Cursed by Coal: Mining the Navajo Nation
Cursed by Coal: Mining the Navajo Nation
There’s a resource curse on the Navajo Nation. The 27,000-square-mile reservation straddling parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah has an extremely high abundance of many energy resources — particularly coal. That coal is what’s burned to provide much of the Southwest with electricity, and it creates jobs for the Navajo. But the mining and burning have also caused environmental degradation, serious health issues, and displacement.
VICE News travels to the Navajo Nation to find out how its abundance of coal is affecting the future of the Navajo people.
Watch “Toxic: Coal Ash” – http://bit.ly/1zDaW66
Watch “Petcoke: Toxic Waste in the Windy City” – http://bit.ly/1E2YejO
Read “Line 61, the Oil Pipeline That Will Dwarf Keystone XL” – http://bit.ly/18iOKad
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Fight my First Nation, fight.
I hate this fucking culture
Omg they are doing to the natives what they do in Africa. Loans that you can’t pay back. These people are ruthless.
Help the Native Indian!
I’m sad of how they did her if I were there I would stand up for her I’m so sorry for what they did to her wow I wish I could come help out does anyone know what I could do I’m trying to buy a truck soon I could bring water food who do I talk to to help me Thank you 🙏
It doesn’t surprise me that MEDIA and BIG TECH are not covering this part of AMERICA because they don’t want the rest of the world to know that, what they are doing is ILLEGAL and stealing from the Navaja people and destroying their land.
Been inside that powerplant for an outage 4 corners
Small livelihoods? It’s pretty much the only livelihood for Shiprock. But don’t be trying place guilt. If anybody’s to blame, blame the Navajo Nation government.
As a Navajo I felt sick and pissed off when those rangers or cops have some f*ckin nerve to hurt that grandma.
All land is sacred. We must stop capitalism!
I spent a month in Dine (Navajo) territory, including time at black mesa and I saw all of this stuff. I saw explosions coming from the nearby mine. I saw the areas where the black mesa really is black, because of coal. I heard people talking about moving the sheep to keep them away from the coal dust. And in that same family, the son worked in the coal mine at night as a mechanic. and the locals burned coal sometimes to cook. End every day, when I came back from herding sheep or whatever the father of the family would ask me "Seen any Hopis?" It basically meant the same as "Have you seen any cops around?" Because Black mesa, and much of the other places where Navajo live nearby, is on the Hopi reservation. Their tribal government has also made a big deal with Peabody coal company. They were always afraid that the Hopi would confiscate their sheep. But man Hopi elders also do not like the actions of Peabody coal. So it is not simply a matter of Navajos vs. Hopis, though it can seem that way on the surface. Also, yes, they did not have running water and have to drive it in by pick up truck. In nearly a month, I took only one shower. In the Peabody coal mine locker room.
We are to this day still being taken advantage of! Greed is in the eye of the beholder.
I care about you so much just like the Lord Jesus Christ does
Just suffering! 😭 The Navjo people get left with a big Disaster mess that coal company left behind. No water to even live. This is still happening now .
He’s driving a car, wearing clothes, has a baseball cap, probably has a cellphone, a modern home (likely), puts gas in his car, gets coal and wood with a gas powered chainsaw, shops at a grocery store…all, and I mean all, powered by and a by-product of coal energy which is a natural resource and can’t be harnessed anywhere else efficiently. If we want this gone, we will say “gone” to everything we’ve been accustomed to. I mean really, throw your cell phone away and turn off your lights. Really. We need it, demand it, and want it.
The leaders on all reservation should listen to the elders and have respect understanding and love for all the people that they stand for when they want to be called a leader
The mining around my area cutoff the migration pattern for the Elk, deer, antelope now we don’t hardy see them
Excellent Video, excellent and I understand you all won this fight and Peabody and Coal mining at least at Black Mesa is shut down, however as you showed very well, it is dried out and according to other acitivst I have read, the springs no longer run and the streams I have seen are dry.
It’s idiots like Myron Lyzer who facilitate these types of things to happen.
I love how he’s a redskins fan 🙌🏼
Wind mills
Update. The Peabody Black Mesa coal mine is closed down. Costed a lot of jobs to the Native Americans.
I’m switching to solar panel, humans are disgusting beings…. in clouding my self….
When you know there talking about me because my name’s Cole lmao
All you hear on tv is black lives matter. What about these people???
THE WORLD IS TOO CORRUPTED FOR THOSE WHO DON’T GET A CHANCE TO BE THE LEADER WILL ALWAYS SUFFER ..VOICES UNHEARD
Those big shot Corporations don’t care about us, they also tricked my people in practically stealing their lands mineral rights. I do not like Strip mining, and I don’t understand the slurry thing, but where’s the coal trucks? BTW, I’m married to a Chippewa Indian, and I love frybread, I’m praying for your people and their land
Modern turbine plants are almost 100% environmentally safe. If they haven’t they need to shut this old piece of death garbage plant down.
America is so fucked up to the Indians
😡
Give the Navajo back there Land!
I just love all the hypocrisy in this country, the United States. We are scared of foreigners, we say they are evil and dangerous. Yet we were once foreigners. Our ancestors were the ones who were evil and dangerous. We killed, tricked, forced Natives off their land. They were given the option of either leaving or being killed. They were oppressed so long by the US government and now we see the consequences.
Us elders say stop now
But the children want to work
Which makes it very difficult
Funny how the coal industry only matters when white folks work the industry.
thankfully there are now active wholly owned solar projects in Navajo nation, which undercut the coal industry there. https://tucson.com/business/tribally-owned-solar-power-plant-beats-skeptics-odds-on-navajo-nation/article_9dcbd829-9134-552b-a305-242cdb673d0a.html
This growth comes at a price
for more than half a century or more
these city’s have drawn a great deal of energy
from one place the Navajo Nation Tribe.
For the last six decades the Navajo Nation
the largest Native American Rezervation
which spans three states has been mined for its coal reserves
powering much of the southwest
profiting some of the largest energy companies in the world.
Got power go thank a navajo person for that power your getting inside your house everyday!
60 yrs.. No WATER!!!!
What’s interesting is the old ladies perspective. She won’t leave the land so they try strong arming her. Bet the tribe(tribal government) knew what was done.
If I could inflict eternal torture on the men who attacked Rena Lane I would.
0:04 2004 Bush Chenny sticker, makes sense
Let’s be realistic coal will be gone in our lifetime it’s better to rip the bandaid of now and build solar panels on all that open desert. (Plus less cancer)
Nature for profit
It’s all out of control
Resistant Culture – Ecocide
This problem just not only happens in America,but also the same in our country Malaysia,in the state of Sarawak,where the native customs rights land has been taken or grab by big businesses like logging and next palm oil,and also coal mining in the coastal area of central Sarawak.Even some land in our state has also been grabbed by some authorities,claiming it was a state or government land though in the truth,it belongs to the natives.Since our economy and industrial activities booming up,more lands had been grab to build huge hydroelectric dams and large palm oil plantations without any proper reparation.Some villagers within the land may be mocked or been attacked by gangsters who backed up the companies who tresspassed their land,claming that they didnt have any rights on their land and took it back.Villagers were mocked,attacked,raped and humiliated by the outsiders while taking down their village and land for their business activities.As a result,all their activities had brought bad impact not only to the society,but also health and safety.Hydroelectric dams can cause overflowing in the upper section of the river and these can sink some forest which is the habitats for animals and native people.Palm oil plantation can cause toxic pollution by its fertilizer and pesticides.Palm oil mill refinery that was build near water resources can pollute the air river by its waste.his is a shame and unlawful for us humans because everyone had their own rights to protect their custody from being fallen into the hands of the unlawful human beings..
Y’all know trump is all for coal and exploiting the land because he loves the green money that he uses to snorting coke with since the 70s
These are the real Americans, and your capitalist country has ravaged them in every way, shape and form for countless generations. Greetings from the Philippines.
Why is it that these tribal leaders keep selling out to big corporations? Why hasn’t there been mutiny within the tribe to oust these nefarious leaders?
I am from 4 generations of Coal Miners in Eastern, Kentucky, they are very similar to the Indians, the Appalachia people, men dug coal to support their families, still trying to eek out a job left in underground mining. Now, when they started to strip mining, raping mother earth, I became outraged, they have finally stopped that, but it’s still awful ugly. Miners know exactly about Black lung, and every Coal miner in my family has it, not to mention. Your body is completely beat up at 50 years old. Don’t be mad at the Miners, they were only surviving
It’s so isolated what other material will the town export to create income? Now that the mine is closed them what? Whom comes from how far afar? And for what reasons would they visit?
my people signed what they had signed before in fear of being irrelevant. it’s sad there’s alot we have to invest in other than coal but that’s a short and quick solution
Yep Navajos live like their in a third world country which is BS!😡😡😡😡