Cone: Open files
FOI request filed on Desert Rock

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — A Farmington resident who has been an active opponent of the Desert Rock energy project for several years has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents with the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Steve Cone says he is not representing any particular group, "though I am in complete solidarity and accord with the action of the Navajo resistance groups, and I'll support them in every way possible."

"I am a concerned citizen of the San Juan Basin and active opponent of this project since it began to rear its ugly head in the Four Corners some two to three years ago," Cone said.

According to the Desert Rock blog page (http://www.desert-rock-blog.com), Navajo citizens are being told they cannot get National Environmental Policy Act documentation for the water drilling activities on the proposed Desert Rock Energy Facility site without a FOIA request.

Resisters claim the main issue is that drilling activities to determine water quality, quantity and flow characteristics should be part of the overall Environmental Impact Statement being prepared for the project; however, the BIA has reportedly issued developers a categorical exclusion.

Prove it
Cone, members of Dooda Desert Rock and Din Care want to see the paperwork.

Cone submitted a formal FOIA request to BIA Dec. 16 regarding documentation of certain activities related to the Desert Rock Energy Facility by Sithe Global Power LLC and Din Power Authority.

In the FOIA, Cone requested the following:

• Applications or permits submitted or issued to or from Sithe or DPA to or by the BIA related to drilling for water testing in connection with Desert Rock;
  
  
• Applications or permits submitted or issued to the two parties by BIA related to surveying of Navajo Nation land in connection with Desert Rock;
  
  
• Documents related to any categorical exclusion issued by the BIA for on-site drilling or survey work;
  
  
• Applications submitted by Sithe or EPA for permits under Sections 401, 402, and 404 of the Clean Water Act;
  
  
• Permits issued by BIA to Sithe or DPA under Sections 401, 402, and 404;
  
  
• Correspondence between BIA staff and Sithe and/or DPA staff from Oct. 1 to date.

"If your determination is that a portion or portions of one or more of these documents is/are exempt from disclosure, please understand that you are obligated by the FOIA to retract or remove that part of the record, and release the remainder verbatim," Cone said.

"I, therefore, fully expect access to all segregable, non-exempt portions even if other parts of the record are deemed exempt from disclosure and redacted."

Approval given
Nathan Pleagans, Desert Rock project director, said last week that Sithe/DPA have all the necessary approvals.

"It's part of what we need to do for the EIS to drill two water wells. One is what we call a monitoring well. One is a test well.

"We're going to put these wells out there so that we can better define what's going to happen with the groundwater when we pump water for the project. We do have the approval to do that," Pleagans said.

When asked to translate the term "categorical exclusion" as it relates to Sithe, Pleagans said, "What that means is that you're excluded from doing a full EIS.

"We still had to do an archaeological survey, we still had to do a biological survey, we had to get approval from the Navajo Historical Preservation Department and from the Fish and Game Department of the Navajos to do this work. We didn't have to do a whole EIS to do the work.

"I have water use permits; I have drilling permits from the Navajo Nation to do this work. We have folks from the Navajo Archaeological Department out there monitoring our activities to make sure that we don't impact.

"We have folks from EcoSphere out there walking around and making sure that we don't impact any endangered or protected species," he added.

High cost
Drilling the test wells is estimated to cost around $3 million. With the geotechnical studies, total cost is estimated at up to $4 million.

"Right now, the proposed source of water for the project is the Morrison Aquifer. At the project site, we're looking at having to drill 6,000 feet. That's why it's $3 million," Pleagans said.

He added that Sithe/DPA are not going to do anything unless they make sure they have the appropriate approvals.

"As far as I know, all of the grazing permittees have consented. We wouldn't have been able to get the lease through the Navajo Nation unless we had consent from all those grazing permittees," Pleagans said.

Though elder Alice Gilmore claims she did not sign over her grazing area for the project, Pleagans said it appears that years ago, some member of her family signed an agreement with BHP Billiton.

Gilmore's homesite apparently is situated within the Navajo Mine area BHP plans to expand as part of the project.

Sarah White, president of Dooda Desert Rock, said that when she and Gilmore looked at a map of the project area, Gilmore's home was nowhere to be found. White believes Gilmore, who is in her 80s and suffering from diabetes, will have to be relocated.

Growing concern
Of the blockade incident, Pleagans said, "It initially started as one car and then became two cars that blocked that road and prevented our drillers who are doing geotechnical work out there on the lease site.

"We are testing the soil for the foundation and you have to use a drill rig to do the soil samples," he said. When confronted with the blockade, Pleagans ordered the drillers to back off and return to Burnham Road and avoid confrontation.

"We called the police and the police came out there and got our side of the story and then the police went out there and talked to the four or five people, I believe, who were out there blocking the road."

The police returned and told all of them to meet the next day at the Navajo police station in Shiprock.

"We met with the lieutenant, we showed him the lease, we showed him all of the approvals we had from the BIA and the various Navajo departments to be doing the drilling," Pleagans said.

Sithe's goal is to handle the situation in the most peaceful way possible, he said.

As far as the resisters are concerned, "We respect their right to object, we respect their right to protest," Pleagans said. "However, we only ask that our rights be respected also, and that we be able to access the site."