Zuni Side Up -- Strip Mine project defeated!

Zuni Tribe Member Pablo Padilla Talks About Beating Back a Strip Mine

Earlier this week, Native Americans and environmentalists won a
surprising victory when a power company abandoned a 20-year push to
build a highly controversial coal mine in New Mexico. That victory
was particularly sweet for Pablo Padilla, a member of the Zuni Pueblo
tribe and a leader in the fight against the mine, which would have
disrupted sacred burial sites and threatened Zuni Salt Lake, a focal
point of spiritual life for many tribes in the area. Padilla,
currently a 28-year-old law student at the University of New Mexico,
was the tribe's first-ever environmental protection specialist.
Reporter Hillary Rosner caught up with him in Boulder, Colo., to
discuss the history of the mine fight and the implications of the
victory. Check out what Padilla has to say, only on the Grist
Magazine website.

only in Grist: An interview with Pablo Padilla -- by Hillary Rosner
in The Main Dish
<http://www.gristmagazine.com/maindish/rosner080703.asp?source=daily>

One thing to note is that Gov. Bill Richardson has been quoted in the papers as saying that he's happy about this decision. That's a good sign. I'm really happy that we have leadership that can recognize the value over and above what we might receive .

It's nice for a change.

Provided some D.U.er doesn't pop up and explain that there is an even more diabolical plan in the works somewhere else that will be even more profitable for the villains, and even more environmentally destructive, which is the real reason they abandoned the plan. (This just always seems to be the case...)

I'm happy for the Native Americans.

That's a great decision, and a great story about how to organize and fight back against projects like these.

For example: "The tribe helped to create the Zuni Salt Lake Coalition about three years ago. The coalition ran a very aggressive campaign in Arizona to target the actual users of the energy. It's a pretty powerful argument to say, 'You're going shave 6 cents off your next energy bill but at the expense of this very important place.'"

(edited just because i am anal today)