Black Mesa Trust (Masayesva Vernon Ttee)

Saving an Ancient Civilization

The Hopi Sinom people are descendants of ones who settled in Northern Arizona over 1,000 years ago. Oraibi, one of the 12 pueblos, located in the Black Mesa Region settled around 1100 A.D., according to archaeologists.

Ancient Oraibi is a thriving village where over 500 people still live and farm today.

Their once vibrant culture is at a crisis, caused by the world’s largest coal strip-mining organization, The Peabody Energy Company and it’s subsidiary, Peabody Western Coal. The company is using a questionable mining lease approved by a modern Hopi Tribal Council under pressure from  the U.S. Secretary of Interior in 1966. Peabody was given rights to mine approximately 670 million tons of coal on 68,000 acres of land.

During the last 45 years, Peabody has mined over 40 billion gallons of pristine water stored deep under Black Mesa, contaminating precious aquifers and destroying sacred burial sites. The coal lease with the Hopi Tribe will end in 2025. However Peabody Western Coal has filed an application with the Secretary of Interior to extend coal and water mining up to the year 2044.

We, along with Hopi traditional and religious practitioners are vehemently opposing the lease extension and are preparing to challenge both The Peabody Energy Company and the U.S. Secretary of Interior in Federal Court.

Your donations will help fund our operations, assist us in travel expenses so our leaders can attend important Indigenous and Human Rights forums, and help to prepare us for litigation.

Donations will also help us design and prepare our plan to transition from outdated dirty coal plants to clean solar energy.

Please consider giving $25.00 or more to Black Mesa Trust.  Every dollar makes a difference and will give us the support we need to move forward.

Donate here today or Send your tax deductible donation to Black Mesa Trust, P.O. Box 33, Kykotsmovi, AZ 86039

 Black Mesa Trust is a 501 (c) 3 non profit, tax exempt environmental organization.

Your donations will help to keep our ancient culture alive so that we may continue to uphold our covenant to be good stewards of Mother Earth and protect the sacred land and waters of our homeland, for the Hopi people and future generations.
Remember, our history is your history.

Thank you for your continued support,
Vernon Masayesva
Executive Director, Black Mesa Trust

Please visit our web site to learn more about our cause
www.blackmesatrust.org


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