Bond Release Meeting, Kayenta Chapter House
On Thursday, October 24, 2024, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE aka OSM) was on hand for a public meeting at the community’s request. This meeting took place at the Kayenta Chapter House in Kayenta, Arizona regarding Peabody Coal Company’s bond release of 661 acres of an area refered to as N-9 (Phase 1). There were over 15 local community members from Black Mesa that provided comments about their concerns regarding the reclamation process and bond release while also highlighting the need for water reclamation. Many expressed their disdain for the continued bond releases at Kayenta Mine despite the many issues being raised by local community members. “There used to be a spring that existed on the west side of N-9,” said Adrian Herder, Tó Nizhóní Ání media/community organizer. “What are the plans to reclaim the spring that used to exist on the west side of N9? And for those that don’t know, springs are a Navajo cultural resource, meaning they are very central to our way of life as Diné people.” Current maps by Peabody don’t identify the spring Adrian was referring to. The information was crosschecked with a 1971 BIA topographic map.
In a report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), they mention Peabody’s use of hundreds of thousands of gallons of water daily from one of the only potable sources of water in the Black Mesa region. Peabody’s mines operated for almost five decades on Navajo and Hopi lands, depleting scarce water sources, yet OSMRE has not responded to the community about how it will address water impacts or aquifer depletion in its considerations of environmental damages caused by Peabody.
In the reclamation processes there are three lands designations, initial program lands, permanent program lands, and pre-law lands. N-9 is classified as permanent program lands (lands disturbed by mining after 07/05/90). With permanent program lands, there are three phases of reclamation, phase 1, phase 2 and phase 3. Phase 1 is the bulk of the reclamation work and involves backfilling and grading the land. OSMRE holds reclamation bonds for these lands and when the phases are met, the overall bond to these lands is reduced for Peabody making up the bond release process. The majority of comments made at the Kayenta Chapter were in opposition to Bond Release of N9.
Below you can find the following:
- Facebook Livestream
- N9 Phase 1 Bond Release Presentation
- N-9 Phase 1 Application (Very large file)
