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Navajo Nation will develop wind-power project

Posted at 12:22 PM on 28 Mar 2008

Today we present the good, the bad, and the ugly of energy sources on Navajo land. The good: The Navajo Nation has formed a joint venture with Boston-based Citizens Energy Corp for a wind-power project on its vast Western reservation. The bad: The tribe continues to try to push through a controversial coal plant as well, and recently sued the U.S. EPA for not yet issuing an air permit. The ugly: Energy companies have renewed interest in large deposits of uranium on Navajo land; the tribe banned uranium mining in 2005 after decades of compromised health and safety.

sources: Reuters, The Arizona Republic, The Washington Post

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Comments: (3 comments)

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Native people's war

Whether you use the term 'native people' or not, the Indian Wars continue. $22 worth of beads bought Manhattan Island. Coal companies now have to shell out jobs (of which Navajos won't get any good jobs) & $50 million to get 'native peoples' to sign over their rights to clean health since they will have to live (& die) within the sight of the coal plant. But since the American gov't destroyed native people & their cultures & assigned the few remaining to 'unconcentration camps' with little sustenance, the natives may not think they are signing away as much health as 'normal America' would be giving up. Yes, the Navajo coal projects are a true measure of America's uncaring & 'out of sight' disregard for their native peoples who now languish in the Third & Fourth worlds, despite being inside the borders of America.

Your future is not determined by your past

by litesong at 1:27 PM on 28 Mar 2008

Not Monolithic

There is a big difference between what the tribal councils do and what traditional people want. Traditional people would never agree to a coal plant or any other kind of plant, including wind generators on natural land. Tribal councils are made up of the most corrupt, selfish, and greedy members of the tribes, so they often sell out their tribes' values for money.

When I was taken to the nearby Hopi reservation by a friend who's half Dine (Navajo) and half Hopi, his traditional relatives told me that the traditionals refuse to participate in electing the tribal council because that form of governance is contrary to their traditional ways of making decisions.

by Wolverine at 12:23 AM on 29 Mar 2008

Seems To Me ....

Being associated with wind and solar might be to their long-term advantage and closer to their values than coal .....

Sounds like they have the same problem as the rest of the country does with the US govt.

People should refuse to vote in elections. A 30% or less turnout is a defacto expression of "no confidence" and the govt so elected has no mandate to do anything.

The american people are too stupid to do this and perhaps the natives on their reservation also lack the ability to see this approach.

Then there is the "vote to the lesser of the evils" approach but there comes a time when the "lesser" is just too evil to vote for ....

The only alternative is then for the unrepresented majority to overthrow and destroy the govt that ignores them and sacrifices them for its own interests.

"We Have Found the Enemy and It Is Us" ... Pogo

by rrecroc at 5:58 PM on 31 Mar 2008

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