(FLAGSTAFF,
Ariz., July 17, 2004)—Black Mesa Trust Executive Director Vernon Masayesva
testified before the California Public Utilities Commission in San Francisco
on July 9.
The CPUC
held evidentiary hearings from June 14 through July 9 on the future disposition
of the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada. A California utility,
Southern California Edison, is the majority owner of the Mohave plant.
Mohave
will almost certainly close at the end of 2005, since its owners have delayed
installing the pollution control equipment specified in a 1999 Consent Decree.
Whether the 1580 MW plant will ever reopen depends in part on whether a new
source of water for the coal slurry line from Peabody Coal’s Black Mesa
Mine to Mohave can be found and implemented. The only option currently being
investigated is obtaining water from the C-aquifer south of Interstate 40
and pumping it to Black Mesa.
Black
Mesa Trust, a grassroots organization, is represented in the proceeding by
Dr. Lon House of Water & Energy Consulting.
Dr. House
began the day by introducing BMT president Leonard Selestewa, who made this
statement: “I am born to the Sun Clan from the village of lower Moenkopi.
And I'm a Hopi farmer. I rely on the surface water that is presently being
… captured by [impoundments] at the mine. We have an artesian well that
flows into my village from our public water system. We are very concerned
about what is happening with our water. We believe we have the grassroots
support of our villages. And we are now consulting with our religious leaders
who have given us statements of support. This position that we hold are very
much in line with what we are hoping to see accomplished here, and I'm glad
to be here. Thank you.”
Before
giving his own testimony, Mr. Masayesva read a statement from Jerry Honawa.
Mr. Honawa could not attend the hearing because he is “preparing for
the Niman ceremony and will begin fasting is about 10 days. Niman or home
dance is a way of carrying out our belief that all living things come from
water and all will go home back to water from where we all came.”
Mr. Honawa’s
opinion was clear: “To support the continued use of groundwater for the
coal slurry operation is irresponsible, morally reprehensible, and it only
helps to promote unwise water use, policy and practices.”
Mr. Masayesva
then testified that BMT is opposed to using any fresh water for the coal slurry
operation, even if that water were to be pumped off reservation from the C-aquifer.
Further, Mr. Masayesva told the Commission, BMT is absolutely opposed to pumping
of N-aquifer water even as a backup for the C-aquifer water.
During
his cross-examination by James Ham, attorney for the Hopi Tribe, Mr. Masayesva
briefly outlined some of the Trust’s proposals for replacing the tribal
revenues that will be lost when Mohave shuts down even temporarily. He mentioned
a proposed solar power plant on the reservation and revenues that should be
generated from transmission lines that cross the reservation. The contract
for the right-of-way for Arizona Public Service’s el Dorado transmission
line expired in 1992, for example. He also recommended that a proposition
to start collecting possessory and severance taxes from Peabody be voted on
by the Hopi people in the next tribal election.
Mr. Ham
cross-examined Mr. Masayesva about how he thought the tribe would take care
the Hopi families who would lose their government jobs if Mohave shuts down
and revenues from Black Mesa Mine were therefore not available.
Mr. Masayesva
answered, “[W]e as Hopi people need to get over this business of threatening
these people [with the loss of jobs on the reservation]. There is a way those
jobs can be preserved. We are not that helpless; give us a chance to work
this problem out. That is all we are asking for. Not gloom and doom. There
are ways.”
He later
pointed out that that the Hopi are proud descendents of strong, resourceful,
intelligent ancestors who survived many crises in their history and that the
Hopi were not the oldest living civilization in North America because they
did not know how to handle challenges.
Mr. Masayesva
also testified that Black Mesa Trust has submitted letters and other communications
to the Tribal Council “to address these precise points. “Two years
ago we asked the chairman to call for an economic summit challenging each
Hopi … come up with various ways to raise the $5 million [loss of mining
royalties when Mohave shuts down]. Challenge us. Bring us into the circle,”
said Mr. Masayesva. Let's sit down and work out various economic alternatives.
We [made this request] before the full council two years ago. Nothing has
happened, yet we are talking about so many people are going to lose jobs…making
us feel guilty and helpless. We are not. We are very, very aggressive, intelligent,
hard-working people.”
Dr. House
also represents To’ Nizhoni Ani’, a Navajo grassroots organization
opposed to the use of the N-aquifer for the coal slurry operation. He called
Marshall Johnson to testify, and Mr. Johnson introduced himself: “I am
of Ashihi people, born for the Tl'izi lani, Manygoats. And my grandparents
on my maternal side is Haashk'aan haadzohi. And paternal would be Honaaghaahnii.”
Peabody, the Navajo Nation, and the Hopi Tribe all objected to the testimony
Mr. Johnson was to give, and he was excused.
Nicole
Horseherder from Hard Rock Chapter and a founding member of To’Nizhoni
Ani’ was also called, and she testified in response to questioning by
Christine Hammond, representing the Navajo Nation, who asked Ms. Horseherder
how she thought the reduction in revenue would affect Navajos, in terms of
roads, schools and other services.
“I
would assume [these things would be affected], but you have to understand
that where I live, there is no infrastructure. So the law enforcement is not
there. The roads are not there. I don't see the police. I don't see the pavement.
I don't see any of the revenues from the mine in my community. So, yes, I
would assume that it would affect the Nation outside of the region of Black
Mesa, which is largely unimproved,” Ms. Horseherder answered.
When
Ms. Hammond asked her what effect losing mine jobs would have on Navajo families’
standard of living, Ms. Horseherder said, “There are more than 30,000
of us who have had a reduction in our standard of living because our water
is being used for the last 30 years.”
The
Commission has called for further written testimony, and its decision is not
expected before late autumn.
California Public Utilities Commission's Mohave Proceeding
Just
one ray of sunshine illuminates the argument over whether the obsolete
1580 MW coal-fired Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nevada, will
close temporarily—to install pollution control equipment and develop
a new source of water for its associated coal slurry pipeline and coal
washing facility—or permanently.
A
proposal to build two 500 MW solar power plants, one on Hopi and one on
Navajo—at a cost less than the price of keeping Mohave going—was
filed with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on October
10, 2003 by Water & Energy Consulting, a California-based firm representing
the grassroots organizations Black Mesa Trust and To’ Nizhoni Ani’.
The
CPUC proceeding has been underway since May 2002 when the power plant’s
majority owner, Southern California Edison, applied to the CPUC either
to shut down the plant or to pass on to California ratepayers the initial
$58 million needed to begin installing pollution control equipment required
by a 1999 consent decree.
Since
then the CPUC process has been plagued by the refusal of the Hopi and
Navajo Tribes and the Mohave co-owners to disclose information the Commission
needs and by other legal ploys designed to complicate and delay the decision.
One
concern of the tribes is the revenue that will be lost when Black Mesa
Mine, the sole supplier of coal to Mohave, does shut down for a few years—or
forever.
However,
Black Mesa Trust Executive Director Vernon Masayesva, said, “The
closure of Mohave Generating Station and the slurry pipeline—which
is anticipated to consume 6000 acre feet of groundwater a year—does
not mean economic disaster for the Hopi. The Stirling Energy solar project
will create over a 1000 jobs and add $5 to $7 million annually to Hopi
tribal revenues, while providing much needed ‘peaking power’
for Southern Californians. The solar generation will require minimal water
and is totally consistent with the Hopi belief that we can develop our
resources and enjoy the benefits of a modern society without degrading
the environment and our culture.”
The
solar power plant proposal has so far been rejected out of hand by the
Tribes, both of which are fighting to keep Mohave open by agreeing to
build a coal washing facility on Black Mesa and investigating the use
of C-aquifer groundwater to replace the N-aquifer groundwater that has
so far been the only source of water for the slurry pipeline.
Since
early summer, 2003, the tribes, Mohave co-owners, Peabody and the Department
of the Interior have been advocating development of well fields on tribal
land south of Winslow to tap the C-aquifer and construction of a pipeline
to take that water to Black Mesa Mine for the coal slurry. Both tribes
insist that the pipeline—anticipated to carry about 6000 acre feet
of water a year for the coal slurry—be nearly doubled in size to
take water to Hopi villages and Navajo chapters along the way.
It
has taken nearly a year for the parties to negotiate a Memorandum of Understanding
to allow a feasibility study for the project to begin. Signed and partially
funded in April 2004, the $6 million-plus study, which is contracted to
the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, is expected to take 18 to 24 months. Federally-required
environmental reviews will add another several months to the development
of the pipeline, assuming the initial feasibility study is favorable.
There
is, however, a fatal flaw in the overall C-aquifer venture, according
to Black Mesa Trust.
The
MOU that sanctions the C-aquifer study states that N-aquifer water will
be used as backup, should the C-aquifer project be interrupted or fail
completely. But nowhere does the MOU state for how long, under what exact
circumstances, or how much N-aquifer water may be taken. Peabody has virtually
unlimited rights to N-aquifer water for mining, and it has offered to
make those rights available to whomever ends up being responsible for
providing water for the slurry after 2005.
“We
could end up in a worse situation than where we started,” said Mr.
Masayesva, “because in the future we could be taking 6000 acre feet
a year, not 4000, from the N-aquifer just to support coal mining operations.
The use of N-aquifer water to slurry coal is already an unjustifiable
use of Native American natural resources for corporate profit. The C-aquifer
project has the potential to make that exploitation even more devastating.
It is incomprehensible that the Department of the Interior, which holds
a special trust responsibility to Native peoples, would even consider
signing an MOU containing these provisions, let alone allow the project
to go forward.”
The
proposal to use C-aquifer water as the primary source of water for coal
mining led the coal-mine operator, Peabody Energy, to file a revision
to its Permanent Program Permit application earlier filed with the Office
of Surface Mining (OSM). In the new application, Peabody specifies that
C-aquifer, rather than N-aquifer, water will be used for the coal slurry.
Because Hopi and Navajo elders objected to the use of N-aquifer water
for mining right from the beginning, a permanent mining permit was never
issued for the Black Mesa Mine, which the coal company has been operating
on a temporary permit for almost two decades. Just before the company
filed the new application, Peabody told the CPUC that “OSM personnel
assure Peabody that the permit will be issued, following completion of
an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), in 2005.”
OSM’s
Rick Holbrook, however, said that the new mining application will indeed
require an EIS, but that OSM would never state that a permit would be
issued before the EIS was completed.
In
the meantime, the CPUC has been evaluating supplementary testimony presented
in mid May 2004 in response to the Commission’s acknowledgement that
this proceeding is taking an extraordinary amount of time and that some
testimony may have needed to updated.
In
this new round of testimony, which was filed in preparation for evidentiary
hearings scheduled for the last two weeks of June in San Francisco, Southern
California Edison continued to frame its arguments to show that Mohave
must be shut down for at least several years to allow time to solve coal
and water supply issues in a way that makes installing pollution control
equipment at the 30-year-old plant worthwhile—and then to do the
work. Peabody Coal Company, the Hopi Tribe, and the Navajo Nation continued
to argue that the Mohave Generating Station provides the best alternative
for supplying roughly 900 MW of electricity to California ratepayers at
very competitive prices.
Judah
Rose testified for the Hopi Tribe. A significant part of Mr. Rose’s
argument was that high-quality Black Mesa coal always has been and is
still cheap. “Delivered coal prices at MGS have been $1.32MMBtu for
the period 2000-2003. Hence, MGS has a massive cost advantage. Its fuels
costs are approximately 80 percent lower than May 10, 2004…natural
gas prices,” he offered.
Four
people testified on behalf of the Navajo Nation, including President Joe
Shirley, Jr., who stated, “The royalties and taxes from lease agreements
[for Black Mesa Mine] comprise a substantial portion of the Navajo Nation’s
annual budget,” and that the mine is an “important source of
employment.”
It is also, President Shirley said, in the best interests of California
ratepayers to keep Mohave open. “Historically MGS has been one of
the lowest-cost, diverse, and reliable energy sources serving California
ratepayers…”
Exhibit
6 on page 45 of Mr. Rose’s testimony is a table showing that “new
wind and solar are even more costly than new coal (2000$)” without
addressing the Stirling Energy Systems plan put forward by Water &
Energy Consulting.
WEC’s
Dr. Lon House restated the case for replacing Mohave with two solar power
plants on tribal lands.
WEC
testimony strongly contests the statements that renewables are too expensive,
and refers to the proposal submitted earlier by Stirling Energy Systems
for the two 500 MW solar plants on reservation land that would provide
peaking power for California.
Dr.
Lon House concluded that “the solar option is a cost effective resource
addition [to California’s energy-generating capacity] with a purchase
power cost of 6.33-6.75 cents/kWh—well within the range of costs
proposed by Stirling Energy….”
Hearings
are taking place inn San Fransco now. After the publication of an excellent
piece of investigative journalism by Sean Reily in the LA Times Magazine,
“Gathering Clouds,” SCE and the Tribes withdrew the names of
representatives of Black Mesa Trust and To’ Nizhoni Ani’ from
their witness lists.
When
the CPUC may make a decision on the fate of Mohave and the survival of
the Hopi and Navajo peoples, for whom the N-aquifer is an irreplaceable
part of their religious and ceremonial life, is not yet known .
The
Faces of Water: Black Mesa Trust hosts Japanese researcher
FLAGSTAFF,
(Ariz.), May 25, 2004—Black Mesa Trust hosted a well-attended presentation
by Dr. Masaru Emoto from Japan on April 28 at Cline Library at Northern Arizona
University. The evening began at 7 p.m. with a Hopi welcome song, and a prayer
offered by Hopi elder Jerry Honawa.
Dr. Emoto talked about his work with water crystals over the past decade. He has discovered that water is directly affected by human words, thoughts, and actions, and that water will show those effects when it is frozen into ice. Water exposed to Classical music, words of gratitude, or prayers, will form beautiful, complete crystals.
 |
||||
| Crystal formed from water of a Hotevilla well. “…When a complete geometric crystal is formed, water is in alignment with nature and the phenomenon we call life. The crystals do not form in water that has been polluted by the results of our failure to remember the laws of nature.” From The Hidden Messages in Water by Dr. Masuru Emoto. | ||||
 |
Crystal
formed from water from a Hotevilla spring shows a less defined, confused
structure.
Photos © by Masaru Emoto |
|||
Water exposed to negative
words, raucous music, or anger, either will not crystallize at all or will
form incomplete or distorted crystals. Dr. Emoto illustrated his talk with
slides of water crystals formed when water from different sources was frozen
under various conditions.
At the
end of the evening Black Mesa Trust Board member Rueben Saufkie presented
Dr. Emoto with a piece of Hopi overlay jewelry, a gift from the Water Clan.
“We
were honored to host Dr. Emoto,” said Black Mesa Trust Executive Director
Vernon Masayesva. “His work helps to show how critical it is to preserve
our water resources and to use them properly. What Dr. Emoto has discovered
about water is perfectly in keeping with what our Hopi elders have told us
all along.”
This
evening presentation followed the April 26 Black Mesa Trust Honoring Water
Reception and Benefit Auction held at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff
from 6:30-9:30 p.m.
R. Carlos
Nakai played solo flute, and the Moencopi Elderly Program prepared and donated
traditional Hopi foods, including patupsuki (bean and hominy stew), somiviki
(sweetened blue corn meal wrapped in corn husks), piki, roasted parched corn;
and hohoisi (traditional tea), as well as tamales.
Volunteer
assistance was provided by Anna Masayesva, and donors of art for the auction
included Winter Sun, Northland Publishing, Leonard Selestewa, Babbitt’s
Backcountry, Tsakurshovi, and R. Carlos Nakai.
Black
Mesa Trust is a grassroots organization dedicated to preserving the N-aquifer
for future generations of Hopi and Navajo children.
The Trust
is planning its 3rd Annual Water Fair on Hopi for October, and in September
the Trust will host a water visioning workshop for tribal and religious leaders
of the Colorado Plateau tribes.
Black Mesa Trust opens downtown Flagstaff office
FLAGSTAFF,
(Ariz.), February 11, 2004—Black Mesa Trust marked a milestone in its
history on February 6 when it officially opened its new office in downtown
Flagstaff.
“For our organization, this really is a milestone,” said President Leonard Selestewa. “We need to be centralized so our voice can carry in the four directions from this sacred place [the San Francisco Peaks],the home of the kachinas who come to bless our homeland. It is no coincidence that our office is here."
 |
||||
| Navajo artist Shonto Begay dedicates the mural he painted for the new office in downtown Flagstaff. | ||||
Black
Mesa Trust shares the premises with the Sierra Club and the Arizona Ethnobotanical
Research Association. Said runner and Trust supporter Bucky Preston, “This
really makes me happy. We now have a place to go. Being in the same space
with the Sierra Club and AERA will make it easier to do our work. Opening
this office reminds me of running—we worked long and hard, but we finally
got there.”
Murals
in the new office meeting space were painted by Shonto Begay and Hunter
Red Day, both of whom dedicated and signed their work during the opening,
for which most of Flagstaff’s activist community turned out to share
potluck dishes and birthday cakes for Mr. Begay and the Sierra Club’s
Andy Bessler. Anissa Larson painted the mural in the Sierra Club’s
office.
Clarence
Clearwater, Hunter Red Day, Gave Yaiva and Kelvin Long provided music as
both entertainment and as accompaniment to prayers.
Black
Mesa Trust is a grassroots organization dedicated to saving the N-aquifer
for future generations of Hopi and Navajo children. Peabody Coal pumps more
than 4,000 acre feet of water a year from the aquifer, which is the only
source of potable water for the Hopi Tribe and the 27,000 Navajos on Black
Mesa, as well as the source of springs and seeps sacred to both tribes.
Black Mesa Trust supports the position of the Hopi Tribe and Navajo Nation
that Peabody must stop pumping from the aquifer no later than December 31,
2005.
“Peabody
has resources,” said Mr. Selestewa, “but they don’t have
spirit. Spirit can beat money.”
The
new office is located at 408 E. Route 66, behind Babbitt Ford on the corner
of Elden and Route 66. Everyone is invited to drop by on weekdays. The phone number is (928) 734-9255
info@blackmesatrust.org;
mailing address P.O. Box 33,
Kykotsmovi, AZ 86039.
Black Mesa Trust backs solar power
plant
(PHOENIX,
Ariz., January 26, 2004)—Black Mesa Trust is strongly urging the California
Public Utilities Commission to consider solar power as the replacement for
Mohave Generating Station’s electricity output after the end of 2005.
On January
14, CPUC Commissioner Loretta Lynch came to Arizona to meet with Hopi Tribal
officials. As is customary, she offered local intervenors in the proceeding
an opportunity to meet with her as well. Black Mesa Trust President Leonard
Selestewa and Executive Director Vernon Masayesva, as well as Robert Liden,
president of Stirling Energy Systems, talked with the commissioner about their
solar power plant proposal.
Stirling
Energy Systems, through Black Mesa Trust’s representative in the CPUC
proceeding, Dr. Lon House of Water & Energy Consulting, has put forward
a proposal to build two 500 MW solar power plants, one on Hopi and one on
Navajo. The power plants would not only replace power lost to California when
Mohave shuts down, but would also provide jobs for Hopis and Navajos on Black
Mesa and produce tribal revenues that would help offset the loss of income
the tribes will incur when Mohave—the only current buyer of coal from
the Black Mesa Mine—closes for an undetermined period at the end of 2005.
Said
Mr. Masayesva after the meeting with Commissioner Lynch, “Black Mesa
Trust believes the development of solar power is a viable way for Hopis and
Navajos to create revenues and jobs. The generation of solar power is environmentally
sound, uses very little water, and certainly does not pollute the air. The
sun is the most sustainable energy resource we have available to us.”
The ultimate
fate of Mohave is still up in the air as the CPUC considers testimony on Southern
California Edison’s 2002 application to shut the plant down or require
SCE’s customers to pay the initial costs for upgrading the 30-year-old
power plant to meet emissions standards specified in a 1999 Consent Decree.
The Consent Decree results from the settlement of a lawsuit brought by Grand
Canyon Trust and other environmental groups against Mohave owner for reducing
visibility at the Grand Canyon.
The CPUC
is also taking into account widespread protest against allowing Peabody Coal
to continue using N-aquifer water to slurry coal from the Black Mesa Mine
to MGS, which is located in Nevada. The N-aquifer is the sole source of drinking
water for the Hopi Tribe and the 27,000 Navajos living on Black Mesa, as well
as the source of water for springs and seeps sacred to the two tribes. The
Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation have both stated that a new source of water
for the coal slurry must be found.
During
the ex-parte communication in Phoenix, Mr. Masayesva and Mr. Selestewa discussed
the water issue—including the possibility of using C-aquifer water for
the coal slurry—alternative uses for Black Mesa coal, and Peabody’s
impoundments of surface water at the mine site.
The main
discussion, however, focused on the possibility of building a peak-power solar
power plant “of sufficient size to offset the loss of royalties to the
Hopis from the closing of the Mohave Plant and the potential to create more
jobs for the Hopis than they currently have in mining coal,” according
to the notice of ex-parte communication filed by Dr. House on January 14.
Ruben
Saufkie, Sr. named to Board of Directors
KYKOTSMOVI,
(Ariz.), December 12, 2003—Black Mesa Trust is pleased to welcome Ruben
Saufkie, Sr. to its Board of Directors. Mr. Saufkie was elected to the Board
during the Trust’s December 6 Board meeting.
Mr. Saufkie
said, “I’m from the Water Clan, so I am representing my clan in
doing something about our Hopi water situation. I want to stop water from
being wasted—for the benefit of my children, grandchildren, and all the
generations to come.”
| Ruben Saufkie, Sr., Black Mesa Trust's newest Board member, listens as the Board discusses a resolution at its December 6 meeting. | ||||
Mr. Saufkie
was encouraged to become involved in Black Mesa Trust when he participated
in a run from Walpi to Moencopi organized by Bucky Preston in support of the
Trust’s efforts. “I was inspired by the people who were there to
support our water run,” Mr. Saufkie recalled. “Then Bucky kept me
up-to-date about the Trust’s activities until a few days ago when Vernon
asked me to consider being involved as a member of the Board.”
Leonard
Selestewa, president of Black Mesa Trust, said, “We are very fortunate
to be bringing onto the Board a young man who is very open and honest and
cares very deeply about our Hopi culture. On behalf of Black Mesa Trust, I
want to say that we are very honored to have Ruben Saufkie, Sr. as a member
of our Board.”
Mr. Saufkie
said that he believes his experience as president of the Second Mesa Day School
Board will be helpful as he adds his efforts to the Trust’s goal of preserving
the N-aquifer underlying Black Mesa for future generations of Hopi and Navajo
children.
One positive
outcome of the struggle to get Peabody Energy to stop pumping N-aquifer water
for its coal slurry operation, according to Mr. Saufkie, is that the issue
is bringing Hopi and Navajo people together. “People who rely on the
N-aquifer are working together to stop the pumping,” he said.
He also
remarked that it was sad that “some people don’t look at water.
They look at money. I would rather have water than money. Without water we
will not survive.”
The other
members of Black Mesa Trust’s Board of Directors are Elliott Selestewa,
Sr., Gilbert Naseyowma, Valjean Joshevama, Sr., Leonard Talaswaima, Verrin
Kewenvoyouma, and Leonard Selestewa.
Black
Mesa Trust is in the process of putting its case before the California Public
Utilities Commission as an intervenor in the CPUC proceeding that will determine
whether Mohave Generating Station will be shut down. A coal slurry operation,
which uses more than 4,000 acre feet a year of N-aquifer water, transports
coal from the Black Mesa Mine to the Mohave power plant in Laughlin, Nevada.
Southern California Edison, the majority owner of Mohave, has applied to the
CPUC to shut down the 1580 MW generating station or to recover from California
ratepayers the initial money Mohave owners must spend to comply with a court
order to cut down emissions from the plant won in 1999 by several environmental
groups. Currently the work to install the pollution control equipment is far
behind schedule and the power plant will therefore shut down at least temporarily
at the end of 2005. December 31, 2005 is also the deadline that the Hopi Tribe
has given Peabody to stop using N-aquifer water as the primary source of water
for the coal slurry. Dr. Lon House of Water & Energy Consulting is representing
two grassroots organizations, Black Mesa Trust and To Nizhoni Ani, in the
California proceeding.
Hisot
Navoti Conference and Second Annual Water Fair
KYKOTSMOVI,
(Ariz.), October 24, 2003—“The next 50 years will determine whether
we make the Earth strong and healthy again or whether we completely destroy
it. That is why some of us are no longer hesitant to share our ancient knowledge
with the world,” said Black Mesa Trust Executive Director Vernon Masayesva
as he opened the Hisot Navoti (Ancient Knowledge) Conference at the Hopi Veterans’
Memorial Center in Kykotsmovi on the morning of Thursday, October 23.
Mr. Masayesva
said that it was the charge of the Hopi people to share their knowledge with
the world:
“We see today that one child dies every eight seconds for lack of clean
water. We see terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. This is not the Hopi
way. Indigenous peoples have so much knowledge and information to share to
help begin the healing process. Western science must start to accept indigenous
knowledge and integrate it into their thinking.
“We
pray this prayer: ‘Every living thing has a right to life. Let life forever
continue.’ But every eight seconds a child is sacrificed to the inadequacies
of Western science and ethics. It is time for indigenous peoples to take center
stage and be part of the international dialog.” Mr. Masayesava has just
returned from a ten-day trip to Japan where he conferred with Shinto and Buddhist
priests on some of these issues.
The Hisot
Navoti Conference continued throughout the day—and on into the next—as
people from different cultures shared their thoughts, feelings, comments,
and videos.
From
Japan, Dr. Masaru Emoto described his research on water, research that shows
the form into which water crystallizes depends in part on the social, visual,
linguistic and psychological environments to which it is exposed. The very
form of the crystal can be determined by something as seemingly simple as
playing music.
| In Japan, Dr. Emoto and his associates offered a prayer of love and thanks to water in support of Black Mesa Trust's Hisot Navoti Conference. | ||||
All over
the world—at exactly noon local time—people repeated the honoring
statements, so the prayer moved in space and time around the globe through
the 24 time zones.
From
the village of Shungopavi a group of Water Clan people brought water from
a natural spring to share, reviving an old custom of inviting everyone to
drink from the same dipper and thus create a unity among the people.
From
Teec Nos Pas came seven Dineh students attending Red Mesa High School with
their science teacher, Jean Wielsen.
From
San Benito, Texas where the Rio Grande flows into the Gulf of Mexico came
an Aztecan dance group led by Helga Garcia Garza. “We came here because
we respect and honor the work of Black Mesa Trust,” she said. “We
are also having a water crisis. The Rio Grande no longer reaches the Gulf
of Mexico. The first time it happened we didn’t know what to think. The
second time it was a shock. Then we began to fear for our future. We asked
Vernon to come and offer prayers with us. Now we have come to offer prayers
in our traditional form of dance.”
From
a film by Victor Masayesva, Jr., "Hopi Water Run," participants
learned about an event organized by Bucky Preston in support of Black Mesas
Trust’s effort to save the N-aquifer from further pumping for Peabody
Coal’s slurry operation—and about a magnitude 3.8 earthquake recorded
by Northern Arizona University in 1988. Its epicenter was the Peabody well
field tapping the N-aquifer.
From
producer/director Toby McLeod of Sacred Land Film Project came “In Light
of Reverence,” a documentary depicting the destruction of indigenous
sacred lands and sites, including Black Mesa.
From
the Center for Science in Public Participation came Stevee Blodgett, who said,
“The fight to stop Peabody from using N-aquifer water has to go on,”
and gave credit to “Vernon and Leonard for going out on their own and
doing this work despite opposition from the tribal governments.”
From
the Tohono O’odham Nation came a member of the Coyote Clan to tell about
his tribe’s battle against a mining company’s proposal to use the
tribe’s underground water in exchange for Central Arizona Project water.
From
the Hopi Tribal Council came Eugene Kaye, who presented the Hopi Water Team’s
perspective on the N-aquifer issue. Both Black Mesa Trust and the Hopi Tribe
are agreed on one point: Peabody pumping of the N-aquifer must stop. The disagreement
is only about how to achieve that goal.
From
the Sierra Club came Andy Bessler, who talked about the successful effort
of the Zuni people to stop a coal mining operation that threatened the sacred
Zuni Salt Lake.
From
Acoma came Manual Pina, a teacher at Scottsdale Community College, to recount
the struggle to get reparations for uranium miners, millers, and downwinders.
“Our aquifer dried up because of the dewatering process used in mining
uranium. Then during the milling process, the ore was separated to make yellow
cake to fuel nuclear power plants. The other materials in the ore became waste
or tailings, and the tailings got into the streams that flow across our land.”
| With incense, dance and stringed instruments, the Aztecan Dance Group performed a Water Blessing Ceremony for the waters of the N-aquifer and the springs on Black Mesa. The group’s leader, Helga Garcia-Garza explained the next day that the group used only stringed instruments, forgoing the culture’s traditional drums, flutes, and gourds. Thus they honored the ingenuity of their ancestors, who, when the Spanish forbade them to play their instruments invented a stringed instrument similar to the instruments used by the Spanish, thinking that the colonizers could not then object to their music. “We honor our elders who saved our religion,” said Ms. Garcia-Garza. | |||
“As
Indian people, we are low priority. But letthis country go to war and Congress
will give money at the drop of a hat. Iraq is a continuation of the genocide.
They say that 9-11 was the first time Americans were ever attacked on their
own soil. No one took into the account what was done to Native Americans.”
Also
from Acoma came Laura Watchempino with a video of an Acoma prayer for water
and her own observations about the future. “When I started working for
the Water Office in 1996, I thought we would have to claim our water rights.
But I now don’t think that we’ll get anywhere in court. Courts will
take water as a thing to be divided up, not shared. We need to think about
it differently.”
From
the Hopi village of Moencopi, “the place of flowing waters,” came
Black Mesa Trust President Leonard Selestewa.
“It
was indeed something to behold when Moencopi Wash ran from the Black Mesa
Mine area in abundance. Half of the water came from springs in the sides of
the canyon walls and half from rain water. Now the wash only runs six or eight
months a year,” he said.
“My
father took a path in life that was a spiritual path. He told me, ‘We’re
not just men. We are like Hopi Kachinas.’ My father is a very simple
man. I want to be just like my dad. We watch the weather. There is a whole
science behind Hopi farming. That science created a harmony between us and
our environment. That is what science is.”
From
Hotevilla came Jerry Honawa, who offered a prayer at the beginning of the
day.
At the
end of the day, he summed up the day most eloquently: “It has been a
good day.”
On the
evening of the 23rd the Veterans Center was the setting for a water blessing
ceremony by the Aztecan dance group, a performance of Hopi dancing by Water
Clan people, and drumming by the Robert Suqnevaha Group.
The next
morning was slated for the educational Water Fair, and educational booths
set up by Indian Health Service Engineers, the Hopi Tribe’s Department
of Natural Resources, the Cultural Preservation Office, Wildflower Education
Center, and the Sierra Club were well-attended by visitors and almost 200
school children.
The Hisot
Navoti Conference, however, seemed to have a life of its own as yet more people
came to share their traditional knowledge.
A Declaration
on Water, which had been drafted the day before, was circulated and Mr. Masayesva
outlined a vision for the Trust’s work over the next two years. He explained
that the Trust’s goal—in addition to stopping Peabody pumping of
the N-aquifer and to helping the elders and our ancestors in correcting a
grave mistake—the original signing of the coal and water leases in the
mid 1960s—is to confer with many other tribes and fashion an indigenous
declaration on water, then to take that declaration to the Fifth World Forum
on Water in Mexico City in March, 2006.
“The
Colorado Plateau is the Hopi Tusqua, or Homeland, but it is also the Learning
Plaza. Our tradition says that this is the place where one day people of all
colors will come to fashion the Fifth World, a world where opposite strands—black
and white, communal and private, one god or many gods—will be integrated.
From the six cardinal directions, people will create a new vision.
Roberto
Perez came forward and suggested creating a visual image to symbolize the
declaration.
Bucky Preston came forward and offered to organize a run from Hopi to Mexico City and asked that people who
wished to participate contact him because the preparations for the run will have to begin immediately. “I invite all runners to prepare themselves,” he said. “I do this for my children. When our water is gone, they’re all gone. Water is who we are. I ask for your prayers and your strength."
| Hopi Day School children enjoy the exhibits at Black Mesa Trust's Water Fair on October 24. | |||
Jerry
Honawa came forward to thank participants.
Tony
Skrelunas came forward to talk about conservation and sustainable economic
development on Native lands.
Then
the Water Fair focused on the Hopi Day School children. The children visited
the exhibits while technicians got the Veterans Center ready for a benefit
concert by Hopi Reggae artist Casper Lomayesva scheduled to begin in just
a couple of hours.
Black
Mesa Trust expressed thanks to all of the people who donated food and drinks
for the events, including Zetta Masayesva, Denise Masayesva, Verna Masayesva,
Esther Masayesva, Becky Masayesva, Loraine Monongye, Leora Honawa, Polly Jenkins,
Marlene Sekaquaptewa, Delphina Melvin, Erlene Shelton, Leonard Selestewa,
Joann Selestewa, Margaret Ahsona, Alice Sekaquaptewa, Marlene Joshevama, Virginia
Nuvamsa, Thelma Honahnie, Susan Secakuku, Adrienne Masaquaptewa, Jason Tenakyouma,
Marilyn Tewa, Loraine Sahu, and Ethelyn Secakuku.
The Black
Mesa Trust Hisot Navoti Conference and Second Annual Water Fair were funded
in part by the Christensen Fund and Oxfam America.