Environmental Impacts and Policy Failures in Black Mesa
By Bailey Martin
Published April 22, 2024
Black Mesa is a region in Northern Arizona that has been occupied by Indigenous Peoples for over 7,000 years.[1] The communities of Black Mesa have suffered human rights abuses and ecological devastation.[2] Tribal activist groups continue to fight for their livelihoods and ask the U.S. Government to fulfill their trust responsibility. Additionally, the tribal communities fought for decades for protection of their sacred sites, and only recently have tribes been successful in court for asserting these protections. This blogpost will summarize the environmental impacts currently facing the Tribes[3] and will emphasize the policy failures of which prevent the Tribes from self-determination.
Environmental Impacts
The Black Mesa Coal Mine operated on Hopi and Navajo land for almost 50 years until its closure in 2005.[4] The owner of the mine, Peabody Energy, pumped close to 45 billion gallons of groundwater through the pipeline to a generating station in Nevada in order to transport coal.[5] This process has depleted the aquifer and severely altered the livelihoods of Navajo farmers. The Kayenta Mine, also owned by Peabody, was shut down in 2019 along with the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station. This closure was supposed to be followed by a mine reclamation process, though it was not.[6] Reclamation and cleanup of the mine would have offered new jobs, but the unemployment rate still remained at about 50% at the end of 2020—while the reclamation process was hardly started.
The Navajo Generating Station was the largest point-source of nitrogen dioxide air pollution in the United States, and it dispatched many toxic chemicals—imposing several health hazards in the surrounding communities.[7] Tó Nizhóní Ání, a Navajo activist group, revealed that 60% of “nearby families had at least one member with breathing problems.”[8] Even in 2024, the cases of black lung[9] are constantly arising among former coal miners.[10]
Decades of coal mining have depleted the Black Mesa’s aquifers, and connected seeps and springs.[11] Water quality and quantity are two major crises on the Navajo Reservation, which further the decline of health and economic well-being of the Tribes and the surrounding communities. An estimated 30% of residents living in the Navajo Nation and 18% of residents living on Hopi land do not have access to clean, running water.[12] The Department of Health and Human Services, which runs the Indian Health Service, has failed to take significant action to address the increased prevalence of cancer and respiratory problems in the Black Mesa region.[13] As described in the next section, the transition away from coal needs to be met with adequate funding to tribal communities. Rejecting comprehensive economic assistance after subjecting the communities to environmental racism for decades is inadequate policymaking.
At the end of 2023, a hydropower project was proposed to be located in Black Mesa. It is currently awaiting approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for preliminary permits, but the project has generated community attention due to possible overuse of water in an area already struggling with water quality, quantity, and accessibility issues.[14] Navajo Nation sent a letter to FERC opposing the application, and FERC rejected the company’s plan due to a lack of consultation with the Tribes and potential negative impacts on cultural sites.[15] Luckily, this project is not currently a threat to the Tribes because the federal agency properly implemented tribal consultation procedures.
Policy Failures
The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) has a duty to the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe to implement coal community transition (CCT). Nonetheless, the ACC approved a CCT package one-tenth the size proposed by Arizona Public Service (APS)—one of the three Arizona electric utility monopolies.[16] Nicole Horseherder, the executive director of the Navajo grassroots community group Tó Nizhóní Ání, says the ACC “have shown they firmly believe they have no obligation to communities that bore the cost of producing Arizona’s power.”[17]
The transition to renewable energy in Arizona has been a slow, but steady switch. Electric companies recognize that it is financially beneficial to close coal-powered plants and replace them with natural gas, solar and wind projects. The closure of coal-powered plants is excellent for preventing further environmental degradation, but the closing process needs to recognize the economic impacts on communities which have historically relied on productivity of coal plants.
The ACC itself has established the importance of its duty to provide funding for CCT through utility rates.[18] And yet, it still rejected a million-dollar plan to assist the communities of Northern Arizona, including Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe, and the Joseph City Unified School District.[19]
The Navajo Generating Station closed in 2019—closing more than two decades earlier than planned. Plant closures put economic strain on Navajo Nation due to cuts of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue and coal royalties, all while removing thousands of high-paying jobs.[20] Similarly, the Cholla Power Plant is scheduled to close in 2026 (more than a decade early), which is set to have similar economic impacts.
The ACC must “assist communities that have sacrificed so much in rebuilding our economies,”[21] and they cannot ignore this responsibility in the name of economic savings for utility companies. Tribal representatives have suggested ways to assist their communities, such as “reinvest[ing] in the infrastructure of Navajo Nation by putting renewable energy on already existing transmission lines and committing to buying renewable energy from the nation itself.”[22] The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) outlines a three-step plan for CCT: (1) Relief, (2) Reclamation, and (3) Reinvestment.[23] Unfortunately, the utility companies have not taken the tribe nor the RMI up on these suggestions.
The New Mexico legislature approved the Energy Transition Act in 2019, which “requires companies to divest from coal mines and plants, replace fossil fuels with renewables, and provide funding to workers and affected communities.”[24] Like New Mexico, Arizona needs to pass legislation related to CCT to establish standard setting measures for utility companies retiring mines and coal-powered plants.
Conclusion
We cannot protect the environment by imposing poverty and environmental degradation on the Indigenous folks who have managed lands and sustainably protected the environment for centuries. If you attended the “Conservation, Racism and Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Symposium”[25] put on by the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy program at the University of Arizona, you would have heard John Knox explain how conservation sends the message that preserving nature means protecting it from people. Essentially, his statement suggests that environmentalists, NGOs, and governments prioritize box-checking environmental goals over the livelihood of human beings. Arizona policymakers can reverse this sentiment by prioritizing the longevity and health of the Navajo and Hopi tribes following transitions away from coal-dependent economies. Action needs to be taken now to set a precedent for the inevitable closure of coal mines and plants in the future—especially before the closure of the Four Corners plant in 2031, which is likely to have an extreme economic impact on the Black Mesa region. For decades, the Arizona Corporation Commission has let the tribes of Black Mesa down with their lack of CCT; their decisions have been inadequate, and the Legislature needs to be held accountable for their inaction.
[1] E-Hillerman at the University of New Mexico, Black Mesa, Arizona, https://ehillerman.unm.edu/node/1099#sthash.CiC89ucg.dpbs (last visited Apr. 3, 2024).
[2] Judith Nies, The Black Mesa Syndrome: Indian Lands, Black Gold, Orion, https://www.orionmagazine.org/article/the-black-mesa-syndrome/.
[3] Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe.
[4] Tim Vanderpool, After the Local Coal Mine Shuts Down, These Navajo and Hopi Communities Seek a Just Transition, NRDC (Oct. 20, 2020), https://www.nrdc.org/stories/after-local-coal-mine-shuts-down-these-navajo-and-hopi-communities-seek-just-transition.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Julia Prochnik, Navajo Generation Coal-fired Power Plant Shuts Down Early, NRDC (Nov. 18, 2019), https://www.nrdc.org/bio/julia-prochnik/navajo-generation-coal-fired-power-plant-shuts-down-early.
[8] Andrew Nicla, Will power plant’s closure help clear the air, restore the view of Grand Canyon?, AZ Central (Oct. 16, 2019), https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2019/10/16/closure-navajo-generating-station-clear-air-over-grand-canyon/1710330001/.
[9] Black lung includes most debilitating respiratory diseases such as pneumoconiosis, pulmonary fibrosis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
[10] Joshua Vorse, Chris Clements & Zach Ben-Amots, Cases of black lung are surging on the Navajo Nation, but miners lack access to care, Rocky Mountain PBS (Feb. 22, 2024), https://www.rmpbs.org/blogs/news/black-lung-navajo-nation-miners/.
[11] Tó Nizhóní Ání, Federal Officials Reject Three Huge Arizona Pump Storage Projects Targeting Black Mesa (Feb. 15, 2024), https://tonizhoniani.org/federal-officials-reject-three-huge-arizona-pump-storage-projects-targeting-black-mesa/.
[12] Ray Levy Uyeda, Grassroots organizations push for a Just Transition for communities impacted by coal extraction in Arizona, Prism (May 23, 2023), https://prismreports.org/2023/05/23/arizona-coal-impacted-just-transition/.
[13] Id.
[14] Michael Sainato, ‘A scam all around’: Navajo Nation groups oppose hydropower projects, The Guardian (Dec. 10, 2023), https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/dec/10/navajo-nation-arizona-hydropower-projects.
[15] Id.
[16] Tó Nizhóní Ání, ACC Turns it’s Back on Rural and Tribal Communities in Arizona that are Reeling Economically from Early Coal Plant Closures (Feb. 23, 2024), https://tonizhoniani.org/acc-turns-its-back-on-rural-and-tribal-communities-in-arizona-that-are-reeling-economically-from-early-coal-plant-closures/.
[17] Id.
[18] See Arizona Corp. Comm’n, Decision No. 77763, October 2, 2020, available at https://docket.images.azcc.gov/0000202208.pdf?i=1711393621145 (ruling that APS had a “corporate obligations to support a just and equitable transition of communities impacted by early power plant closure” the utility was required to provide efficiency-related funding to the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe). See also Arizona Corp. Comm’n, Decision 79293, March 5, 2024, available at https://docket.images.azcc.gov/0000205236.pdf?i=1711393864229 (“[T]he Commission has determined and continues to believe that it has the legal authority, under Arizona Constitution, Article 15, §3, to require ratepayer funding of CCT assistance.”).
[19] Tó Nizhóní Ání, ACC Turns it’s Back, supra note 16.
[20] Id.
[21] Id.
[22] Ray Levy Uyeda, Grassroots organizations push for a Just Transition for communities impacted by coal extraction in Arizona, Prism (May 23, 2023), https://prismreports.org/2023/05/23/arizona-coal-impacted-just-transition/.
[23] Sam Mardell & Jeremy Richardson, Supporting Coal Workers and Communities in the Energy Transition, Rocky Mountain Institute (Sept. 15, 2022), https://rmi.org/supporting-coal-workers-and-communities-in-the-energy-transition/.
[24] Ray Levy Uyeda, supra note 22.
[25] You can watch the symposium at the following link: https://indigenous.arizona.edu/symposium. John Knox spoke during Day 1.