The Hopi tribe in Arizona has told environmentalists to stay off their reservation. Their reason? The environuts are going to foul up efforts to bring economic prosperity to the Hopis via coal revenues:
Environmentalists have waged a campaign against coal as an energy source, in favor of renewable energy such as wind and solar. But the Navajo and Hopi long have depended on coal revenues to fund their governments and pay the salaries of tribal employees on reservations where half the work force is unemployed.
On the Hopi reservation, revenues from coal mined by Peabody Energy in northern Arizona’s Black Mesa area make up 70 percent of the tribe’s $15 million budget. On the Navajo Nation, those revenues make up nearly 10 percent of the tribe’s budget.
What the Hopis are beginning to understand is that environmentalist don’t care about people.
