Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
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The American Mining Hall of Fame Awards were disrupted by the "Javalena" activists in response to Peabody Coal's mining activities in Northern Arizona on traditional Dineh (Navajo) and Hopi land. The banquet was held to induct Irl Engelhardt, CEO of Peabody Group into the Mining Hall of Fame. Attendees jeered and physically attacked the demonstrators during the protest which lasted only a matter of minutes before security personal removed the banquet busters. Activist Carbon Ridder walked through the event, megaphone in hand, asking the world's mining elite and CEO's from at least thirty multinational corporations to consider the effects of their actions on the lives of the native people of this land.

Ridder stated that the award to be given to Engelhardt came from the "sacrifice of the Traditional People and land at Black Mesa region in Northern Arizona".

David Yerkey of the Javalina group was handing out information when he was attacked by several banquet delegates, knocked to the floor and punched several times in the face and body. He and Jack Strasburg were booked at Pima County Jail and released on their own recognizance. Police ignored Yerkey's request to make a statement regarding the violence.

The action brings attention to the ongoing cultural and religious violations caused by Peabody's mining operations. As the mines continue to expand, more people will have to be relocated. The group said that they felt it inappropriate that someone with such a tarnished human rights and environmental record be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Approximately over 9,000 Dineh people have been forced from the traditional sacred lands they have occupied for centuries, to make way for the mines. People living in the area are subject to the effects of nearby blasting which shakes their houses and cracks the foundations. Health effects from coal dust and toxic chemicals continue to effect their daily lives and have also killed many of their sheep.

Peabody is also responsible, they say, for the destruction of over 2,400 archaeological and burial sites and for using 61% of the water withdrawn annually from the deep water tables. The pumping of this water, residents claim, is responsible for drying up springs that have furnished water for hundreds of years.

Human rights and environmental organizations internationally have protested the continuation of the Black Mesa and Kayenta mining operations since 1972.