Greetings Black Mesa Supporters & all who care about our planet. Please support a “NO ACTION” decision in solidarity with indigenous Dineh and Hopi communities.
It is urgent that as many people as possible send in a letter right away to stop Peabody Coal’s Black Mesa Project (BMP)! A Sample is accessible below. Peabody’s plans call for more relocation, water depletion, and global warming. The deadline to make your comments be heard, Feb. 6, is swiftly approaching!! Click here to send in your letter electronically or print it out and mail it. We must use this window to voice our opposition!
* SUMMARY:
Massive mining plans are underway that have serious environmental, social, and human rights impacts. Peabody Western Coal, the world’s largest coal company, is attempting to obtain a ‘Life of Mine’ permit from the federal Office of Surface Mining (OSM): which means a lease extension application that would permit them to mine indefinitely, and dramatically increase the current rate of coal production to turn Black Mesa into a massive energy center for domestic and international export.
It is unacceptable that this proposal could further the termination of indigenous cultural existence. The U.S. government has previously passed laws that terminate indigenous ancestral ties to these lands by currently restricting access to their lands and enforcing relocation. The LOM permit calls for additional restricted access to ancestral lands and relocation.
The LOM permit would allow the coal company the rights to billions of gallons of water a year from two major aquifers for their industrial coal production use.
This proposal is not the solution to global warming or to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but instead, Peabody’s BMP will only only add to the escalating greenhouse emissions.
* ORGANIZE LETTER WRITING PARITIES:
Consider organizing a letter-writing party –one woman organized over 40 letters in one evening!
* JUST TRANSITION:
Visit: http://www.blackmesawatercoalition.org for updates and to learn more about the Just Transition Campaign, “an innovative, proactive plan to transition tribal economy, employment and energy off fossil fuel extraction and into a sustainable renewable energy path.” The BMP Draft Environmental Impact Statement inadequately studies true alternatives for the use of coal and solutions to Global Warming provided by the Just Transition Campaign.
* CALLING ALL SUPPORTERS/SHEEPHERDERS:
Families on Black Mesa who are living near Peabody’s mining activities and/or resisting relocation and may face future mine expansion are requesting volunteer sheepherders to come stay with them. Please visit http://www.blackmesais.org for more info and to contact us.
* BIG MOUNTAIN CANNOT BE EXCLUDED FROM THE LEGACY OF THE FOUR CORNERS ENERGY WARS:
Since the beginning of the Big Mountain resistance elders would say: “We are resisting relocation and the coal mining not only for ourselves but for the whole world. Black Mesa must not be desecrated because of its sacredness –it provides life to all living things including all the human races.” Elder resisters of Big Mountain have referred to the coal as the Mother Earth’s liver.
We must not allow history to repeat itself by allowing the US government and mining interests to put profit over people, antiquity, and water resources.
Thank you!
~Black Mesa Indigenous Support
http://www.blackmesais.org
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