Jones, Bryn --- "Zuni Salt Lake Threatened" [2002] IndigLawB 36; (2002) 5(17) Indigenous Law Bulletin 23

Zuni Salt Lake Threatened

by Bryn Jones

Over the last weekend of April, roads leading into Zuni Pueblo[4] were closed off and a curfew was imposed on all people living on the reservation. A religious society from Jemez Pueblo[5] had traveled to Zuni to conduct a purification ceremony. Because Zuni only requests their medicine in situations where the tribe is in dire need, such a ceremony has not taken place for over twenty years. The seriousness of the current situation, which will be made clear in the following paragraphs, compelled Zuni to call upon Jemez again for help.

Zuni Salt Lake is a sacred place to many Indigenous peoples. Southwestern tribes have traditionally made pilgrimages to the Zuni Salt Lake to gather salt for ceremonial and domestic uses and to seek spiritual guidance and rain. It is the home of one of Zuni's most important deities, Ma'lokyattsik'I, or Salt Mother. Long ago, Salt Mother lived closer to Zuni. She left her home there because the people were gathering salt without proper offerings and then wasting it. She went to the lake sixty miles south of the Pueblo, so that the people would have to travel a far distance to gather salt. Since then, the lake has been such an integral part of Zuni culture that in Zuni language, the direction of south is said as Ma'k'yayakwi, or ‘the general direction of the Salt Lake.’ Salt Mother warned that if she was disrespected again, she would leave the Zuni forever.

On their pilgrimages to the lake, tribes followed ancient salt gathering trails through an ecologically rich and diverse area surrounding the lake known as the Sanctuary Zone. Dominated by pinyon-juniper woodland and desert grassland, wildlife flourishes. Mule deer, bobcats and owls take cover under the trees while pronghorn antelope, eagles and foxes take advantage of the open spaces. In underground tunnels, burrowing owls, prairie dogs and snakes thrive. During times of rain, lakes appear, attracting shorebirds and waterfowl, toads and frogs. Native peoples have long held a deep respect for this unique area. When traveling to the lake, tribes would suspend hostilities so that all could share in the sanctity of Salt Mother.

Zuni Salt Lake and the Sanctuary Zone are in grave danger. Salt River Project (‘SRP’), an Arizona-based electric utility, has proposed to operate an expansive coalmine over an 18,119 acre area of public, state and private lands in the heart of the Sanctuary Zone. Over a 40-year period SRP plans to drill, blast, scrape and rip through the surface to extract 81.3 million tonnes of coal. In some areas, pits up to 240 feet deep could scar the landscape. Coal from the mine would be transported along a newly constructed 44-mile railroad to the Coronado Generating Station in St Johns, Arizona, where cheap electricity will be produced for SRP's Arizona customers.

During the life of the mine, SRP plans to pump groundwater to remove coal that underlies the water table and to control dust from mining. Currently, SRP proposes to pump 85 gallons per minute from the Dakota and Atarque aquifers,[6] both of which feed Zuni Salt Lake. The lake is only 10 miles from where groundwater will be pumped and averages only two to four feet deep. SRP claims that any impacts to the lake will be negligible, ignoring at least five other hydrological studies that have been completed since SRP conducted their analysis in 1992.[7] Each of these studies show that drawdown of groundwater at the mine will severely impact the quantity of water and salt at Zuni Salt Lake.

The majority of lands within the proposed mine area are eligible for inclusion to the National Register of Historic Places,[8] including but not limited to, the Zuni Salt Lake, Sanctuary Zone and most salt pilgrimage trails. Over 500 human burials are located in this area, as are multitudes of shrines and archaeological sites. Mining operations, groundwater pumping and construction of the railroad corridor will irreversibly destroy these extremely culturally and historically significant places. Meaningful consultation with the affected tribes has not occurred, and under existing law, recommendations by tribes can be easily ignored. Under the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act [9] public involvement is required in decision-making processes, but the laws do not require particular outcomes.

The State of New Mexico approved SRP's proposed mine project in 1996 and renewed their permit in 2001.[10] Zuni and the Center for Biological Diversity (‘CBD’) have appealed the permit renewal[11] asserting that the hydrologic information in SRP's renewal application is inaccurate and SRP's plan is not designed to protect Zuni Salt Lake. SRP, in its continuing attempt to avoid protecting Zuni Salt Lake, has appealed conditions placed on its renewal. These require pumping tests on the Dakota Aquifer and prohibit the use of it if the tests demonstrate that SRP's previous hydrologic analyses are inaccurate. If that occurs, then SRP must do similar tests on the Atarque Aquifer.

The Department of Interior has yet to approve SRP's plan. Despite the government's trust responsibility to protect tribal interests, all indications reveal that the current administration will approve the mine. On three separate occasions, the Department has been prepared to issue a decision, but each time, public pressure has prevented it. Zuni and CBD insist that prior to any decision, the Department must prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement to address the information contained in new hydrological studies.[12] However, without doubt the government's responsibility will only be fulfilled when they reject SRP's proposal because to disturb Salt Mother is to destroy Zuni culture.

The Zuni Salt Lake Coalition, which includes Zuni Pueblo, CBD, Sierra Club Environmental Justice Program, Citizen's Coal Council and Water Information Network, is committed to preserving Zuni Salt Lake and the surrounding areas by preventing SRP's coal mine. For more information on what can be done to help, please visit our website at www.zunisaltlakecoalition.org.

Update: On May 31, 2002, the Department of Interior approved SRP’s mining plan with conditions prohibiting pumping from the Dakota Aquifer and requiring pump tests and monitoring on the Atarque Aquifer. The Coalition maintains that these conditions are insufficient to protect the Zuni Salt Lake and the Sanctuary Zone, and will only be satisfied when SRP drops its plan to construct and operate its devastating coalmine.

Bryn Jones is a law student at the University of Arizona and intern at the Center for Biological Diversity, where she became a member of the Zuni Salt Lake Coalition Coordinating Committee.

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[4] The Zuni Pueblo is located in west central New Mexico and east central Arizona in the United States. Zuni is home to over 10,000 Zuni Indians.

[5] Jemez Pueblo is located in north central New Mexico.

[6] SRP holds water rights for up to 900 gallons per minute for the mine.

[7] Glorieta Geoscience Report, Hydrogeology of nations draw area from Zuni Salt Lake to proposed Fence Lake coal mine: review of Salt River project hydrology submittals for Fence Lake coal mine permit application package (1997); King Engineering Report for Bureau of Indian Affairs, Potential hydrologic impacts of pumping at Fence Lake coal mine on Zuni Salt Lake (2001); Glorieta Geoscience Report,

Hydrogeology of nations draw area: analysis of potential impacts on Zuni Salt Lake from proposed Fence Lake mine groundwater diversions (2001); John Shomaker & Associates, Review of hydrologic studies and preparation of a pro forma groundwater flow model to examine the effects on groundwater head in the Dakota Sandstone, and flow to the Zuni Salt Lake, under the range of hydrogeologic assumptions described in studies by others (2001); New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division, Supplemental cumulative hydrological impact assessment for Fence Lake permit renewal (2001).

[8] The National Historic Preservation Act 16 USC § 470 et seq (2002) requires consultation with tribes, among others, when a federal undertaking may impact on any resource that is or may be eligible for inclusion to the National Register of Historic Places. The Act aims to preserve places that are culturally and historically significant.

[9] 42 USC § 4321 et seq (2002).

[10] The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act 30 USC §1201 et seq (2002) allows states to enter agreements with the federal government to regulate mining of both state and federal coal. Permitting decisions are a state responsibility, subject to approval by the Department of Interior.

[11] Zuni is still involved in litigation over the original approval of the permit.

[12] The National Environmental Policy Act 42 USC § 4322(c) (2002) requires detailed environmental impact statements for certain federal actions. Because SRP's proposed project requires federal approval, an environmental impact statement was prepared in 1990. It has been supplemented before, in 1996, in response to changes in SRP's mine plan.