>PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>Tucson, Az 12/6/99
>
>Activists disrupt Mining Hall of Fame Awards ceremony in Tucson on Saturday
>evening, 12/4/99.
>
>The American Mining Hall of Fame Awards were disrupted by the "Javalena"
>activists in
>response to Peabody Coal's mining activities in Northern Arizona on
>traditional Dineh
>(Navajo) and Hopi land. The banquet was held to induct Irl Engelhardt, CEO
>of Peabody
>Group into the Mining Hall of Fame. Attendees jeered and physically
attacked the
>demonstrators during the protest which lasted only a matter of minutes
>before security
>personal removed the banquet busters. Activist Carbon Ridder walked through
>the event,
>megaphone in hand, asking the world's mining elite and CEO's from at least
>thirty
>multinational corporations to consider the effects of their actions on the
>lives of the native
>people of this land.
>
>Ridder stated that the award to be given to Engelhardt came from the
>"sacrifice of the
>Traditional People and land at Black Mesa region in Northern Arizona".
>
>David Yerkey of the Javalina group was handing out information when he was
>attacked by
>several banquet delegates, knocked to the floor and punched several times
>in the face and
>body. He and Jack Strasburg were booked at Pima County Jail and released
>on their own
>recognizance. Police ignored Yerkey's request to make a statement regarding
>the violence.
>
>The action brings attention to the ongoing cultural and religious violations
>caused by
>Peabody's mining operations. As the mines continue to expand, more people
>will have to
>be relocated. The group said that they felt it inappropriate that someone
>with such a
>tarnished human rights and environmental record be inducted into the Hall of
>Fame.
>
>Approximately over 9,000 Dineh people have been forced from the traditional
>sacred
>lands they have occupied for centuries, to make way for the mines. People
>living in the
>area are subject to the effects of nearby blasting which shakes their houses
>and cracks the
>foundations. Health effects from coal dust and toxic chemicals continue to
>effect their
>daily lives and have also killed many of their sheep.
>
>Peabody is also responsible, they say, for the destruction of over 2,400
>archaeological and
>burial sites and for using 61% of the water withdrawn annually from the deep
>water tables.
>The pumping of this water, residents claim, is responsible for drying up
>springs that have
>furnished water for hundreds of years.
>
>Human rights and environmental organizations internationally have
protested the
>continuation of the Black Mesa and Kayenta mining operations since 1972.
>
>For more information contact Mr. Yerke at 520 388 1404
>... many prayers ...
>
>William "Sky" Crosby, director E C C O
>Environmental and Cultural Conservation Organization
>tel 520 749 0585
>fax 520 749 0587
>email sky1@goodnet.com
>