| INDIAN
LAW RESOURCE CENTER 601 E Street Southwest Washington D.C. 20003 (202) 547-2800 |
Robert
T. Coulter, Esq.,Executive Director Steven M. Tullberg, Esq. Curtis G. Berkey, Esq. |
There is now clear evidence that the Hopi Tribal Council has plans to exploit coal resources in the Big Mountain area. This is the area from which Navajos are being forcibly relocated in the so-called Hopi-Navajo dispute. For many years there has been a debate about the reasons for relocation of Hopis and Navajos from that area. Although many believe that mineral development plans are the main reason, the previously available evidence has not been conclusive.
The attached map entitled " Hopi Reservation-Mineral Development Plan"(1.36M) shows that Big Mountain is in an area called a "Proposed Coal Mining/Slurry Pipeline Area." (The other map(1.36M) helps clarify exactly where Big Mountain is located). This map was prepared by the Hopi Tribal Council, the federally recognized governing body of the Hopi Tribe. In the past, the Hopi Tribal Council has claimed that mineral development plans have nothing to do with their efforts to evict Navajos from Big Mountain. This map is " Map F." in a court document entitled "Statement of Claims of the Hopi Tribe" that was prepared by the Hopi Tribal Council's lawyers. It is one of several maps that were prepared for the Arizona Superior Court for the County of Apache in Case No. 6417. In that case, the Arizona court will decide how to al- locate water in the Little Colorado River System.
The Hopi Tribal Council presented the map in order to show the Arizona court that the Tribe has plans for using large amounts of water in future commercial and industrial development. The Arizona court is asked to reserve sufficient water resources for the Hopi Tribe to carry out this development. Here is how the Hopi Tribal Council's plans and water claims are described in the court papers:
G.2. Future mininq
and slurry.
There is sufficient coal of high quality on Hopi Partitioned Lands for two additional
mines and slurry pipelines should the Tribe so choose. The water for slurries
and mining would be approximately 8,120 acre- feet per year. The exact location
of wells and the dis- tance from which the water would be drawn cannot cur-
rently be known, nor can contractual arrangements as to its use. The Hopi Tribe
accordingly claims 8,120 acre- feet per year of groundwater for future mining
and slurry activities.
The general location of the coal and possible well fields are shown on Map F (1.36M)
G.3. Other mineral
and industrial use.
The Hopi Tribe claims 21,000 acre-feet of groundwater annually for other mineral
and industrial uses; 16,000 acre-feet annually for a 1,000 megawatt coal powered
electrical generating station; 5,000 acre- feet annually for development of
oil, gas and minerals other than coal including manufacturing of fertilizer
or other products from such minerals.
Much coal mining is planned for the Big Mountain area--a large addition to the strip-mining now underway further north at Black Mesa. A great increase of water use is also being con- sidered. This water is used to flush pulverized coal through a slurry pipeline to a distant power plant in Nevada. Today, the Black Mesa coal slurry uses about 4,650 acre feet of water per year.
Many times that amount would be needed if the development plans were implemented. (An acre-foot of water is the amount of water that would stand one foot deep over one acre). The Hopi Tribal Council almost certainly has in its files more detailed studies and plans. Otherwise it could not confi- dently state to the court that there is "sufficient coal of high quality on Hopi Partitioned Lands for two additional mines and slurry pipelines..."
In light of this newly discovered evidence, there should be a fresh assessment of what Hopi mineral development plans indi- cate about the true motives for Hopi-Navajo relocation from the Big Mountain area. Just as important, there should be careful consideration of what such plans mean for the future of the Hopi people.
In addition, there should be new demands for clarification of the federal government's role in these plans. Under federal law, all leases involving Big Mountain coal and water would have to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior. Federal offi- cials have likely been involved in the planning process, and their files, too, might have the information that the public needs to make informed decisions about these important matters.
It is time that everyone involved be more forthright about mineral development plans in Hopi country. The well-being of both Hopis and Navajos is at stake.
March 22, 1989
Confidential maps and memos, supplied by Peabody Watch, Arizona, relating
to the Peabody Western Coal Company's mining expansion plans. The whole set
and be downloaded in a zipped file by clicking here.
The following six pages are from the minutes of the HTC and PWCC´s October 19, 1988 meeting written by Reverend Caleb Johnson of the Hopi Tribe.
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Black
Mesa Indigenous Support
P.O.
Box 23501, Flagstaff, Arizona 86002
Message Voice Mail: 928.773.8086
Email: blackmesais@riseup.net
