BIG COAL ACCUSED BY NATIVE AMERICANS

A Dirty New Low for Peabody Coal; Takeover in Hopiland
Brenda Norrell, October 5, 2009 (Counterpunch)

"Former chairmen of the Hopi Nation have revealed that the Hopi Tribal Council has been taken over by a pro-Peabody Coal faction. Further, Hopi reveal that the tribe's attorney and the media are being used to carry out Peabody Coal's agenda.

"Peabody Coal used the same tactic originally to seize Black Mesa for coal mining and bring about Navajo relocation for coal mining, by way of attorney John Boyden, who worked for Peabody and the Hopi Tribe. The media was also coopted in the original seizure of Black Mesa by Peabody Coal, with the media cheerleading and proclaiming the so-called Navajo Hopi land dispute."

Black Mesa on tribal lands in northeast Arizona. (click to enlarge)

"When the Hopi Tribal Council banned 'environmentalists,' and Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., agreed last week, Navajos and Hopis defending the land were shocked and appalled.

"Vernon Masayesva, executive director of Black Mesa Trust and former Hopi Chairman, points out that Hopi are true stewards and the Hopi Tribal Council has been taken over by a pro-Peabody Coal faction. Masayesva, in a letter to Arizona Republic, also points out that the newspaper is printing only one-side of the story at Hopi, press releases written by a former employee of the newspaper…"

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[Vernon Masayesva, executive director, Black Mesa Trust and former Chair, Hopi Tribal Council:] "The real story on Hopiland, that is yet to be revealed, is the take-over of the government by pro-Peabody legislators with the support of their legal counsel, Scott Canty, and the ensuing corruption and abuse of power by an illegally constituted Council…To be a Hopi is to be a conservationist, a caretaker and a steward of planet earth. So, by implication, the Council has banned all Hopi people from their land."

"Masayesva said the Grand Canyon Trust came to Hopiland to install photovoltaic panels on homes that have no electricity [but the corrupted Council is expected to suspend that project]…"