9/30/2009 3:18:00 PM Shirley supports Hopi Tribe's opposition to environmental groups
"I appreciate the fact that the Navajo Nation is supportive of the Hopi decision. Really, all the council is trying to do is ensure that Hopi has sufficient homeland for generations to come. We want to ensure the survival of Hopi, and the only way we're going to do that is developing our coal resources."
- Nada Talayumptewa, chair of the Hopi Tribal Council's energy team
George Hardeen Office of the President/Vice-President
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. - Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said Wednesday that he strongly supports the Hopi Tribe's resolution to declare local and national environmental groups unwelcome on Hopi land.
"I stand with the Hopi Nation," President Shirley said. "Unlike ever before, environmental activists and organizations are among the greatest threat to tribal sovereignty, tribal self determination, and our quest for independence."
"By their actions, environmentalists would have tribes remain dependent on the federal government, and that is not our choice. I want the leaders of all Native American nations to know this is our position, and I would ask for their support of our solidarity with the Hopi Nation in the protection of their sovereignty and self-determination, as well as ours."
On Monday, the Hopi Tribal Council unanimously approved a resolution that stated environmentalists have worked to deprive the tribe of markets for its coal resources and the revenue it brings to sustain governmental services, provide jobs for Hopis, and secure the survival of Hopi culture and tradition.
As a result, the Hopi Council stated that the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the National Parks Conservation Association, and the Grand Canyon Trust and organizations affiliated with them are no longer welcome on Hopi land.
President Shirley said he and the Navajo Nation strongly support the positive goals of many environmental organizations, noting the Navajo Nation passed the Natural Resources Protection Act in 2005 and that the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency was recognized last June by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 for its 30-year partnership in protecting the Navajo environment and its leadership in the development of tribal environmental programs.
He added that in July he signed legislation into law to create the Navajo Green Commission.
However, he said some Navajo environmentalists and the non-Navajo environmental groups that support them work to the detriment of the Navajo people and Navajo Nation.
"Environmentalists are good at identifying problems but poor at identifying feasible solutions," President Shirley said. "Most often they don't try to work with us but against us, giving aid ... to those opposed to the sovereign decision-making of tribes. They support tribes only when tribes are aligned with their agenda, such as our opposition to renewed uranium mining in the Grand Canyon and on Native land."
He added, "[Their] actions led to the demise of Navajo logging and the closure of our sawmill at Navajo, New Mexico but did nothing to replace the 600 jobs that were lost. [Their] actions led to the closure of the Mohave Generating Station and the shutdown of the Black Mesa Mine but did nothing to replace the 400 paychecks that were lost or the tribal revenue that was not replaced. Now, environmentalists are doing all they can to prevent the development of the Desert Rock Energy Project, which includes misleading the public by saying Navajos oppose it and failing to mention it is the cleanest coal plant the EPA has ever evaluated ..."
"With overwhelming support, the Navajo Nation Council granted the Desert Rock project ..." President Shirley said. "One thousand jobs would be created to build it, and 400 permanent plant and mining jobs would be created to operate it. It would be a huge benefit to the ... Navajo Nation. But our greatest opposition comes from environmentalists [who] don't know about Navajos, sovereignty or self-determination. They just want any use of coal stopped. However, coal is the Navajo Nation's most plentiful resource, and our prosperity depends on it."
"The independence of the Navajo Nation is dependent on our financial independence, and our financial independence rests largely with the development of Desert Rock," President Shirley said. "Almost on a daily basis, our people die as a result of poverty which manifests as social problems like alcoholism, drunk driving, drug abuse, child neglect, child abuse, domestic violence, divorce, teen pregnancy, gangs, and lethal violence."
"The solution is employment so our people can put a better roof over their heads, food on the table, shoes on little feet, improve the quality of their lives and so our families can know the pride that comes from providing for their families now, not sometime in the distant future," President Shirley concluded.
Posted: Monday, October 26, 2009
Article comment by:
save dzil yijiin & dookosliid
The Navajo and Hopi leaders need to get innovative in creating sustainable economic development for their people. The two tribes have depended entirely on coal for too long. Mr. Shirley has been ineffective. And, he doesn't speak for me, environmentalist are still welcome on my kayah (land).
Posted: Thursday, October 15, 2009
Article comment by:
No JS Fan
Isn't Joe Shirley a threat to Sovereignty too by kissing up to non-Native corporations? If coal was to make Navajos millionaires why aren't they rich now? Instead they're just making foreign companies rich like BHP who originates from Australia. Sithe has links to Germany. Why is he running around protesting San Francisco Peaks and Mount Taylor when he dislikes environmental groups? No wonder young people call him a hippocrate.
Posted: Thursday, October 08, 2009
Article comment by:
Maureen Deering
It is not mine to tell anyone how to walk holy and sacred... reading this I feel the pain inside the heart, hear the cries of the Mother as the young man dies, feel the shock inside the sister, feel the loss, feel the loss. feel inside the place where faith has been replaced by sorrow... and the remembrance of how we once walked in faith.. seems it needs a revival
I am now struck by this thought, that in this place where every night I fall to sleep laying between the mountains, one thing that rather shocked me was the realization that the people here were like 20 years behind me in their thought process.. I come in to open the path, wear my feathers to work, just so when they asked I can say, I wear them for the Ancestors who walked before me.
Where are the creation singers designated for this place as the sun rises upon a new age? and who will call them forth to sing the new song?
all my love, all my love..
What is a creation singer? They live inside the Earth, and in the spring they begin to sing, to call the plant life to awaken, bring forth the sacred birth..
I am from a place rich in flowers, and only know the creation song from a place that is filled with flowers, but i have stood close to a man whose love is grand for your holy ground and pray you find your creation singers.
all my love, all my love,
this is a prayer, from love and respect for a people in their sacred walk, for my Navajo brother and the people he holds close to his heart.
Posted: Monday, October 05, 2009
Article comment by:
Brenda Norrell
Please see the responses from Navajos and Navajo organizations to President Shirley's statements at Censored News:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Also: "Lazy journalists are the darlings of the corporations" www.counterpunch.org
Posted: Sunday, October 04, 2009
Article comment by:
Pro-jobs
I agree with the Hopi Leaders and Prez Shirley for denying the tree huggers. This organization loves shutting down jobs from the Navajos. Yet, in return, they do not provide anything for the people that they denied job opportunities.
Posted: Saturday, October 03, 2009
Article comment by:
FrancotheAmerican
Why not use Colorado River to slush coal,just stick a pipe into it and bring it out to the mines and power plants. Not precious drinking water for the next generation. And make it a dollar a ton(coal).
Posted: Thursday, October 01, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
These are same groups who have come to the Paiute lands and have taken jobs away from some of our people and they have no solutions to replacing these jobs.
