In late August, the Sierra Club was among more than a dozen organizations (a full list appears at the bottom of this post) participating in a "coal royalty listening session" hosted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Farmington, New Mexico. The listening sessions, also held over the previous three weeks in Washington, D.C., Billings, Montana, Gillette, Wyoming, and Denver, were convened to solicit public input on the BLM's coal-leasing program, which currently leases coal rights on public lands at rates so artificially low that U.S. taxpayers are being denied a fair return on revenue.
"It was a tremendous day in Farmington," said New Mexico-based Sierra Club organizer Nellis Kennedy-Howard. "More than 60 people spoke out in favor of reforming the BLM's coal-leasing program, while only three people spoke against reform. This is significant given that Farmington is home to two major coal plants, two coal mines, and over a thousand coal workers."
Below, the San Juan coal mine and San Juan Generating Station, located 15 miles west of Farmington.
Kennedy-Howard noted that of the more than 100 citizens who showed up at the hearing in support of reform, over half were Native American, Hispanic, or Latino. "The overwhelming consensus was in favor of reforming the coal-leasing program so that coal companies pay their fair share. And the vast majority of citizens who spoke out favor transitioning to clean energy and keeping coal in the ground."
Activists from Navajo communities spoke out about the need for a fair share of profits from coal mining on their tribal lands. Navajo activist Sarah Jane White, below, said at the hearing, “By using loopholes to take more than their fair share of profits, coal companies have robbed the Navajo Nation of money that could be invested in our schools, road and other local priorities. Many people still have no inside plumbing, many don’t have houses, many people don’t have power. The power we produce goes to Tucson, it goes somewhere else.”
Many at the session were concerned about the fact that coal companies are not required under the current program to set aside funds to clean up public lands after they are done mining them. This leaves taxpayers and tribes on the hook for potentially huge cleanup costs. The recent Animas River spill, which dumped toxic heavy metals into the river, turning it a mustard color, reached all the way south to the junction of the Animas and the San Juan at Farmington, so post-mining cleanup was on the minds of many at the session.
Photo by Riverhugger, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
"As indigenous people, we remain true to the original intent set out by our creator in that as stewards of the Earth, we are to maintain a balance between all there is," said Navajo activist Duane "Chili" Yazzie, below president of the Shiprock Chapter of the Navajo Nation. "Today the equilibrium of the Earth is out of balance because of unrelenting digging and drilling. We are killing the Earth. The life of the Earth is ebbing. If this hearing is not a sham, if you truly have influence on this process, hear us as we stand here in defense of our Mother Earth that sustains us all."
After the session, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell published a column in the Farmington Daily Times promising action on reforming the federal coal lease program, so we know that the powerful voices of these activists were heard loud and clear.
Other organiztions participating in the Farmington listening session include:
- Dine' CARE
- San Juan Citizens Alliance
- Western Environmental Law Center
- Wild Earth Guardians
- Juntos, a program of Conservation Voters New Mexico Education Fund
- Environment New Mexico
- New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light
- National Wildlife Federation
- Western Organization of Resource Councils
- Western Coalfield Alliance
- 350.org
- New Energy Economy
- Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment
- Dooda' Desert Rock
- 4 Corners Idle NO More
- Medicine2Strong