Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

December 29, 2008

Express outrage: Peabody coal mining on Black Mesa


Interior Approves Permit for Coal Mining on Hopi Lands
Black Mesa Trust Calls for Telephone, Letter Campaign

By Vernon Masayesva
KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz., Dec. 29 -- As expected, the U.S. Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation (OSM), the sole regulatory agency overseeing mining on Black Mesa, has made a formal decision approving Peabody Western Coal's application for a life-of-mine permit that would combine mining operations at Black Mesa Mine and Kayenta Mine.
The decision was announced during the Hopi Soyalung ceremonies throughout our villages. Soyalung is when Hopis plant their prayers for the coming year. It is a time the priests carry out sacred rituals to renew the earth, and pray for peace and harmony throughout the world. It is similar to the Jewish Chunaka observance, of bringing light to darkness.
This is the ancient ritual OSM has rudely interrupted. It is a blatant action sanctioning Peabody to exploit our natural resources for the benefit of its wealthy owners, officers and stockholders.
Black Mesa Trust appeals to people all over the world to express their outrage by writing or calling:

Dirk Kempthorne
Secretary of Interior
US Department of Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: 202/208-3100

Al Klein
Western Regional Director
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
P. O. Box 46667
Denver, CO 80201-6667
Phone: 303/293-5001
aklein@osmre.gov

Brent Wahlquist, Director
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20240
Phone: 202/208-2719

Dennis Winterringer, Director
Western Region, Southwest Branch
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement
P. O. Box 46667
Denver, CO 80201-6667
Phone: 303/293-5030
E-mail dwinteringer@osmre.gov.

2 comments:

Asdzaa Nanahooghasi said...

Thanks Brenda for covering this news.
I will make sure that I send this message to all my contacts. And for sure I will call these officials tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

i am surprised lehman brothers fell because they went against the warnings of our medicine people to not mine the sacred tar and now peabody is also disrespecting the powerful spirits of these lands you would think they would of learned from there own partners i have found them all over the world digging up earth mothers flesh and that can no longer be tolerated i have taken up many causes worldwide and now i will take on this one to aid my people in America i am from Canada but i have far reaching powers i pray i will be of assistance to you great people out there i also pray that the medicine people come together for such causes so that we may together stop such insults to the land and our people.