Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Roca Honda Mine

Chapter 3. Affected Environment and Environmental Consequences
the removal of earth, ore, and water, disturbance of cultural sites, and the alteration of the
ecosystem.
The impacts would profoundly and fundamentally alter the integrity of Mt. Taylor. The pueblo
believes that these anticipated impacts could not be mitigated. The desecration of the mountain
would directly harm the Spiritual Beings that are associated with the mountain, and the
relationship of the people with them. Even when shrines on the mountain are left physically
intact, the mining underground would harm the “lifeline” beneath it that connects the shrine to
Laguna and other sacred places. The spiritual insult and disrespect to these places may not ever
be fixed.
The pueblo is equally concerned about the impact of the mere presence of the proposed mine on
the traditional religious practices associated with Mt. Taylor. In addition to a direct impact to the
viewshed in the region, the project would impact the Lagunas on the other side of the mountain
who maintain their “spiritshed.” Laguna defined “spiritshed” as a spiritual line-of-sight. Although
they may not see the project on a daily basis, the knowledge that this project is destroying their
sacred land would dramatically and negatively affect the Laguna sense of harmony between
humans and their environment. This, is turn, would negatively affect the Lagunas’ communication
with the mountain, their “spiritshed,” and the Laguna traditionalists have no religious mechanism
to make amends or correct these offenses.
The pueblo predicts that archaeological sites would be destroyed, some sites looted, some
petroglyphs defaced, and ancestral human remains disturbed. The pueblo believes that all
archaeological sites within the APEs would be impacted by the proposed project, even if the sites
are physically preserved and located at some distance from mining infrastructure. Any
archaeological site within the viewshed of the mining infrastructure would mean that visiting the
site would compel all visitors to see and, thus, think about the mine, and the Lagunas consider
this to have a negative impact on the integrity of the sites. Even when archaeological sites are
physically preserved, the building of infrastructure nearby would indirectly impact these “saved”
sites. In many cases, the holistic context of a site would be ruined, and the whole experience of
that traditional landscape would be altered. These impacts would fundamentally alter the ability
of Lagunas to obtain and share important information about their history, prehistory, traditions,
and culture.
Laguna practitioners use all areas of Mt. Taylor to collect natural materials for use in rituals and
ceremonies. The Pueblo of Laguna believes that the destruction of habitat, the alteration of the
local ecosystem, and further limitations on land access would impact Laguna religious
practitioners who depend on Mt. Taylor to perform ceremonial, subsistence, and collection
activities. The ecosystem would be impacted for decades, and even for the animals and plants that
survive the mining operations, Laguna traditionalists would likely be concerned about the purity
of these resources and question whether they would be healthy to consume. The most dramatic
impact to natural resources is seen to be the mine’s plan for dewatering. At Laguna, it is seen as
an insult to Mt. Taylor, the natural world, and the Laguna people. Dewatering is equated with
draining the “lifeblood” of the mountain.
For the Laguna people, these negative impacts are anticipated to be long term, defined as lasting
decades, or permanent. None of the negative impacts are anticipated to be minor, but instead
would result in severe and dire impacts to the Mt. Taylor TCP and the traditional cultural
resources and practices of the Laguna.
DEIS for Roca Honda Mine, Cibola National Forest 347