Key Navajo Nation leadership absent in Kayenta Mine Permit Renewal meeting
OPINION | Adrian Herder, Tó Nizhóní Ání
For more than five years, Peabody Western Coal Co. has been conducting reclamation activities at the former Kayenta Coal Mine without a valid permit. The permit, which must be renewed every five years, expired in July 2020, and the last time the reclamation plan was revised was in the 1990s.
Peabody mined millions of tons of coal from Kayenta every year for more than four decades until it closed in 2019. In the process, mining destroyed seeps and springs that nourished Navajo for generations, scarred tens of thousands of acres of formerly productive land, upended families, damaged the aquifer that provides the main source of water for people and wildlife on Black Mesa, and wrecked or removed countless sacred artifacts and remains.
Given the huge importance of having land, water and items of invaluable cultural importance returned to the Navajo and Hopi, one would think that Navajo leadership would have taken a keen interest in a meeting hosted on Aug. 26 by the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), the federal agency that is supposed to oversee Peabody’s mining permit and reclamation.
Sadly, neither representatives of President Buu Nygren’s administration nor members of the Navajo Nation Council’s Resource and Development Committee (RDC) were in attendance. Or if they were, they asked no questions about a permit renewal that is five years late and remained quiet about reclamation that is inadequate and woefully behind schedule.
Dozens of residents of Black Mesa (Dził Yíjiin), especially those who live within the mine leasehold, however, know how critical the permit renewal is. They understand that this may be the final opportunity to hold Peabody accountable and ensure that lands are reclaimed with native vegetation, that surface water resources are replaced, and that the vital deep aquifer is restored. They gathered at the Kayenta Chapter House for the Aug. 26 “informal conference” to provide information about the Mine Permit Renewal and voice their concerns about reclamation.
OSMRE made a brief presentation about the renewal process, reminding attendees that renewal does not authorize mining or new coal leases. Agency officials also emphasized that the renewal does not entail a “Significant Revision.” What they failed to mention was that since the last permit renewal a decade ago, OSMRE has approved an untold number of revisions to the permit, all done without public notification or input. They have allowed Peabody to lower the standards for revegetation. And they have returned tens of millions of dollars to Peabody in reclamation bonds that are intended to ensure adequate mine cleanup.
All together, the many revisions to the permit conditions amount to a major overhaul of Peabody’s cleanup plan. Tó Nizhóní Ání has been pleading for more than five years for OSMRE to recognize as much and designate the closure of the mine as a significant revision to the permit. Doing so would allow for a comprehensive review of reclamation, including how Peabody will restore water resources and major deficiencies in the non-native vegetation the company is planting on reclaimed lands. It would allow for the outdated reclamation plan to be updated to reflect science and current industry standards. And it would give Navajo living on Black Mesa an opportunity to address concerns about the inadequacy of reclamation, especially around damaged shallow water resources and the N-Aquifer.
Those who have lived with the impacts of mining for the past half century bear witness to these harms. Rose Yazzie, who lives in the White Grass sector of the coal lease area, expressed frustration with the reclamation process, alluding to the lack of native plant diversity. Reclamation is supposed to support livestock and grazing, but she said her animals do not eat the non-native grasses Peabody uses for reseeding. She also highlighted the lack of native trees, recalling that region had plenty of trees and shade cover pre-mining.
Herb Yazzie, a former chief justice of the Navajo Supreme Court, said the only way to legitimately address the compounded revisions and continuing deficiencies with reclamation is to stop allowing Peabody to piecemeal revisions to the clean-up approach and designate a Significant Permit Revision so that everything can be considered comprehensively.
Percy Deal, who lives just outside the mine lease area, brought the conversation home when he tied the many concerns raised by residents to the lack of Navajo representation at such an important meeting. He addressed the few Navajo Nation representatives who were present, asking them to introduce themselves.
Mr. Deal expressed frustration that key Navajo leadership were absent from a meeting that may be the last chance to meaningfully impact mine cleanup and hold Peabody accountable for returning tens of thousands of acres of damaged land and water resources to the Nation. It is an issue of such critical importance that President Nygren and members of the RDC should all be actively engaging in the discussion, he said.
“We are your people! You are our people. Don’t forget us!” he said.
Navajo Nation leadership must step up NOW to represent the many Navajo impacted by mining and to ensure that Peabody returns land and water to the Nation “in as good condition as received,” as dictated by the company’s lease. Before it’s too late.
Adrian Herder is the media organizer with Tó Nizhóní Ání. Tó Nizhóní Ání is a Diné-led nonprofit organization working to bring power back to our Diné communities impacted by coal. Visit www.tonizhoniani.org to learn more.
