On Jan. 8, Hopi and Navajo residents of Black Mesa, Ariz., scored a victory against corporate coal mining when an administrative law judge vacated the permit for Peabody Coal. The Department of the Interior issued Peabody’s most recent permit in 2006.
Peabody Coal operates a massive coal-mining complex on Navajo and Hopi land that has been polluting and displacing communities for decades. In the 1970s, the U.S. government, in collusion with Peabody Coal, relocated more than 14,000 Navajo to allow for destructive mining practices to continue.
Wahleah Johns, co-director of the Black Mesa Water Coalition, explained: “For 40 years our sacred homelands and people have borne the brunt of coal mining impacts, from relocation to depletion of our only drinking water source. This ruling is an important step towards … justice for Indigenous communities who have suffered at the hands of multinational companies like Peabody Energy.”
