The Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe are awaiting the outcomes of negotiations with Peabody Coal Company over use of the Navajo-aquifer in Black Mesa, Arizona. To many of the region’s 30,000 residents who rely on the N-aquifer as their primary water source, Peabody’s operations are environmentally and culturally unacceptable.

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said on August 11 that he has been negotiating with Peabody Western Coal to continue operations on the Black Mesa Coal Mine near Kayenta, Arizona. The Tribe, which is currently involved in a $600 million lawsuit against the mining company, recently passed a resolution backed by tribal grassroots groups to end Peabody’s use of a specific aquifer by the end of 2005. Shirley criticized the resolution, warning that the mine’s closure would cost the tribe $35 million per year and hundreds of jobs for Navajo workers.

Tribal representation in the federal government has long been criticized for a lack of native consultation and a failure to take Native tribes seriously as true sovereign nations. Over the past few months, tensions between Native organizations and the Department of Interior (DOI) have grown to historically high levels as hopes for meaningful reform have turned sour.

The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill held a symposium on American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Care at its annual convention in Minneapolis last week. The symposium focused on the importance of family and the need to integrate native traditions with Western medicine. NAMI also released a manual calling for local, state, and federal action to promote American Indian and Native Alaskan mental health.