Black Mesa mine closure

[Marks - the Earth's Sun]

Mohave Power Plant Operation Future in Dark

USA: November 10, 2005


LOS ANGELES - An agreement could be near on coal and water supplies needed to keep the 1,580-megawatt Mohave power plant in Nevada open past Dec. 31, but even if such accords are reached, the outlook for uninterrupted operation of the plant is murky, several parties involved said.


Southern California Edison, the operator and majority owner of the coal-fired plant near the intersection of Nevada, California and Arizona, is close to agreement with two Native American tribes and the world's largest private-sector coal company regarding coal and water supplies, said Wayne Taylor, chairman of the Hopi Tribal Council.
"We are very close to a settlement," Taylor said. "In fact, we hope to have this settlement in hand by the end of the year."

But even if the parties can agree, the plant will shut at least temporarily at year's end unless three environmental organizations can be convinced to push back a deadline for So Cal Ed to install about $1 billion of upgrades to Mohave's pollution control system.

Involved in coal and water talks are representatives for So Cal Ed, a subsidiary of Edison International, the Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribal Council, Peabody Energy Corp. and the Salt River Project, an Arizona public utility and behind So Cal Ed, the second-largest owner of the Mohave power station.

The three environmental groups -- Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club, and National Parks Conservation Alliance -- have a court-sanctioned consent decree in hand that was reached in 1999 ordering the plant to shut unless the pollution upgrades were in place by Jan. 1, 2006.

With less than two months until the plant's possible shutdown, So Cal Ed is likely going to seek an extension to the deadline from the environmental groups, Taylor said.

So Cal Ed officials would not comment whether it would try to change the deadline.

"Any request to extend the deadline is a nonstarter," said Roger Clark, air and energy director for the Grand Canyon Trust, based in Flagstaff, Arizona. "We've allowed them to violate the law for some time now. (Any request) would have to be quite compelling."

A So Cal Ed spokesman said that the company did not wish to pursue the upgrades while the coal and water issues were not solved.

"SCE is working hard on all reasonable options that could make possible the continue operation of the plant," said Southern California Edison in a statement. "At this time, it appears likely the plant will shut down for some period on Dec. 31, 2005, but we hope to minimize any such shutdown."

But Clark of the Grand Canyon Trust said the company has had years to fix the water and coal supply issues. He pointed out that So Cal Ed wanted to sell the plant and when it entered the consent decree did not think it would still have to deal with Mohave by 2005.

In a unique situation, Mohave runs on coal that is shipped by pipeline 273 miles from the Black Mesa mine owned by Peabody and on land owned by the Navajo and Hopi. The coal is shipped by crushing it and then mixing it with water to create a slurry that is then shipped via the pipe to the power plant near Laughlin, Nevada.

The two tribes say the underground aquifer source of the water Peabody is now using needs to be preserved for their drinking supply. An alternate aquifer -- also under land owned by the tribes -- can be used, but a 100-mile pipeline will have to be constructed.

Taylor of the Hopi tribe said So Cal Ed has agreed to pay $200 million to build the new pipeline, but company officials declined to confirm that.

Taylor said the Hopi can agree to allow Peabody to use the current water source until the new pipeline is built.

Clark said the owners of Mohave "have had six years" to renegotiate water and coal rights with the Navajo and the Hopi and with Peabody. The coal and water rights agreements were set to expire at the end of 2005 long before the environmental groups filed suit against Mohave's owners in 1997, Clark said.

Peabody, the biggest nongovernmental coal company in the world, is a major employer of both tribes, which have unemployment rates of 50 percent or more.

In addition to So Cal Ed's 56-percent ownership of the Mohave station, owners are the Salt River Project (20 percent), Las Vegas-based Sierra Pacific Resources Corp.'s Nevada Power Co. (14 percent) and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (10 percent).



Story by Bernie Woodall

[Marks - the Earth's Sun]

Wednesday, February 15, 2006


2/8/2006 4:00:00 AM
Black Mesa Trust closes Flag office

By S.J. Wilson
The Observer


S.J. Wilson/Observer Leonard Selestewa, along with his mother, father, wife and youngest daughter, express their gratitude to friends and supporters as they prepare to close the Flagstaff Black Mesa Trust Office.

FLAGSTAFF -- Leonard Selestewa, president of the Black Mesa Trust, and, assistant Andrea Hartley, hosted a pot-luck farewell dinner on the evening of Jan. 28 to celebrate the closing of the Flagstaff office.

Selestewa described the small complex of offices shared by Black Mesa Trust, the Sierra Club and other groups as a "hub of operation" that he will miss. He assured the gathering of friends that the Trust's work would continue from Hopi under the direction of Vernon Masayesva, director and founder.

Selestewa listed personal commitments to family as one reason for closing the Flagstaff office on both his and Hartley's part.

"We have a need to give time back to our families," Selestewa said.

For the first year or two, Selestewa admitted to wondering why he was being called forward on the water issues.

"Why me? I'm just a farmer," Selestewa asked himself during those first years. But again, he drew inspiration from his father.

"When we were out in the fields, I would watch my father. After hoeing for awhile, he would lean on his hoe and look up into the sky. I could see that he was talking, so one day I asked him what he was doing."

"'I am talking to the clouds, asking them to come,'" Selestewa quoted his father. "'I'm just wondering what has happened to my water.' 'What do you mean,' I asked him. 'The wash no longer comes when we need it the most.' I then remembered when I was young, when I saw ducks and reeds along the wash.

Later, I met Vernon Masayesva, who put the issue of water on the table. He told us that as Hopi people, we must not forget what we have."

Water, Selestewa admitted, is a historic problem for the tribe--a part of the historic land dispute with their neighbors, the Navajo. Water has now brought people of both tribes back together as they sought justice for the taking of water--especially for a use that goes against the religious beliefs of both tribes.

Later, he said, he had a life-changing dream that revealed his purpose.

"I realized I was doing it for the children, for future generations," he said. "After that, I no longer questioned the Creator."

Despite the mental picture of himself as a farmer, Selestewa was groomed into the position as community activist when he found himself chairman of the Water and Sanitation Commission.

"I thought I would be responsible for the community's water and that would be it, but soon I found myself handling other issues, like uranium tailings and underground gasoline tanks."

He recognized both his father, Elliott Selestewa, and his uncle, for their support and encouragement.

Selestewa also offered gratitude to the elders and spiritual leaders of the Hopi Tribe for their support.

"When we carried 5,000 signatures to the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of the Interior in Phoenix last year--when we reached our destination, our elders were there to meet us," Selestewa said. "They picked up the banners and marched. My mother, father and aunties were there too. I had to pull them off Central Avenue to keep them from being hit by cars," he laughed.

"Our elders and religious leaders might be silent--it's against their religion to speak about these things," Selestewa said. "But when some of them come up and quietly say, 'we are with you,'--coming from religious leaders that is a big thing--something that makes you realize that you don't want to fail them."

Selestewa spoke of need to teach native youth about important environmental and political issues facing tribes such as the Hopi and Navajo.

"We need our own hydrologists, geologists and lawyers," Selestewa said.

Activist filmmaker Susan Green recalled that the Peabody/Black Mesa Mine issue brought her--and most of the non-tribal people in the room--to the region two and three decades earlier.

"This is such a huge issued," Green said. "Because of all of you, we've stopped the water from being taken out of the aquifer. Thank you so much."

Andy Bessler, who heads the Environmental Justice Project of Flagstaff's Sierra Club office, expressed his gratitude for what he called the extreme honor of working with Selestewa.

"I'm bummed that they are leaving," Bessler said of the Black Mesa Trust staff. "But transition is a good thing. This issue has largely rested on the shoulders of Leonard Selestewa. I am sure that in the future, the name of Selestewa will be in history books.

"I was able to travel with him and learn the patience of a farmer," Bessler continued.

In response to Bessler's recounting of the first time he'd seen Selestewa break out of the patient Hopi farmer mold at a protest in downtown Flagstaff, Selestewa shared that as a Hopi it is difficult to do such a thing.

"For a Hopi it is hard to go to a level of activism. We are a quiet and respectful people. With this issue, I saw a change among us--against the use of our water against our religious beliefs. It was a good thing."

Selestewa also thanked Kim Khatibi, along with her husband Mehrdad--who held daughter Mina--for her assistance as an intern at the office. He also kidded both Khatibi and Hartley for the birth of their new children--Hartley's baby, Sam, was also in attendance--after having accompanied him to a bean dance celebration.

Joann Selestewa, Leonard's mother, also offered her appreciation to the gathering.

"I'm not good at speeches," she said. "I just want to thank everyone for helping my son. I thought I'd never see the day that N-aquifer pumping would stop."

Selestewa added her own observations to those of many Hopi and Navajo people that the water of the region has disappeared--a phenomenon many attribute to the use of N-aquifer water as a means for coal slurry.

"When my husband and I were children, the youth of the village would swim in the wash," Selestewa said. "The boys would dive so deep. My grandfather farmed nearby. He grew melons, and when we finished swimming we'd go by and get a melon to eat."

As the evening came to a close, Leonard Selestewa looked at friends gathered close by, friends who have worked together to see the end of N-aquifer water use for slurry.

"Believe it or not, you have done what many of you were born to do. I thank the Sierra Club and every one of you here with me tonight in helping stop the slurry" he said. "Whether this action is temporary or permanent, at least we have lessened the impact of mining--we've bought some time. We have told Peabody Coal Company that it doesn't matter who you are, using water this way is crazy."

Hartley added her thanks quietly.

"A lot of people really helped accomplish the work that the Black Mesa Trust has been able to do over the last year. No one individual gets the credit. Many people have made an impact.