Home >
Tutuveni
Newspaper of the Hopi Tribe
Vol. XII No. 11
29 May, 2002
by Tanya Lee
The Hopi Tribe has canceled its deal with Reliant Energy to study the feasibility of building a coal-fired power plant on Black Mesa, citing Reliant's "internal troubles" and the reluctance of investors to put up money for new power plants before the allegations of wrong-doing on the part of the utility company during last year's California energy crisis are resolved.
The proposed 1200MW dry-cooled power plant would have used 2,500 acre feet of water annually. The only source of water available at this time is the N-aquifer, which is also pumped by Peabody Energy at the rate of 4,000 acre feet a year to slurry coal from its Black Mesa Mine to the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada.
Claire Heywood, spokesperson for the Tribe, said in a telephone interview on May 23 that the Tribe "has not decided whether to work with another company to build a power plant or do it ourselves or just forget about it." She said that the Energy Team would have a recommendation on the matter soon.
"During this experience, many people have lost trust in the Hopi Tribal Council and the Chairman," said Black Mesa Trust Executive Director Vernon Masayesva.
"The task before the government now is to restore that confidence. This issue provides the opportunity for the Chairman to call a summit of Hopi people to talk about a sustainable economy for the Tribe. That process has to be open to everyone."
The decision not to go ahead with the power plant study was made following several unfavorable news reports about Reliant Energy and Reliant Resources earlier this month.
On May 14, in a live KUYI forum on the proposed power plant, Reliant representative Mike Alvarado responded to a question about a May 11 New York Times article that stated the company was being investigated for alleged unfair business practices during the California energy crisis. Alvarado said, "There have been numerous allegations and accusations in state of California in the last year and a half. Not one shred of evidence has been produced to suggest Reliant has done anything wrong."
But the same day, Reliant Resources admitted that the company had "likely engaged in so-called ‘round trip" trades.’ Such trades, where energy is bought and sold at the same price at the same time, have the effect of inflating the company's apparent revenues.
On Thursday of that week, the company announced that two of its top-level executives had resigned, and a class action lawsuit was filed against Reliant Resources on behalf of shareholders, alleging that the company had deceived investors about its financial condition.
On the same day, Reliant cancelled all of its remaining scheduled meetings in the Hopi villages. The meetings had been planned to educate the public about the Hopi/Reliant proposal.
The Tribe's announcement of the cancellation of the Hopi/Reliant project came on May 23.
During the May 14 forum, Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor argued that Peabody's request to mine more coal and water to supply the Mohave Generating Station gave the Tribe leverage in negotiating the renewal of Peabody's coal mining lease in 2005.
"We have told Peabody that we will not be interested in providing additional coal unless they find another source of water for the slurry," he said.
One option for an alternative water source is a pipeline from Lake Powell. "The Tribe has taken the position that the Hopi and Navajo will each need 6000 acre feet a year of water from the pipeline," Taylor argued during the forum. "The federal government has questioned what economic development plans we have that would use that much water.
"The [Hopi/Reliant] power plant proposal is a form of leverage [in talks with the federal government]. It is a tangible project that will use a significant amount of water, 2,500 acre feet a year. It would help demonstrate we can use the water we're asking for," Taylor said on May 14.
"The real issue is still Peabody mining," said Masayesva. "Black Mesa Trust, which supports the Chairman's position that Peabody must find another source of water for the slurry by the end of 2005, believes that there are also violations of the law at Peabody mines that have never been addressed by the federal government. For example, Peabody does not have a water reclamation plan or bond to take care of water damage that might already have occurred. The Office of Surface Mining has allowed this to go on. We need to look at all aspects of Peabody mining at this point," he said.
Black Mesa Indigenous
Support
P.O. Box 23501
Flagstaff, Arizona 86002
Message Voice Mail: 928.773.8086
Email: blackmesais@yahoo.com