Black Mesa

A new federal report lists numerous problems miners face in receiving benefits. A former coal miner and advocate on the Navajo Nation says the issues it raises aren’t new to him.

The U.S. Geological Survey published its annual accounting of the Navajo aquifer which underlies Black Mesa on the Navajo Nation. The aquifer supplies drinking water to Kayenta, Tuba City and the Hopi villages.

The Kayenta Mine Complex on tribal lands in northeastern Arizona once supplied the coal that lit up homes in Los Angeles and pumped water to Phoenix. The mine closed in 2019, and now Navajo and Hopi people want the land returned so they can use it to graze livestock and gather culturally important plants. Mine reclamation is well underway, but the process is slow, and some worry it’s taking too long. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.

Here’s some of that grey rock, it’s coming down the channel – your first clue. It’s all about discovery …..Twenty-five years ago, I parked near Black…