Immediate Release
March 2, 2026
Contact:
- Adrian Herder, Tó Nizhóní Ání, adrian@tonizhoniani.org
- Nicole Horseherder, Tó Nizhóní Ání, nicole@tonizhoniani.org
Tó Nizhóní Ání Statement on FERC Decision to Permanently Destroy a Sacred Mountain in the Pacific Northwest
BLACK MESA, NAVAJO NATION – The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a hydroelectric license to the Goldendale Pumped Storage project. This is the latest move by a Federal Agency to enable the destruction of an area held sacred by more than five (5) tribes along the Columbia River, near Goldendale, WA. The area impacted by the project is called Pushpum by the Yakima people and is on the Yakama Nation’s Ceded Land, an area historically used by the region’s tribes for hunting, traditional gathering, fishing, camping, and ceremonies.
“Today [January 23, 2026], federal agencies are rewarding bad actors who have spent years finding loopholes to target a new wave of industrial development on top of indigenous sites that have religious and legendary significance to the Yakama People…” said Yakama Tribal Council Chairman Gerald Lewis in a statement by the tribe.
Tó Nizhóní Ání is disappointed to learn that FERC issued a hydroelectric license for the Goldendale Pumped Storage project. The project is an affront to tribal sovereignty, sacred sites, and ceded lands of Indigenous nations.
Our organization Tó Nizhóní Ání (TNA) collaborated with Columbia Riverkeeper and members of the Yakama Nation, to raise awareness about problems relating to pumped storage hydropower and its threats to tribal sovereignty. In 2024, members of the Navajo Nation Resource and Development Committee (RDC) traveled to visit one of the region’s many hydropower facilities. In a letter TNA, urged members of the RDC to meet with representatives of the Yakama Nation to learn first hand, the concerns they had with impacts to their ancestral lands.
On Navajo Nation, Black Mesa (Dził Yíjiin) is at risk of a similar hydropower project that proposes to use groundwater to support such a project. This is a gross oversight by the company who doesn’t seem to understand that extensive coal mining at Black Mesa has resulted in the over pumping of the underground aquifers which was used to support the coal operations over five decades. Jobs and revenue were prioritized over precious groundwater. Today even mining has ceased; communities are still waiting for the aquifers to recover, which hydrologists say may take decades.
Crucially, the pump storage projects proposed for Black Mesa, would run for 100 years, and would exacerbate the groundwater issues of depletion and depressurization. After decades of groundwater impacts from coal mining, many Black Mesa community members oppose any continued industrial use of the groundwater. This resolve is reinforced by news of dwindling surface and groundwater that dominates regional headlines.
From Pushpum to Black Mesa, local communities understand impacts to the land and water better than anyone else. Major development cannot just be a two-way process between agencies that have a trust relationship with Indian tribes and companies that only answer to shareholders.
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Tó Nizhóní Ání, which translates as “Sacred Water Speaks,” is a Diné-led nonprofit organization established in 2001 from the Black Mesa region. Tó Nizhóní Ání is rooted in water protection and works to bring power back to our Diné communities impacted by coal while leading community transition away from fossil fuels. Tó bee iiná. Water is life.
