January 13, 2012
Hopi Tribal Council
Hopi – Tewa Senom

It is time we have a serious discussion about coal mining on our reservation, our water rights and our environment.  For far too long, we have pushed these issues aside, not willing to talk about how these issues impact our lives.  We must talk about how the Peabody Western Coal Company and Navajo Generating Station are affecting our lives.  Since the mid 1960’s, Peabody Coal has been mining our coal, pumping our precious Navajo Aquifer water and paying us pennies on the dollar in return.  Navajo Generating Station is emitting dangerous and harmful particulates into the air we breathe.  Our coal resources are being depleted.  Our Navajo Aquifer has been damaged and is decreasing.  Our drinking water supply is contaminated; and our sacred springs are drying up.  And, our people are suffering health problems from the mining activity and production of electricity.  But who is really benefiting from this mining?

Most people know about how Attorney John Boyden, with the help of the Interior Department, managed to negotiate coal leases designed to benefit the coal mining industry and the utility companies.  They literally stole our coal and water right from under us; and we allowed it to happen.  We were sold a bill of goods by Boyden.  Sadly, we are still allowing this to continue as evidenced by the latest Hopi tribal council’s action to approve the Peabody Lease Reopener.

Our elected leaders are being told by Peabody Coal, Office of Surface Mining, and by the Salt River Project (and other owners of the Navajo Generating Station) that if they did not approve the lease reopeners, that our tribal economy would suffer.  I do not believe this story.  It was the Federal government, in the first place, that determined what our economy would be; who would mine our coal and use our water; and literally what price we would be paid.  The Federal government created a monopoly for Peabody Coal.  Although it is our water and our coal, we were not allowed to make these decisions.  We could not exercise our inherent sovereign right to determine our own economic future.  Those decisions were taken away from us when the Federal government pushed the coal leases with Sentry Royalty (Peabody’s predecessor).  We did not have control over our resources and our economy.  We still don’t.  The Federal government designed these leases so that we would become dependent on coal royalties.

So what happens with the money we get from Peabody Coal?  We get a mere $11.0 to $13.0 million each year from Peabody Coal in the form of coal royalties and some bonuses.  This money is put into an investment account at the Department of Interior’s Office of Trust Funds Management in Albuquerque, but most of it is given to the Hopi Water and Energy Team for their travel and other expenses.  Most of this money is used by attorneys and other specialists to produce biased reports that our resources are safe and have not been damaged.  Hopi and Tewa Senom have no say in how this money is used.  Very little, if any of this money is used to create jobs and help villages.

So, as owners of the resources, we have to ask hard questions, such as:  Do we really need coal mining on our reservation?  Is it worth the loss of our resources? Is it worth damaging our resources and environment?  Is it worth the health and welfare of our people?  Again, we must ask:  Who is really benefiting from coal mining on our reservation?  Peabody Coal is a global company.  The ten-year coal leases give Peabody Coal full subsurface rights to our coal, water and other minerals (except oil and gas).  The leases give Peabody Coal full rights to the millions/billions of tons of our coal for which they do not pay us anything until they mine the coal.  Because of how the leases are structured, we cannot market our coal to other companies to get better prices and have a say on how our coal is mined.

Peabody Coal reported that in October 2011, its net income rose to $274.1 million, or a rise of 22.3% from last year.  Its revenues rose 9.2% to $2.04 billion from last year.  The Navajo Generating Station buys the coal from Peabody Coal to produce electricity.  The power plant is owned by the Bureau of Reclamation (24.3%) Salt River Project (21.7%), Los Angeles Water & Power (21.2%), Arizona Public Service (14.0%), Nevada Power (11.3%), and Tucson Gas & Electric (7.5%).  Salt River Project recently reported a profit of over 26.0% in 2011.  Peabody Coal, in its 2005 report, said it paid the State of Arizona about $67.5 million during the period 1986 to 2004; and paid the Navajo Nation over $82.9 million in various forms of taxes during the same period.  Hopi did not and does not receive any tax revenues because of a reported covenant to not tax Peabody.  So, who is benefiting from coal mining?

So what should do?  Should we continue coal mining, or should we enter into alternative forms of energy production, or should we just stop coal mining?  In any event, we must exercise our sovereign right to decide for ourselves, and decide our own economic future; and no longer allow the Federal government, owners of the Navajo Generating Station, and Peabody Coal to dictate our economy to us.

The Hopi Tribe (and the Navajo Nation) holds the key to the economy of the entire Southwest.  It is our coal and water that makes it possible for Arizona, southern Nevada and southern California to have electric power.  And, while others profit handsomely from our diminishing resources, our tribal socioeconomic conditions remain dismal.  We get no direct benefit from coal mining revenues, we have limited or no jobs, our homes are in disrepair; and many of us do not have electricity and running water in our homes.  After almost 50 years, we have nothing to show how coal mining on our reservation has improved our lives.

Our economic future starts with a serious round of discussions; adoption of sound energy and water policies; and renegotiating the Peabody Coal leases to demand higher prices and accountably for the damage they have done to our resources.  It also starts with the tribe imposing taxes on Peabody Coal.  It starts with requiring the Navajo Generating Station to comply with strict Federal emissions control regulations.  And, it starts with holding our trustee, the Federal government, to carry out its trust obligations to us.

Benjamin H. Nuvamsa
Former Hopi Tribal Chairman

"Orayvi sunset" Photograph by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert - Originally published on the back dust jacket of Education beyond the Mesas (University of Nebraska Press, 2010)

Photograph by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time fishing and water skiing on Lake Powell. While having fun on the lake, one of the places that we used to visit was Rainbow Bridge National Monument in southern Utah.

On YouTube, I came across an interesting video of Hopi oral histories of the bridge. In 2009, the U.S. National Park Service conducted the interviews to mark the Monument’s 100 year anniversary. The Hopis in the video include Wilton Kooyahoema (Hotevilla), Floyd Lomakuyvaya (Shungopavi), and Rod Duwala (Oraivi).

Members of the Navajo, Kaibab Paiute, San Juan Paiute, and White Mesa Ute nations were also interviewed for this project. I have posted their segments below.

Image courtesy of http://kachinabears.com/

Just when I thought I’d seen it all, I find this company on the internet. My guess is that it won’t be long before they start offering kivas and ladders as accessories.

Image courtesy of http://shop.kachinabears.com/

]]> http://beyondthemesas.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/kachina-bears/feed/ 2 hopiprof Picture 15 Picture 16 http://beyondthemesas.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/twila-and-the-bird/ http://beyondthemesas.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/twila-and-the-bird/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:40:12 +0000 Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert http://beyondthemesas.com/?p=7507 ]]>

"Playing with birds" May 2011, Photograph by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

In May of this year, I photographed our cat, Twila, stalking a bird in our yard. Although Twila is a great “mouser,” she tends to be gentle with birds. She plays with them (similar to the way she plays with spiders), and then lets them go. This bird was no exception. Thirty minutes after I took the photo, I saw the bird perched in a nearby tree. No longer interested in playing with the bird, Twila moved on to stalking bigger and better things, including a squirrel. But unlike the birds, squirrels in our neighborhood refuse to play with her. She gets the same response from the raccoons.

Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

More than two years later, the blog has received 31,612 “hits” and 180 comments. While some bloggers receive this many hits in one week (or one day), I am grateful to know that a handful of people find beyondthemesas.com useful and perhaps even interesting.

At the very least, the blog provides an alternative to the many bizarre websites out there on the Hopi.

The most popular posts continue to be on Hopi runners and photography.  This year, the posts on the Hopi and Navajo water rights issue received a lot of attention.

Many thanks to people back home and those beyond the mesas who dropped by this past year to read my blog. I look forward to another productive year of blogging in 2012.

Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

Click image to be directed to Hopi Petroglyph Sites web portal

See also: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111219006532/en/University-Redlands-Professor-Research-Basis-Hopi-Petroglyph

Photograph by Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert

A few weeks ago I heard the words “If so, please consider…” coming from my living room. I looked around the corner, and to my surprise, I saw my oldest daughter sitting with my lPad on her lap. My blog was open on the screen.  When I asked what she was doing, she simply replied, “I’m learning about Hopi.”

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Under the Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the American Indian Studies Program seeks two Postdoctoral Fellows for the 2012-2013 academic year. One of the positions may be renewable for a second year. This fellowship program provides a stipend, a close working association with AIS faculty, and assistance in furthering the fellow’s development as a productive scholar. Applicants should have an ongoing research project that promises to make a notable contribution to American Indian and Indigenous Studies. While fellows will concentrate on their research, they may choose to teach one course in American Indian Studies. Furthermore, fellows are encouraged to participate in the intellectual community of the American Indian Studies Program.

The Fellowship stipend for the 2012-2013 academic year is $42,000, including health benefits. An additional $5,000 will be provided for the fellow’s research, travel, and related expenses. Candidates must have completed all degree requirements by August 15, 2012. Preference will be given to those applicants who have finished their degrees in the past five years. The one-year fellowship appointment period is from August 16, 2012, to August 15, 2013.

Candidates should submit a curriculum vitae, a thorough description of the research project to be undertaken during the fellowship year, two samples of their scholarly writing, and two letters of recommendation to Robert Warrior, Director, American Indian Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  All application materials should be sent electronically to ais@illinois.edu. Applications received by January 20, 2012 will receive full consideration. The review process will continue until the fellowships are filled. For further information, contact Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert, Chair, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Committee, American Indian Studies: Phone: (217) 265-9870, Email: tewa@illinois.edu, or visit the Program’s website at www.ais.illinois.edu.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is an Equal Opportunity Employer