Banner a warning to Diné

A banner created by a group of Fort Lewis College students, Small Axe, shows the organization's interpretation of what Desert Rock means for the future of all people, especially Navajos. [Courtesy Photo]

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

NENAHNEZAD, N.M. — "Small Axe, Small Steps," a student group from Fort Lewis College, spent Thursday night at the Dooda Desert Rock base camp documenting the resistance movement.

David Karabelnikoff, vice president of Small Axe, said several students worked long into the night to create a banner inspired by Din Power Authority's and Sithe Global Power LLC's proposed 1,500 megawatt coal-fired power plant to be located in the vicinity of two exiting power plants.

"The banner is our inteperation of what Desert Rock means for the future of, really, all people, but in particular, the Navajo Nation," Karabelnikoff said.

"It was a manifestation that was not achieved as individuals, rather a community of concerned students committed to contributing something toward the environmental injustice we see being portrayed in recent days," he said.

The banner is the result of "our efforts of working together toward a common goal, taking small acts that produced some amazing results," he said.

Americans living near coal-fired power plants are exposed to higher erradiation doses than those living near nuclear power plants, according to Department of Energy researchers.

While air permit applications for coal-fired plants address all U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulated pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter and more, they do not address radiation emissions.

DOE researchers say large quantities of uranium and thorium are released from coal-fired plants and that ong-term accumulation of radioactive materials from continued worldwide combustion of coal could pose serious health hazards.