DPA/Sithe within the past two years. Elouise Brown of Sanostee said, “The local residents are not protesters but are resisters. Who would be happy if a well is being dug in their backyard especially when it is done in secrecy? So, how can those residents be considered protesters when they are simply standing up for their rights to have clean air, water, and environment.” Burnham, Sanostee and Nenanezah residents are not waiting for remedy; many have set up camp at the proposed site and are refusing to move until they get the needed documents. Navajos said this incident follows accusations made against Sithe/DPA about environmental injustices, EPA’s proposed issuance of prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit Air Quality Permit for Desert Rock Energy Facility and the creation of Navajo Nation Energy Policies without public input. |
Below is a Press Statement released by the Dooda/Dine' CARE Desert Rock Committee:
Navajo Grandmothers Intimidated While Lawfully GatheredBurnham, NM and the Navajo Nation, December 21, 2006 - Paddy wagons, police and other enforcers came and attempted to haul away members of the Navajo Nation -mostly grandmothers - during a prayer ceremony this morning. The women, members of the Dooda (Navajo for "NO!") Desert Rock Committee, have been keeping a vigil at the site of a proposed coal fired power generation station that they oppose for reasons of their families' health and well being. These women were brutally forced out, their food taken away, their camp dismantled this afternoon in clear violation of their constitutional rights and in absence of any form of restraining order or other legal mandate. Although they showed legal documents that protected them, Officer Demsey claimed they were meaningless. They have committed no crimes, were not interfering with any work going on at the location, and were acting within their rights to gather peacefully in the hopes of persuading our Navajo Nation government not to make this kind of mistake again. Their vigil has been going on since December 12th, near the site where Sithe Global Power, a Texas-based energy company, proposes to build the Desert Rock Power Plant. This plant will further damage the air, water and land in the four corners area of the American Southwest, in the heart of the traditional Navajo homeland. Two other plants in the immediate vicinity are among the worst sources of pollution in the United States. Mercury, sulphur dioxide, and dozens of other toxic chemicals are spewed from these plants each day. Incidents of cancer, respiratory disease, reproductive disorders and other illnesses occur here at much higher than average rates. The plants foul the water in a part of the world where water is already scarce. Sithe, in collusion with our Navajo Nation executive office, have strong-armed, threatened, lied to and otherwise coerced our local population to accept this proposed power plant throughout the past two years. Families have had their land taken from them with insufficient compensation to move anywhere else. We've been told, as we've been told many times in the past, that this polluting monster will bring "hundreds of jobs" to the Navajo Nation, and lots of economic benefits. Time after time, we've heard this same lie for too many projects just like this one. After over a hundred years of such development the Navajo people are among the poorest people in the entire United States. Nobody is calculating the costs - to our land, to our air, to our water, to our children. Members of the Dooda Desert Rock Committee, members of Diné Citizens Against Ruining our Environment, and other organizations, have tried to offer alternative solutions. There are cleaner, more sustainable ways to bring prosperity to our people, without sacrificing the lives and well-being of our people. No one has listened. This is not just a local problem. This is big energy companies forcing themselves on the American people. This is a violation of civil rights and an illegal suppression of dissent here at home in the United States. This facility will further pollute the air and water throughout the area. And those who are speaking out in opposition, innocent grandmothers who only care about their families, are being silenced with violence. We ask that all who share our concern about our future, and are tired of being forced to pay the consequences of these corporations and government bodies, who care nothing for the lives of people, please lend us your support. |
DESERT ROCK UPDATE The New Mexico House Energy and Natural Resources Committee may rehear the House version of the Desert Rock bill, HB 178 Wednesday, February 28th at 8:30 am in room 315 at the Roundhouse. This bill calls for an $85,000,000 tax credit on the Navajo Nation for the proposed Sithe Global coal-fired power plant. This is the same Desert Rock Power Plant that Navajo tribal grassroots members are opposing. TAKE ACTION!!!! Representative Madalena can be reached at: (505) 986-4417 “Hello, my name is (your name here) and I am with (the name of your affiliation here) based in (your state here). I would like to leave a message for Representative James Roger Madalena. I am calling to voice my/our opposition to House Bill 178 and Senate Bill 431 – the Navajo Nation Electric Facility Tax Credit bills. We oppose the Desert Rock Power Plant on the Navajo reservation due to the extremely harmful environmental and health effects it would have on both the Navajo and non-Navajo people in the surrounding community. The proposed coal fired power plant will also add to the greenhouse gas emissions that are a major cause of climate change and global warming, which affects us all.” Thank you for your support! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jihan R. Gearon, Native Energy Organizer |
MEDIA ALERT!!!!February 28, 2007 They have just received notice that Navajo Nation President, Joe Shirley and his staff including the newly elected Vice President Ben Shelly, will be making a trip to the blockade site at 2:00pm MST today (Monday, December 18, 2006) to meet with the family and supporters. DPA will also be in attendance and are supposedly bringing permits. Please help us get the word out to the media and supporters who might be able to attend this meeting. What :
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley and staff meeting with Desert Rock
Resisters. Also expected to attend are DPA officials with appropriate permits.
MORE SUPPORT IS NEEDED!!!! Come on out to the
site! Donations! Unleaded gas in appropriate containers for the generator A Port-a-potty (Navajo Vice President Frank Dayish had promised one days ago and has yet to provide) Various kitchen Supplies including: Hefty trash bags, large pots, ladles for stew, paring knives, paper towels, baking powder, hand soap, toilet paper, a wash pan and big bowls Video cameras and digital cameras Monetary donations to cover costs of radio announcements Please send donations to: Elouise Brown 1015 Glade Lane 34 Farmington NM Contact the Authorities!
Shiprock Police Department Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley's Office Also George Hardeen, Navajo Nation Communications Director
Office of the President Bureau of Indian Affairs Gallup Office (they are conducting the Environmental Impact Statement) |
|
House Bill 178, the Desert Rock bill, which proposes to give an $85 million tax credit for a proposed coal-fired power plant on the Navajo reservation, was permanently tabled at the state legislature. The House Energy and Natural Resources committee voted 17-6 to stop this bill from continuing through the legislature. This is a huge victory for all those working to oppose this power plant! This victory is in large part due to all those who supported our efforts by calling in to Representative and Chair of the Energy and Natural Resources committee, Roger Madalena and urging him to oppose this bill. Senate Bill 431, which is identical to the Desert Rock House bill, is still moving, but now looks as though it will follow its House counterpart and be defeated in the next few days. Thank you very much for all your support! For more information and updates on Desert Rock, please visit |
|
|
SITHE GLOBAL POWER CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS |
REGIONAL & AFFILIATE OFFICES IN TEXAS |
IN TORONTO Sithe Global |
|
Contact Dine CARE and the Dooda Desert Rock Committee if you would like to help:
Sarah Jane White, President, Dooda desert Rock Committee (505) 860-6166
Elouise Brown, Treasurer, Dooda Desert Rock Committee (505) 974-6159
Media Contacts:
Dailan J. Long, Dine CARE and Dooda Desert
Rock Committee
Phone: 505-801-0713
Email: elmer.long@dartmouth.edu
Lori Goodman
Dine CARE
Phone: 970-759-1908
Email: kiyaani@frontier.net
Jihan R. Gearon Native Energy Organizer
Indigenous Environmental Network
PO Box 485,
Bemidji MN
56619 USA
Phone: (218) 751-4967, x16 Fax: (218) 751-0561
Email: ienenergy@igc.org
www.ienearth.org
For more up to date information please visit http://www.desert-rock-blog.com
Lucy A. Willie, right, stands at the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant site outside of Burnham on Wednesday where she and several friends and family stayed overnight to stop a contractor for Desert Rock Energy Company from doing preliminary work.