• People

Coronavirus Compounds Census Undercount of Navajo Nation

• coronavirus
• COVID-19
• Navajo
• Navajo Nation

This week, the Navajo Nation has extended the closure of tribal government offices and ordered residents to stay home for another three weeks as the number of coronavirus cases rises outside the reservation. In May the Navajo Nation had the highest per capita COVID-19 infection rate in the United States, outpacing hot spots like New York.  Driving […]

• Water

Navajo Lack Water to Fight COVID-19 Because Coal Company Drained the Tribe’s Aquifer

• aquifer
• COVID-19
• Environmental Justice
• Hopi
• mining
• Navajo
• Peabody Energy
• water

Bloomberg News reports that Peabody Energy, the largest coal producer in the country, operated two coal mines on Navajo and Hopi reservation lands that pulled so much water from the Navajo Aquifer that many wells and springs have now run dry. This comes when water is more necessary than ever for essential hygiene since Covid-19 has hit the Navajo Nation harder than any state.

Why This Matters:  Peabody never replenished the aquifer water it took under a suspect agreement with the Tribes —  as much as 1.3 billion gallons of water from the aquifer annually —  and one-third of residents have no running water in the midst of the worst pandemic in generations.

• Politics

Grand Canyon National Park Finally Closes, Gets New Superintendent From HQ

• coronavirus
• deep state
• Grand Canyon National Park
• Navajo
• Superintendent

After a resident of the Park tested positive last week for COVID-19, the Interior Department finally closed Grand Canyon National Park to the public after the local health officials in Arizona called for it given the increase in the county’s numbers of positive tests and a large outbreak of the virus on neighboring Navajo Tribal lands. 

Why This Matters:  Again the Trump Administration was behind in recognizing the coronavirus threat to communities near national parks.

• Energy

Navajo Nation And Los Angeles Partnering on Renewable Electricity

• climate change
• Navajo
• solar power

Late last year, the Navajo Generating Station coal-fired power plant that for 40 years provided power to the City of Los Angeles closed, but now the city and the tribe are working together to turn the former coal plant into a renewable energy hub to provide wind, solar, and hydro power to the City according to Earther.  This will restore $40 million in revenue that the Tribe lost when the power plant closed and that in turn will help to bring electricity to 15,000 people who live in parts of the Navajo reservation that still do not have it.