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Mining the Sacred Water of Black Mesa

By Enei M. Begaye

In the time it takes to read this line, over 300 gallons of pristine groundwater has just been pumped from the dry lands of northeastern Arizona. On Black Mesa, home to the Navajo and Hopi people, approximately 1,000 gallons of potential drinking water has, in the last 20 seconds, just been mixed with crushed coal. With every breath we take, Peabody Coal Company pumps 50 gallons of some of the most pristine groundwater in North America, simply to transport coal. Instantly and permanently this sole drinking water source is polluted and taken away from a land and peoples that need it most. For over 30 years, atop Black Mesa, Arizona, Peabody Coal Company has been exploiting the pristine drinking water source of the Navajo and Hopi people.

The Black Mesa region of northeastern Arizona is a land of sweeping beauty, deep colors, and thriving cultural roots. This area is the traditional land base and home to both the Navajo and Hopi peoples. The area is full of life, wild sagebrush and grass valleys spread between mesas covered in pinion and juniper trees. Among the range of wildlife are lizards, coyotes, deer, and eagles. Domestic sheep, horses, and cattle dot the landscape. However, the earth in this area supports only so much of her creations. The living beings of this land must learn to live within the resource boundaries our Mother Earth has outlined. Water is precious on this land. The high plateaus of the Black Mesa region are described as a semi-desert environment. On a good year, the area gets, at most, between 7-12 inches of rain. Rain water recharges underlying groundwater sources (called "aquifers"), the most significant being the Navajo-Aquifer. Groundwater feeds an array of natural springs. These springs are essential to the religious practices of both the Hopi and Navajo people. Navajo and Hopi communities depend on this groundwater for livestock, agriculture, cleaning, and drinking. On this magnificent land, rich with so many beautiful creatures, water really is life.

Since 1965, Peabody Western Coal Company has been operating two strip mines on Black Mesa-the Kayenta and Black Mesa mines. Together, these mines constitute one of the largest strip mining operations in the United States. The Black Mesa mine supplies coal to the Mohave Generating Station (MGS) outside of Laughlin, Nevada. Electricity from this plant powers southern California, Las Vegas, and central Arizona. As a part of the mining operations, Black Mesa drinking water is being used at a rate of 50 gallons every second to supply a transport process known as "slurry". In this slurry process, ground water is mixed with pulverized coal and sent through a pipeline 273 miles to the Mohave Generating Station. Today Peabody Coal pumps over 4,600 acre-feet (equivalent to 4,600 football fields, one foot deep) per year of pristine water from the Navajo Aquifer.

While Peabody Coal claims to be taking only a small amount of water from an underground "ocean" of water, recent scientific studies argue the contrary. The report "Drawdown: Groundwater Mining on Black Mesa," published by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in 2001, analyses United States Geological Survey data and Office of Surface Mining reports. Among other things, this report declares Navajo-Aquifer (N-Aquifer) well levels have decreased significantly, and some contamination of the N-Aquifer has also occurred. The NRDC report recommends immediate steps be taken to preserve the N-Aquifer.

Many people of the Black Mesa region and beyond are outraged by this unwise use of drinking water. In an area where water is already scarce, water should not be used to transport coal. Slurry coal transportation is an outdated form of transporting coal, particularly in the Southwest, as battles over scarce water resources have been underway for decades. Furthermore, there have been a number of reported breaks in the slurry pipeline over the past months that have resulted in hundreds of tons of coal slurry flooding and contaminating previously undisturbed lands and stream beds. One does not need science to see the obvious: all too precious water is being rapidly and permanently wasted.

Community members and grassroots organizations have for years been calling for a stop to Peabody's pumping of the Navajo Aquifer. Growing pressure has finally forced Peabody Coal, as well as the Navajo and Hopi tribal governments, to pursue an alternative transport plan. Yet the current-favored industry "solution" is in reality simply a transfer of the problem. The Navajo and Hopi tribal governments, Peabody Coal, and Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, are currently proposing to use Colorado River water, rather than groundwater, to maintain the slurry coal transport. While there are widespread assumptions that a plan to build a pipeline from the Colorado River to Black Mesa would benefit the communities of the region, Senator Kyl's recent senate bill, S.B. 2743, gave no such benefits. The bill stated that the Colorado River water would "be used only for mining related purposes at the Black Mesa and Kayenta coal mines in Navajo county, AZ and for slurrying coal from the Black Mesa and Kayenta Coal Mines." As the cities of the southwest fight over their piece of the Colorado River, many ask how Arizona Senator Kyl can continue to sponsor congressional legislation in support of this plan.

Among the grassroots organizations opposing the wasteful use of water is the Black Mesa Water Coalition (BMWC). BMWC has been dedicated to the protection and preservation of the Black Mesa region's land, water, and peoples. The BMWC is composed of primarily Navajo and Hopi young community members. The BMWC strongly opposes Senator Kyl's continued support for the use of Colorado River water to continue Peabody's coal slurry line. Any water that is brought on to the dry lands of the Navajo and Hopi should go to the people, not to the slurry line. "All water is sacred; like the N-Aquifer, the Colorado River will be wasted so industrial non-renewable operations can continue," comments BMWC member Wahleah Johns. "Our own state and tribal officials would have us believe this plan for continuing the slurry line is good for our people; in reality we would be further compromising our peoples future," states BMWC member Hunter Redday. The BMWC works in collaboration with a number of grassroots organizations. Among them is the Black Mesa Trust, a Hopi lead organization. The Black Mesa Trust has worked diligently for many years to bring this injustice on Black Mesa to a national audience.

On Black Mesa the battle to protect water is inseparably connected to the unsustainable development of the area. These environmental degradations and the imposed dependence on a fossil fuel industry have drastically changed the lifestyle of the Navajo and Hopi people. The injustices of Black Mesa reflect the growing energy needs of a United States dependant on a dirty and dying fossil fuel industry. Among the grassroots organizations taking a stance against the injustices of the Black Mesa area are the Dine Bidziil Coalition, Tó Nizhóní, the Indigenous Youth of Pinion, the Sierra Club, the Indigenous Environmental Network, the Black Mesa Trust, and the Black Mesa Water Coalition. It is the grassroots people who must now demand the protection of the future.

Off the mesas and through the valleys of the Black Mesa region, a unified voice for "Transition" continues to resonate. A transition to more sustainable energy practices and sources! A transition to more sustainable employment sources, to a more sustainable economy! As BMWC member Jeff Greyeyes states, "Our tribal nations must stop being dependent on a dying fossil fuel industry, we must begin moving towards a more sustainable future." It is this transition toward building more sustainable communities that is of the utmost importance for the future of all Mother Earth's living creatures. We, Indigenous Peoples throughout the country, do not have the luxury to allow our lands to be the battery to the insatiable lifestyle of the United States, and we can no longer allow our people to be that exploited labor force of these industries. However, it is all people, every resource consumer in the world, who must begin to examine the effects and consequences of our water and energy habits. It is the responsibility of us all to begin transitioning to a future more sustainable; a lifestyle that is, at the very least, more conscious of our Mother Earth's scarce and precious resources.

The Black Mesa Water Coalition is dedicated to stopping the wasteful use of pristine ground-water by Peabody Coal Company for mining operations on Navajo and Hopi lands in northern Arizona, and to building sustainable communities through the promotion of renewable energy, water and energy conservation, and cultural preservation.

Black Mesa Water Coalition
Email: bmwc31@hotmail.com

Black Mesa Trust
PO Box 30456
Flagstaff, AZ 86003-0456
(928) 734-9255
(928) 734-2191 (fax)
Email: kuuyi@aol.com

Sierra Club's Environmental Justice Program
Contact: Andy Bessler
PO Box 38
Flagstaff, AZ 86002-0038
(928) 774-6103
www.sierraclub.org/environmental_justice/project_az.asp