Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
Impacts to Tribal Cultural Resources and Practices
This section summarizes the potential project impacts to tribal cultural resources and practices as
identified by the involved tribes. The information for this section was derived in part from tribal
consultation efforts conducted by the Forest Service since 2006 regarding the anticipated
increased in uranium development applications for the Mt. Taylor district. More detailed
information was obtained during tribal consultations conducted since 2010 specifically regarding
the proposed RHR mine. Finally, information on the anticipated impacts of the proposed project
was provided in the ethnographic assessments prepared by the Hopi Tribe and the Pueblos of
Acoma, Laguna, and Zuni.
It bears repeating that the tribes that conducted ethnographic assessments for this EIS do not
differentiate between Mt. Taylor and cultural and natural resources found in the proposed project
area. In their view, the resources contained within the proposed project area are all associated
with, or are considered a part of, the Mt. Taylor TCP. The TCP and the individual resources are all
interconnected to form a sacred landscape, all of which has traditional cultural significance to the
tribes.
The discussion below is organized by tribe. Each tribe’s section first presents general concerns
regarding uranium development in the region, then discusses the potential impacts that they
foresee arising from the proposed RHR uranium mine.
Hopi Tribe
General Concerns
The Hopi Tribe opposes exploratory uranium drilling and uranium mining. The Hopi describe
uranium as a natural resource in a dormant state. Mining is man’s intent, and when this intent is
used on a natural resource such as uranium, it is viewed negatively as it is considered desecration
to the sacred landscape. From the view of the Hopi, bringing uranium to the surface has been and
would be disastrous. Uranium in its natural state is a blessing and is part of the earth. Its
contemporary use is viewed as exploitive and would cause harm.
The mountain is considered a living being, and mining is akin to hurting a living being. Uranium
drilling and mining activities would threaten sacred landscape features and harm the spiritual
heart of the mountain. Impacts to important locations would have local impacts for the Hopi
people; it would affect their spiritual and emotional energy.
The Hopi people believe that prayer must be positive, and that the individual must be focused and
able to drive away disturbance. Having in mind the knowledge and thought of the impending
disturbance or intent to disturb through drilling and mining would alter the ability to conduct
prayer and ceremony in a manner it is intended to be done. It would make it very hard for the
Hopi people, particularly the traditional practitioners and those engaged in ceremonial activity, to
carry on in a manner that is essential for them as Hopi to be Hopi.
Exploratory drilling and mining for uranium are both seen as having an adverse impact and
causing harm to the Hopi people. To impact important elements of a people’s faith is to desecrate
the whole of the faith. To desecrate the Mt. Taylor landscape would place a substantial burden
upon the culture of katsina and the Hopi people as a whole. Katsina is fundamental to Hopi
culture. Peaks such as San Francisco Peaks and Mt. Taylor are the home of the katsinas. The tribe
fears that continued and cumulative desecration of sacred landscapes such as Mt. Taylor would
342 DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest