Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
Title Reference
Footprints and Rain Storms in a Living Landscape: More Notes on Hopi Culture
and History Relating to Mt. Taylor, Draft
The Pueblo of Laguna and Tsibina: Mt. Taylor and the Proposed Roca Honda
Uranium Mine
Dewankwin Kyaba:chu Yalanne: The Zuni Cultural Landscape and the Proposed
Roca Honda Uranium Mine
Tribal Consultation
Koyiyumptewa, 2012
Colwell-Chanthaphohn and
Ferguson, 2012a
Colwell-Chanthaphohn and
Ferguson, 2012b
Consultation with tribes is required under multiple Federal and State statutes. Prominent among
these, and related to the current analysis effort, are NEPA, Sections 101 and 106 of the NHPA,
NMSA § 11-18, and the MOA between the NMSLO and certain tribes. The purposes of
consultation are to elicit from tribal representatives concerns for potential impacts from the
proposed project on the tribe or resources (not just cultural resources) that are significant to the
tribe, and to identify possible mitigation measures to resolve or minimize potential impacts.
Because the Federal government has a unique legal relationship with tribes, this consultation must
recognize the government-to-government relationship between the Federal government and
tribes, and be conducted in a manner sensitive to tribal sovereignty.
The Forest Service regularly consults with eight American Indian tribes that have used and may
continue to use the lands managed as the Mt. Taylor Ranger District for traditional cultural or
religious activities. These include: the Pueblos of Acoma, Jemez, Laguna, Sandia, and Zuni, the
Hopi Tribe, the Jicarilla Apache Nation, and the Navajo Nation. Additionally, the Forest Service
consults on a more limited basis with 12 Navajo Chapters that are located in the vicinity of the
land managed by the Mt. Taylor Ranger District.
Tribal Consultation Prior to This EIS
The Forest Service first initiated consultation about uranium development in general with the
tribes after receiving plans of operation for exploratory drilling from two different companies. By
late 2007, four companies had submitted plans of operation for exploratory drilling on the Mt.
Taylor Ranger District. At this point, the Forest Service initiated extensive consultation based
upon those four plans, and at the same time initiated consultation regarding the traditional uses of
Mt. Taylor, as well as potential effects to the mountain as a result of uranium development.
In October 2007, the Forest Service contacted 16 tribes and 12 Navajo chapters, inviting all to be
consulting parties regarding uranium exploration on the Mt. Taylor Ranger District, and to assist
the Agency in its efforts to determine the cultural values and traditional uses of Mt. Taylor by
American Indians. This consultation included the four proposed drilling projects mentioned
previously, one of which was Strathmore Mineral Corporation’s proposed Roca Honda
exploration project. The invitation letter was sent to the Pueblos of Acoma, Cochiti, Isleta, Jemez,
Laguna, Sandia, San Felipe, San Ildefonso, Santa Ana, Santo Domingo, Zia, and Zuni, the Hopi
Tribe, the Jicarilla Apache Nation, the Mescalero Apache Tribe, the Navajo Nation, and the
following Navajo chapters: Baca, Casamero Lake, Crownpoint, Mariano Lake, Ojo Encino,
Prewitt, Ramah, Smith Lake, Thoreau, To’hajilee, Torreon, and Whitehorse Lake. In phone
conversations with the governors or tribal officials from the Pueblos of Cochiti, San Felipe Santo
310 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest