Apr 8, 2017

Branch Leaders need to visit Relocated Families about NGS Closure

I heard about the Navajo President and the Navajo Speaker visiting with the Peabody workers who are about to lose their jobs due to the Navajo Generating Station closure. President Begay is asking for federal support to keep NGS open a few more years. President Begay and Speaker Bates need to look at the broader issue. They are only looking at one side, the Peabody workers' side. How about visiting the families who lost their lands to the Navajo-Hopi land dispute? How about talking to McCain about that? Or Navajo-Hopi Land Office Attorney Lawrence Ruzow (who happens to be the Navajo Nation Bar Association President and chums with the third branch leader Acting Chief Justice Allen Sloan)? Don't those relocated families have a say in the NGS? Peabody is the reason these families were removed. Thousands of acres of land lost. A lot of those lands are just vacant today. And the Navajo-Hopi Land Office is closing soon. I think Percy Deal stated in the Gallup Independent that no politician has come to his community of Big Mountain about NGS-Peabody's impact on families and environment in his community. I agree. It just seems like President Begay and Speaker Bates just support the expensive clothing worn, and big pick-up trucks driven by the relatively few Peabody workers and their families. That's not right. They need to look at this issue more comprehensively, and considering history.


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