New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute -3rd annual conference- Environmental Conditions of the Animas and San Juan Watersheds

From the posting

The New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute is pleased to host the 3^rd annual conference on Environmental Conditions of the Animas and San Juan Watersheds. The Conference Planning Committee is eager to build on the success of the last two conferences in bringing together researchers and the general public to meet, learn from, and share the results of ongoing research associated with the August 2015 Gold King Mine spill, as well as other mine waste issues.

Much has transpired over the past two years, and this conference will provide an update of the increased understanding of the spill as well as the transition to long-term monitoring. This year the scope of the conference has broadened to include all related water quality topics.

The conference will take place on June 20-21, 2018 at San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico. The technical program will include oral and poster presentations. A June 19 pre-conference field trip will give participants a geologic tour of the Silverton area and a guided mine tour. The post-conference field trip on June 22 will include a Teach-In at the Navajo Shiprock Chapter House.

The conference continues to support the activities outlined in the Gold King Mine Water Spill Long Term Monitoring Plan, prepared by the New Mexico's Long Term Impact Team (April 4, 2016).

3rd annual Conference link

Stories of the Animas River: Reactions, Reflections, and Healing in the Wake of the Gold King Mine Spill

The American Indians Studies conference will take place in Albuquerque, NM at University of New Mexico.

'on behalf of water' art exhibition

 

'on behalf of water'

art exhibition

 

at the Center of Southwest Studies

Fort Lewis College

Durango, CO

September 2016

 

'on behalf of water' art exhibition at the Center of Southwest Studies, Durango, CO
Photo courtesy of Venaya Yazzie 2016
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

In September of 2016 the Navajo art exhibition 'on behalf of water' was displayed at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO.

All the works included in this exhibition are Dine' (Navajo ) artists who created art 'on behalf' of the Animas River/ San Juan rivers and too, in direct reaction to the infamous Gold King Mine spill disaster.

Artists included in this exhibit are:
Chamisa Edd-Belin, Randy 'SABA' Sabaque, Shaun Beyale, Ruthie Edd, Julius 'Jules' Badoni, Fidel Frank, Duane 'Chili' Yazzie and curator of the exhibition, Venaya Yazzie.

This show was curated by Venaya Yazzie and was meant to be a traveling exhibition to not only show visually the affects of the Gold King Mine spill disaster by the Navajo people. Many of the participating artists were directly affected by the pollution to the river, while others had family members who are farmers on the reservation.





"Graffiti" by Dine'/Walatow artist Randy 'SABA' Sabaque

 

 

"To Ei Iina Ate;" by Dine' artist Julius 'Jules' Badoni

Photographs by Dine'/Hopi artist Venaya Yazzie





 

For more information about this traveling exhibition please contact Venaya Yazzie at

 manyhogansgrl@hotmail.com

Upcoming event: Environment

Concerning the injustice of our environment and on behalf of the desert Indigenous people and desert water I along with others will present our stories and experiences in Santa Fe, NM in March.

Our Roundtable discussion is on Tuesday, March 28, 2017 - I have posted images of the website of the organization and a capture of the Preliminary Program listed below.

The title of the Roundtable is:

Just Environmental and Climate Pathways: Knowledge Exchange among Community Organizers, Scholar-Activists, Citizen-Scientists and Artists

I will talk on the community experience pre and post Gold King Mine spill, and those involved including the Navajo artists of the community.

Blessings.

'Shameful' acts EPA

The EPA's announcement that they will not pay the 1.2 billion in claims for losses by those individuals and Navajo farmers is indeed shameful and so very disrespectful.

I have included an article introduction and link to a Farmington Daily Times article posted on January 13, 2017.

Also, here is a brief excerpt from the article which included remarks from the Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye:

Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye said the tribe will continue pursuing its lawsuit against the EPA and several other entities. He said the tribe plans to work with president-elect Donald J. Trump's administration to address claims tied to the spill.

"It doesn't stop here," Begaye said shortly after attending an inauguration ceremony in Shiprock for recently elected Northern Agency chapter officials. "This is one step, and we will continue taking the next step and if we have to, we'll take it all the way to the Supreme Court."

                                                                        (Farmington Daily Times, January 15, 2017)

______________________________________________________________________________

EPA says it won't pay $1.2B in mine spill claims

Magdalena Wegrzyn , Leigh Black Irvin , Joshua Kellogg and Noel Lyn Smith , Farmington Daily TimesPublished 2:15 p.m. MT Jan. 13, 2017 | Updated 7:39 p.m. MT Jan. 13, 2017

Federal, tribal, state and local officials joined together to decry the announcement, saying the EPA is shirking its responsibilities to New Mexicans and members of the Navajo Nation

Shameful acts EPA

EPA wont' pay for their pollution

Greetings Relatives,

I apologize for not posting for a long while.

As I post today I am in complete sadness. I think of all the farmers both non-Native and Native farmers who will not be reimbursed for their losses due the the Environmental Protection Agency's pollution to Our rivers: Animas River and the San Juan River.

I am still trying to ingest this news and find the peace, but is there any?

I have included a Durango Herald newpaper article on the lastest news on the EPA.

Blessings All.

EPA rejects $1.2B in claims from Gold King Mine spill

Citing legal protection, agency won’t reimburse businesses, people

Link:

EPA won't pay for the pollution they caused

Relatives,


I would like to share this blog posting from the site, The Hill which was posted on April 20, 2016.

As I have read all the statement by my Navajo Nation President I still see how all parts or his words are still true and so very relevant to the current state of the Navajo farmers.

Please read his words yourself.

-Blessings-


The link is here: Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye Remarks to the EPA and the Gold King Mine spill

Adverse effects of Gold King Mine spill still impacting Navajo nation

BY NAVAJO NATION PRESIDENT RUSSELL BEGAYE - 04/20/16 09:31 AM EDT 2

Seven months ago the United States Environmental Protection Agency triggered a massive release of toxic contaminants from the Gold King Mine into the San Juan River, poisoning hundreds of miles of river that flows through the Navajo Nation. The Obama Administration has done little to address the harms caused to the Navajo people.

The importance of the San Juan River to the Navajo cannot be understated.  It is a source of economic prosperity for our people but it is also one of the four sacred rivers for the Navajo.

The images of our river turning yellow are burned into our collective memory.  For weeks we could not access the river, drink from it, use it for our cattle, or rely on it to feed our crops.  An unprecedented 880,000 pounds of metals were released into the waterways.  And toxic metals still flow into the Navajo Nation from the mines in the Upper Animas.  Seven months after this devastating tragedy, our river remains toxic, and the Navajo people’s pleas continue to be ignored.

The EPA has not paid the Navajo Nation or individual Navajo people a single dollar to address the harms caused by the poisoning of the San Juan River.  When the Navajo Nation submitted its expenses to the EPA, pleading for recovery, the agency responded with criticism, skepticism, and an insulting offer to pay a miniscule percentage of the costs.

Costs from the spill are mounting.  Contamination of the San Juan River takes a profound economic, cultural, and spiritual toll on our people whose daily lives are intricately bound up with the River.  The Navajo people already face a daunting unemployment rate of 42%.  Farming and ranching are critical means of survival and supporting a family.  Yet our subsistence farmers and ranchers watched their crops die and relocated their livestock away from the River at great expense.  These families lost crucial income and are still suffering.  The loss of a growing season’s worth of corn pollen has interrupted ceremonial practices that bind Navajo families together and keep our traditional way of life intact.

The effects of this disaster will ripple through our communities for years.  We have already seen an increase in the number of suicides in the Nation since the toxic spill. The heavy metals released during the Gold King Mine Spill remain at the bottom of our River; they have not been removed.  There is a constant fear and threat of exposure to our wildlife, our livestock, and our children.  While longer-term health and environmental impacts from the spill are unknown, we know that dangerous metals like the lead and arsenic released in the spill persist in the environment for years.

EPA Administrator McCarthy promised Congress the EPA would work with the Navajo to quickly compensate victims of the spill and accept responsibility for its conduct.  That has not happened.  The EPA has repeatedly pledged to the Navajo Nation and the Navajo people that it will work with us to ensure fair and effective compensation.  Yet every request we’ve made has been met with resistance, delay, and counter-demands. The White House has also been silent, with the president seemingly ignoring calls to assist our people.

Report after report has concluded that the EPA made critical errors in its work at the Gold King Mine, triggering an otherwise avoidable blowout.  There is no doubt the EPA is among the responsible parties.  The EPA should immediately repair the damage it caused, ensure such damage does not happen again, and it should pledge to compensate for both known and unknown harms.  It is the only way the Navajo people can hope to recover from this disaster.

Our hearts go out to the sufferers of the Flint water crisis. We understand what it’s like to face an uncertain future caused by those we expect to protect us.  Congress must consider a similar relief fund for the Navajo who have suffered greatly.  Our people deserve compensation now.  Our people deserve to know that the EPA will address the toxic sludge that is in the River.  And our people deserve to know that the dangerous conditions in the mines will be addressed once and for all. The time has long passed for the EPA to make whole the Navajo Nation and all others so devastatingly impacted by the Gold King Mine spill.

---

Begaye is President of the Navajo Nation.