Letters | Enduring abysmal destruction

My Bilagáana ancestors came to this land in 1634. With them they brought a diseased culture infected with ravenous greed and a blatant arrogance of superiority.

The Diné have endured extreme suffering as a result. Diné spirituality, which sustained the people for eons, was demonized. Ceremonies were made illegal and sacred sites desecrated. Children were shipped off to boarding schools in an attempt to “kill the Indian and save the man” and after five centuries the water, air, and land have become poisoned with pollution.

When it was discovered that Diné land was abundantly rich in natural resources in the early 1900s our government and large mining corporations employed every unscrupulous activity imaginable to plunder these resources. Most of these tactics were blatantly criminal, but seldom if ever were the perpetrators punished by our judicial system.

Truth be told, our judicial system was sometimes the guilty party. The mining activities that ensued resulted in pervasive destruction of human, plant, and animal life.

Human greed has blinded us to the reality that we are in the forefront of enduring abysmal destruction due to our reckless behavior. When many of our most brilliant scientists tell us that we had better find another planet to live on in the next 100 years or face extinction we should heed their warning.

The traditional indigenous concept of “caretakers of the earth” rather than its exploiters is desperately needed if our species is to survive. For this reason, I was shocked to hear that some Diné leaders, despite opposition from their constituency, are advocating the hydrofracking of helium on the reservation. There are only three possible explanations for this:

No. 1 – Some leaders do not understand the process of hydrofracking along with the environmental and human destruction it causes. If this is the situation these uninformed leaders should either educate themselves about hydrofracking or resign.

No one has the right to claim leadership of the People and advocate something that they do not understand.

No. 2 – Some leaders have been conned by slick talking “snake salesmen” who convinced them that it is safe. Hydrofracking is not safe, and anyone who says it is a liar.
Remember the death and destruction that occurred because of uranium mining? Remember the lies that were told, the 536 abandoned mines that will never get cleaned up, and the inadequate compensation given to its victims? Did the snake salesmen tell Diné leadership that helium is a byproduct of uranium and that that the millions of gallons of wastewater that will result will be rich in radium?

No. 3 – Some leaders may have been infected by the same disease as my Bilagáana ancestors – greed. An abundance of books and documentaries have been produced about the dangers associated with hydrofracking, but I would like to conclude by focusing on just one, the most important one: water.

The water that we have on earth is the same water that was here upon creation. There will never be any new water. Despite the large amount of water on earth, only 1% is drinkable.

Water is truly life. It is indisputable that a fractured well produces 210 billion gallons of contaminated wastewater and has a detrimental effect on aquifers. Are we willing to contaminate billions of gallons of the substance that gives us life and jeopardize the lives of future generations so that we can walk easy street today?

Is a new pickup truck, some fancy clothes, and a fat paycheck worth our grandchildren’s lives, and will the Holy Beings continue to bless the children of Changing Woman if they consciously choose to desecrate their sacred Dinétah?

Leo Hand
Columbus, N.M.

Vote on this is critical

My name is Anthony Allison and I am the Democratic (New Mexico) state representative for San Juan District 4. I am bringing legislation in the 55th Legislature to allocate money to environmental agencies to do an independent study of the San Juan Generating Station and the adjacent San Juan Mine (SJM), which recently closed after 50 years of operation.

The San Juan plant owners have a 25-year “retirement-in-place” plan – they claim that they will clean up the site in 25 years. There are multiple studies that prove the folly of this plan, with hundreds of case studies from other plants and mines proving that retirement-in-place risks these coal ash pollutants seeping into our precious water. We can and must do better, which is why I am bringing legislation that will require our environmental agencies to act affirmatively: to conduct an independent comprehensive study (either themselves or with outside consultants who specialize in this analysis) to determine if there is a threat of coal ash contaminant leakage and how best to prevent it.

I was in the coal mining industry for over 37 years.

It is now my duty as a legislator to prevent widespread groundwater contamination that threatens the San Juan River, our drinking water supplies, agriculture, recreation and aquatic life.
I am bringing the legislation to require an independent comprehensive assessment and cleanup of the plant and mine site. New Mexican communities, especially Diné communities, know too well what happens when industrial polluters are allowed to walk away from projects at the time of closure.

Community involvement, input, transparency and consultation is critical to ensuring the safety of our families and communities.

What will the bill do:

1. Allocate funds to New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) and Energy,
Minerals, Natural Resource Department (EMNRD) to do an independent
comprehensive study of pollution at the San Juan Generating Station and San Juan Mine
site now that the plant has closed;

2. Require agencies to devise a plan for cleanup
with community engagement;

3. Require monitoring & enforcement of plan implementation (overseeing PNM and
other owners responsible);

4. Require report back to legislature and community members on progress.

In considering employment applications for hiring to effectuate clean up at the generating facility the plant owner shall prioritize the use of workers who previously were employed there and workers residing in New Mexico to the greatest extent practicable and shall take that use into consideration in evaluating applicants.

Please write, call or visit your legislators and ask for their vote on this critical matter. The analysis and cleanup plan will ensure that toxic metal contaminants don’t leach into the ground and leak into waterways or otherwise harm the public, animals or agriculture and cause negative public health consequences for the people of San Juan County. They must be protected from potential harm to their health, land and water.

Anthony Allison
Fruitland, N.M.

Navajo word for motorcycle

Hello. I hope life is good for you. Why I write? In 1967 our car breaks down in Cambers. Just two from Kansas and me from Iowa trying to hide from all the trouble and anger that was happening.
We had a 65 SS Chevy, bucket seats in front and small seat in rear. We were running from Midwest winter, and we thought winter clothes would not be needed.

In the broken Chevy we switch from bucket seat to rear every three days, warming during the day, I loved the land. We were pulling a trailer with my 1965 650 Triumph Bonneville painted rally orange.
One day a Navajo man stopped to ask me about the motorcycle. He had just come back from VN (Vietnam).

Little did I know I would be in VN within the year. He had a Navajo word for my motorcycle. It translated to “little horse.” He wanted to learn to drive it. I started it up, explained the controls, he got on front and I on the back, and off we went, out of control and through a wire fence. We were unhurt and he ask if we wanted to stay at his house.

We thought, “Oh Boy, warm place, bed and food.” We drove for over an hour and arrived at a small home. He told his mother he was sleeping in her bed and gave us a tarp to sleep under in the bed of his truck.

We were invited to a squaw dance the next night. We were told to keep the blankets up around our head as any white men would be killed. We took that seriously but had a good night watching all. Next day we were back in Chambers; tow truck towed it to Holbrook, we all got jobs in order to pay for new motor.

I got my draft notice several weeks later and I was in basic training by March at Ft. Polk. I would like to find this veteran. I have lived in Alaska since 1977. My name is Russell Miller, P.O. Box 512, Homer, Alaska 99601

Thank you. I appreciate the kindness shown to me – thank you.

Russell Miller
Homer, Alaska

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