The Sierra Club and its partners, Black Mesa Water Coalition, Dine CARE, To’Nizhoni Ani, and the Center for Biological Diversity, released a hydrology study as part of our work to protect America’s waterways and bring justice to communities harmed by the coal industry.
In the study, Dr. Daniel Higgins, Ph.D. (an expert in Arid Lands Resource Sciences at the University of Arizona) details the destructive effects of a coal-mining facility to a vital local water supply. “This report reaffirms the fact that the coal industry continues to materially damage our aquifer with impunity,” said Marshall Johnson of the Navajo grassroots organization, To’ Nizhoni Ani.
Specifically, the study refers to groundwater withdrawals by Peabody Coal’s massive mining facility from the Navajo Aquifer on Black Mesa in Arizona. To date, the Office of Surface Mining has not recognized the degree of harm Peabody is causing to the aquifer, which is used by thousands for drinking water and is the source of a sacred spring.
For more information on the battle we’re waging against Peabody’s mining facility, with support from our allies, click here.
(Photo: Black Mesa Tableland with Peabody crane in background in 1972. The dialogue to move the region beyond coal has an ongoing history. Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.)