From: "Action Resource Center" <arcla@envirolink.org>
To: <senaa@excite.com>, <redorman@theofficenet.com>
Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 15:33:58 -0700
Organization: Action Resource Center

My name is Jennafer and I am with the Big Mountain Support Group Los
Angeles. We are doing land based support of the elders and have a few
different things that we are working on that may be of interest to people
who want to participate in actions that can affect the relocation at big
mountain.

First of all we are doing fundraisers. So far we have had 5 benefit
concerts last year, and have two planned already this year.

We have produced a 17 minute documentary called "Vanishing Prayer" for
the
United Nations, and are doing public video showings at Cafe's, Patagonia's,
coffee houses, art gallery's, campuses and in people's homes. We sell
Resistor's art and jewelry and introduce our campaign.

Basically our campaign in Los Angeles is to Shut Down the Mohave Generating
Station and to stop the relocation. The Mohave is the sole receiver of
the
coal slurry line that comes from the Peabody Black Mesa Complex. It is
the
nation's number one pollutor emitting greenhouse gases, sulpher dioxides
and
a mass of particulates that have reduced the visibility in the Grand Canyon
by 50%. (currently there is a lawsuit against mohave by the Grand Canyon
Trust and the Sierra Club) It also dumps infected water from the slurry
into the local ecosystem and the MGS is next door to Mohave High School.
It
is the only Coal Fired Plant that has no scrubbers, required by the EPA.
The EPA and the shareholders of Mohave (Edison International, LADWP and
many
others) say that to bring the plant up to today's environmental standards
would cost 700 million dollars. They say they'd rather shut it down than
to
spend the money to bring it up to standard.

If the Mohave Generating Station is closed, it will eliminate Peabody's
biggest buyer and would shut down the slurry line for good. It would be
a
major dent in the relocation process, because the energy companies would
have to reorganize their efforts, if they have no buyers for the coal.
The
Mohave could be shut down in no time. All that is required is for us to
organize and make a big national show of it. The pollution from Mohave
is
an issue that affects us all. We have found it to be the most productive
way of getting people involved in the Big Mountain issue, it turns a
far-away situation into a local one. Every time someone turns on their
lights, they are evicting an elder. It doesn't take much to convince them
to reduce their energy consumptions by 30% or to staple a letter of protest
to their bill to Edison. Once people realize that they are personally
implicated in this issue, they usually turn out to be the most receptive
to
the information and have been instrumental in getting other people involved
for more showings, more food and clothing donations etc. Mohave brings
the
issue into everybody's homes.

Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Montana are just a few of the shareholders that
own the Mohave Generating Station. But everyone breathes the air and drinks
the water that Mohave is polluting. Please feel free to contact us if
you
would like organizing kits for your communities or want to strategize for
a
national event to bring Big Mountain on the forefront of our media.

Jennafer Waggoner
SOL Communications