Projection of a project

Project Outline

I. Introduction to Framework:

1) A Brief History of the Environmental Justice Movement

a) Environmentalism meets Civil Rights

b) 1970’s the birth of modern green politics

c) 1980’s theoretical framework for discourse on environmental equity

d) Inequity

II. Background relations between Hopi and Peabody Energy:

1) The impact of Peabody Coal and their Black Mesa Mine on the Hopi Indians in Northern Arizona between 1966 and 2005

a) 1966 initial contract: The misrepresentation of the Hopi

b) Operation of the Black Mesa Mine: A model of Unsustainability

c) The Environmental Impacts of the Black Mesa Mine

d) Public Backlash: The Entry of Activists into the dilemma

III. The Hopi’s Blackest Mesa: 2005- the present

1) The economic and environmental debris left by Peabody Energy.

a) The capitalist model of economic growth: Peabody Energy’s growing profit

b) The economic aftermath of mine-closing: Hopi Job loss in a largely unemployed region

c) The Environmental aftermath of mine-closing: Aquifer depletion in a largely arid region

d) First-person Accounts

IV. The Future Impacts of the Hopi on the Energy Sector:

1) Current attempts to continue coal mining and Hopi proponents for sustainability.

a) Recent attempts to reopen closed mines: Mohave power plant

b) Demands for energy

c) Hopi organizations promoting solar alternatives

V. Conclusions:

1) Inequities

Thesis Abstract

Modern Environmentalism has often been called a white middle-class issue. The early environmental legislation of the 1970's helped create a white middle-class opposition to toxic waste and industry that forced many factories to close down. The minority and working class citizens employed by these factories obviously saw the environmental movement as yet another attack on their livelihoods. The divide between environmentalist and marginalized peoples was reconciled with the environmental justice movement of the mid to late 1980's. Much has done to improve the inequities bore by both race and class, but inequality remains a constant.

The Hopi indians of Arizona are an example of a race that America has marginalized. Forty-one years ago the Hopi and neighboring Navajo tribes signed a deal with the world's biggest privately owned coal mining company, Peabody Energy, to begin mining their lands. The egregiously low price Peabody paid has helped make their venture on the Black Mesa extremely lucrative for the company. The large strip mining operation has conversely been a environmental, economic, and cultural disaster for the Hopi indians. Each year Peabody Energy pumps 1.3 billion gallons of pure freshwater from an Aquifer on the Black Mesa just to transport coal slurry to neighboring plants. This aquifer also doubles as the Hopi's main source of drinking water in this extremely arid region of Arizona.

Revenue from the Peabody company totals to 60% of the income to the Hopi tribe. The Hopi's aquifer is now running dry and the estimated life-of-mine operation is 2015. What will happen to the Hopi when Peabody leaves? By telling their story I hope to illustrate larger truths about the state of Environmental Justice within the United States.

Working Bibliography

Checker, Melissa. Polluted Promises:Environmental Racism and the Search for Justice in a Small Town. 1st. New York: New York University Press, 2005.

Hall, Kathy. "Impacts of the Energy Industry on the Navajo and Hopi."Unequal Protection: Environmental Justice and Communities of Color. 1st ed. 1994.

Shrader-Frechette, Kristin. Environmental Justice: Creating Equality, Reclaiming Democracy. 1^st ed. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Wilkinson, Charles. Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations. 1st ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2005.

Folger, Tim. "A Thirsty Nation: The Hopi have sold their coal and their water to the Peabody Company for decades. The money keeps flowing, but now their springs are running dry" Onearth: environment, politics, people. 26(2004): 30-37.

Meiklejohn, Douglas. “Representing New Mexico Communities: The Struggle for Environmental Justice.” Human Rights: Journal of the Section of Individual Rights & Responsibilities. 30.4 (2003): 23- 25. Academic Search Premier. 5 Febuary 2007. http://search.ebscohost.com

Waters, Frank. Book of the Hopi. 1st ed. Penguin , 1977.

Ringquist, Evan J.. "Assessing Evidence of Environmental Inequities: A Meta-Analysis." Journal of Policy and Management 24(2005): 223-247.

Blanchard, Paul J.. United States. USGS.Assessments of Aquifer Sensitivity of Navajo Nation Adjacent Lands and ground water vulnerability to pesticide contamination on the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Albuquerque, NM : U.S. Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey ; Denver, CO, 2002.

Klein, Allen D.. "Black Mesa and Kayenta Mines, Life-of-Mine Plans and Water Supply Project, Coconino, Navajo, and Mohave Counties, AZ, and Clark County, NV ." Federal Register Environmental Documents . 01 december 2004. EPA. 6 Feb 2007 IMPACT/2004/December/Day-01/i26439.htm>.

Layzer, Judith A.. The Environmental Case. 2nd. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2006.

Rosenbaum, Walter A.. Environmental Politics and Policy. 6th. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2005.

Glennon, Robert J. Water follies: Groundwater pumping and the fate of America’s Freshwaters. 1^st ed. Washington D.C.: Island Press, 2002.

Littin, G.R.. " Monitoring the effects of ground-water withdrawals from the N aquifer in the Black Mesa area, northeastern Arizona [electronic resource] / Gregory R. Littin ; prepared in cooperation with the Arizona Department of Water Resources and Bureau of Indian Affairs." 1999. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey. 8 Feb 2007 99.pdf>

Websites:

http://www.peabodyenergy.com/

http://www.blackmesatrust.org/

http://www.epa.gov

http://www.wrcc.osmre.gov/wr/blackmesaeis.htm - Office of Surface Mining Report

http://www.hopi.nsn.us/

http://www.navajo.org/

a westerly change of direction....

So, I have a new focus for my project. I was offered an independent study with the Hopi/Navajo Indian class this semester, and plan to take it. Hopefully this oppurtunity will allow me to analyze issues of environmental justice/racism as pertains to the Hopi and Navajo Indians. I plan to research the exploitation of native lands by the United States private energy sector...

Currently the "world's largest coal company" Peabody Coal ( http://www.peabodyenergy.com/default-netscape.asp ) is operating multiple coal mines on the land of the Hopi/Navajo Indians.

The class takes a trip to Arizona during Spring Break...during the trip I hope to conduct field research to further understand the situation and its impact...

and I'm pretty excited about that