2/28/2023 0 Comments Black mesa arizonaIn May 2006, the Office of Surface Mining released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Peabody’s plan to expand the Black Mesa coal mine. John McCain authored the relocation bill, called the 1974 Navajo-Hopi Settlement Act. In addition to the impact of coal on the natural environment of Black Mesa, twelve thousand Navajos have been removed from their lands due to the mining, the largest removal of Native Americans since the 1880s. Since the plant was the sole customer of the Black Mesa mine, and because Peabody did not have an alternative source of water, operation of the mine and slurry line ceased as well. The owners of Mohave chose to shut down the plant rather than upgrade it to acceptable pollution standards. According to the EPA, the coal plant was the dirtiest in the Western U.S., emitting up to 40,000 tons of sulfur dioxide per year. In 2005, the Mohave Generating Station shut down as a result of a Clean Air Act lawsuit and because Navajo and Hopi tribes both passed resolutions ending Peabody’s use of the Black Mesa aquifer. Royalties and taxes from the mines provided approximately 80 percent of the Hopi general operating budget and 60 percent of the Navajo general fund budget. The coal power generated from these two plants has powered Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and other areas on the southwestern power grid for three decades. The second mine on Black Mesa is the Kayenta Mine, which supplies the Navajo Generating Station. Peabody pumped over a billion gallons of water from the Black Mesa aquifer each year to make the coal slurry, resulting in a substantial loss of groundwater in Black Mesa. During its operation, the Black Mesa coal mine fed the Mohave Generating Station, a power plant in Laughlin, Nevada, via the 273 mile long pipeline. Peabody Western Coal Company began strip mining operations on Black Mesa in 1968, and until recently this was North America’s largest strip mining operation and site of the only operating long-distance coal slurrypipeline (owned by Southern Pacific). The Black Mesa region of Arizona, indigenous home of the Diné (Navajo) and Hopi peoples, is the location of the largest coal deposit in the United States, with approximately 21 billion tons of coal and a long-term value as high as $100 billion.
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