Attempt to increase chapter role in mineral negotiations fails.

Kathy Helms (Dine Bureau/Gallup Independent)

WINDOW ROCK – Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amos Johnson's attempt to pass legislation which would have given local chapters and residents a bigger voice in the Nation's mineral leasing was defeated, 19-45, Thursday during the close of Council's spring session.

Johnson, who represents the communities of Black Mesa, Forest Lake and Rough Rock, proposed amendments to Title 18 which would have strengthened the involvement of impacted chapters in the approval of mineral leases, prospecting permits and similar contractual agreements between the Navajo Nation and other entities.

“The amendments to Title 18 would give the local chapters and people an opportunity to voice their concerns on all mineral leases – gas, oil, coal, and so forth, and be part of the negotiation which is centered up here in Window Rock today,” Johnson said.

“The negotiating team is limited to five people and the legislation is to change who is going to be on that team and how leases and permits are going to be processed. This is an opportunity for the local people to have an input on those kinds of initiatives or proposals that move forward.”

Delegate Lorenzo Bates expressed concern that the legislation would create more bureaucracy in the negotiation process.

“Navajo bureaucracy is slow. If you add this layer and another layer it slows it down even more,” he said. “If this legislation existed at the chapter level the process to negotiate would be hard because it would remain at that level.”

Johnson's legislation would have opened the door to public involvement in issues such as the 10-year lease reopener agreement with Peabody Western Coal Co., which has failed to gain approval from Council despite several attempts, and has been hotly contested by some Black Mesa residents and Peabody workers.

“My feeling is the Nation should not engage in public negotiation of these coal leases because they are very, very complicated,” Attorney General Louis Denetsosie said earlier this month during a work session on the Peabody reopener.

Activists such as Norman Benally, who grew up on Black Mesa and whose parents' home is in the Black Mesa lease area, opposed the lease reopener.

“I believe it is time to purge Peabody from Black Mesa permanently. The Navajo Nation and the people of Black Mesa should take ownership of Peabody's operations,” he said.

“The proposed 12 percent royalty renewal does not appear to show any results of any rational negotiating skills. I can never understand the logic the Navajo Nation uses to make the same mistake over and over, and call it leadership. ... The Navajo Nation is its own worst enemy,” he said.

Benally and other residents say that since the Black Mesa Mine closed following the closure of Mohave Generating Station in December 2005, the air quality has improved somewhat but is still polluted because of the coal fires at the Kayenta open-pit strip mines.

“The mess that Peabody leaves behind will be exponentially more expensive to clean up compared to the current royalty rate the Navajo Nation receives,” Benally said.

Johnson recently told the Resources Committee that Black Mesa and Forest Lake chapters have asked to be part of negotiations of mineral leases.

“The only time the local people met with mining officials was before mining occurred,” he said. “They were promised infrastructure and other benefits, but those officials never came back.”

Though Johnson's legislation was defeated Thursday, he said, “This is a wake-up call for everyone who serves on the Council to see what is going on within their areas and to start working with people.”