FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                           Contact: Ann Frazier-Dine CARE
June 28, 2006                                                                                                             Cell: (928) 380-7697
Calvin Johnson-C Aquifer for Dine
Cell: (928) 814-1475

CYNICISM LINGERS AFTER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON’S DECISION TO CLOSE MOHAVE GENERATING STATION
President of C-Aquifer for Dine pleased with announcement

LEUPP, AZ – Skepticism is still abound among the C-Aquifer for Dine’ organization members after the news release earlier this week of Southern California Edison’s (SCE) decision to discontinue plans to reopen Mohave Generating Station power plant in Laughlin, NV.

For the past two years local people of southwest chapters of Navajo land united against their tribal leaders, Peabody Corporation and SCE’s plan to use Coconino aquifer to slurry coal from the defunct Peabody Coal Mine on Black Mesa to Mohave Generating Station.

Twenty six year old Calvin Johnson, President of the local organization, led the fight in protest marches to Window Rock, AZ in 2005 and 2006 to sway the Navajo Nation Council members from supporting the issue.  The organization core group mostly elderly women are grazing permit holders and would be directly impacted by the water drilling.  Many week ends of laboring over selling mutton stew and fry bread at the local Flea Market helped raise funds for the cost of the vigorous campaign to halt the plans.

Chapter resolutions in opposition to the corporate take over of the C-Aquifer were ignored by the Navajo Nation leaders.  The unconscionable handling of promises, human rights to free speech and ignoring the NNC Local Governance Act by the Navajo leaders added wood to the fire of doubtfulness in the minds of the opposition.

“Our people have been through a lot these past two years full of emotions, heartache, sleepless nights because of the onslaught of life changing schemes by our leaders.  The clencher came when the news broke in March, 2006 about the secret negotiations to restart up the Mohave Generating Station.  I think the organizing and outcry of the opposition on the ground had an impact on the decision made by SCE to withdraw from restarting Mohave Generating Station.  We are relieved, but will continue to watch-dog what comes out of the latest news.  Another company will most likely come up and buy out SCE’s majority interest in the power plant.” said Anna Frazier, Dine’ CARE.

“SCE withdrawing their plans is good news, but they may be pulling another stunt like they did when they negotiated the deal in secret,” Said Johnson.  “When your leaders pull the wool over your eyes on something as important as loosing your drinking water, the trust is not there anymore.  We will
continue to fight to keep our water here, to develop it for our use, for our people, for our future generation.”

“The southwest area of the Navajo Nation is in bad need of water.  Over half of the population there does not have running water and we want to work on bringing water into the homes of those people,” said Johnson.

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DATE: January 31, 2006
LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION, MICHAEL PEEVEY
Michael R. Peevey, President
California Public Utilities Commission
San Francisco Office (Headquarters)
505 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco,  CA  94102

RE:  Just Transition Petition Support

Dear President Peevey:

This letter is to inform you of Dine’ Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment’s (Dine’ CARE) support for the Just Transition Petition that your commission was recently presented with from the Just Transition Committee of the Navajo Nation grass-root communities.

Dine’ CARE is a grass-root all Navajo environmental justice organization in existence now for 15 years and advocates for viable renewable energy within the Navajo Nation.  For too long our homeland has been mined, drilled, polluted to the hilt with non-renewable energy that devastated our land base, our health, our way of life and will have an impact on the future of our generation.  We hope for a better future with the closure of the Mohave Generating Station and the Black Mesa Coal mine to bring about a collaborative effort by all stake holders to explore clean alternative energy for our homeland.  The State of California has benefited for over 40 years of energy from our homeland and it’s time for California to reciprocate by supporting the Just Transition Petition and clean air in all of the western United States.

The Just Transition is a well thought out plan that will help those folks who have lost their jobs by the closure of Mohave Generating Station who knowingly were in the wrong by not cleaning up their air pollution until it was too late causing the closure of Black Mesa Coal Mine.  California Edison will benefit from sale of Mohave’s pollution credit, and to do the right thing would be to divert those funds to help the Peabody Coal employees who lost their jobs to get back on their feet.

Our Navajo Nation, the size of the state of west Virginia with a population of 280,000 people is a yery young government (60 years) with meager operating funds and 30% unemployment rate.  Good paved roads are scarce, about 1/3 of the population who live in remote areas of the Navajo reservation have no electricity and no running water – poverty rate is high compared to high standard cost of living in California and cities across the U.S.  With the help of California Public Utilities Commission support of the Just Transition, we want to prevent the Peabody Coal ex-employees from streamlining back into poverty by re-training them for a different career.  Funds derived from the pollution credit would also go toward scholarship for our young people.

Thank you for your positive consideration in this matter to support the effort of Just Transition.  Any questions you have can be answered by calling Anna M. Frazier at 928-309-8718 or Lori Goodman at 970-259-0199.

Sincerely,

Adella Begaye, President                       Earl Tulley, Vice President          Anna M. Frazier, Coordinator

DATE:  April 17, 2006
OPEN LETTER TO THE NAVAJO NATION COUNCIL, NAVAJO NATION PRESIDENT JOE SHIRLEY, JR. AND OTHER LEADERS OF THE NAVAJO NATION

SUBJECT: Members of the southwest area of the Navajo Nation Chapters “C Aquifer for Dine” organization are petitioning the Navajo Nation Council to stand with them against the use of C-Aquifer for coal slurry from Black Mesa and to oppose the recent “Settlement Plan” to re-start the Mohave Generating Station and resume the Peabody Coal mining operation.

REASONS FOR OPPOSITION:
Water is a precious resource that should not be used to slurry coal.  C-Aquifer should be used for local domestic development for the southwest Navajo Nation chapters, where over ½ of the population do not have running water.

People with no running water have to haul water for human and animal consumption spending $22.00 plus wear and tear on vehicles and gasoline cost for 1,000 gallons of water, while energy companies pay $.77 for 1,000 gallon to run their operation on the Navajo Nation.

Settlement Plan says not to tax the Peabody Coal and Mohave Generating Station for their operation.

The local people’s voice will have no bearing over complaints of damage to their land, their property or violation of environmental concerns and will be open to prosecution at the fault of the companies.

The local Navajo chapters or the Navajo Nation have no right to drill for share of C-Aquifer, while Mohave Generating Station will be vested all the rights over the use of C-Aquifer.  The terms will be for 50 years, the life of the contract.

Peabody Coal will be forgiven; the lawsuit Navajo Nation & Hopi filed againstPeabody for breach of contract will be cancelled.  Peabody Coal cheated the two Tribes out of millions of dollars.  They were suppose to pay 20% of the revenues to the Navajo Tribe, but paid only 12% per year.

Peabody Coal depleted N-Aquifer to where it damaged the surface (Study by NRDC) and above that cheated the Navajo Nation out of $600 million dollars of the royalties.

Why do we want to give over another water table (C-Aquifer) to a company that already pretty near emptied our N-Aquifer and swore to the end the water level is still high and on top of that cheated us out of millions of dollars.

Navajo Nation is in a severe drought today and the future looks bleak for us, there’s no way to predict any rain in the near future.  Let’s not give our Navajo water away for deals that will damage our land, our people, our integrity and stand up for what is rightfully ours and develop the domestic water for the southwest Navajo area.