Press Release
For Immediate Release

Honor the Earth Concert in Shiprock Calls for Safe Energy on Native Lands

On Monday night, May 21st, the Grammy Award winning folk-rock duo, Indigo Girls (Amy Ray and Emily Saliers), will take the stage at the Phil L. Thomas Performing Arts Center in Shiprock for a special night of music with a message. The concert, entitled Honor the Earth, is a benefit designed to lend support to grassroots Native groups working to stop the Desert Rock coal plant and herald in a new, safe energy economy, one based on the vast renewable energy potential of Native lands.

The Indigo Girls - Honor the Earth concert will start at 7:00 PM, with doors at 6:00 PM. The acclaimed Hopi reggae band Casper will open the show. Tickets are on sale at the Phil Thomas Performing Arts Center and the Shiprock Trading Center in Shiprock, at Hastings in Farmington, and at Maria's Bookstore in Durango, CO. To charge by phone, call 505.368.2490. Ticket prices range from $20.00 to $30.00.

“The heroic struggle of the Navajo people against coal and uranium mining and for a new, safe energy economy offers a vital and positive vision for all of Indian country, and all of America,” said Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of the national Native environmental group Honor the Earth, which is sponsoring the concert.

“Honor the Earth has worked for decades to support communities protecting their land, water, air and future generations. With this benefit concert, we will continue to stand with the people of Diné Bii Kaya,” stated LaDuke. “Energy does not have to come at the expense of a people’s ecosystem and culture.”

Navajo communities in the Four Corners area have been at a stand off with Sithe Global Power and the Diné Power Authority over the construction of Desert Rock, a 1,500 megawatt mine-mouth, coal fired power plant that would cost 2.2 billion dollars to build and sit on 580 acres about 30 miles southwest of Farmington.

At a time when tribes, cities, states and nations are working to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the Desert Rock plant would increase them. CO2 emissions from Desert Rock will amount to 10 million metric tons a year, effectively canceling any gains from Governor Bill Richardson’s Executive Order calling for a reduction of 10.5 million metric tons of carbon per year by 2012.
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In fact, if Desert Rock becomes operational, it will push the Four Corners area over Federal EPA air quality standards. Asthma, other respiratory diseases and cancers are already rampant in the communities due to toxins spewed by existing power plants, mines, delivery systems and oil and gas wells; a new plant would only add to these adverse impacts.

“It is blatant environmental racism and injustice when you place a third Power Plant in an impoverished community with little or no access to healthcare,” said Lori Goodman of Diné CARE. “For our elders and future generations, we vow to fight this intrusion upon our people's health and way of life.”

The Honor the Earth - Indigo Girls concert will not only draw attention to stopping new coal facilities, but also address the overarching issue of global climate change and the urgent need to transition away from an economy based on fossil fuels to one based on renewable energy, like wind and solar power. “We're seeing a change,” said Winona LaDuke, referring to her long term work on energy policy. “People are continuing to say that they want to protect their generations from toxins, but they are also demanding that we all take steps to avert climate collapse.”

The most abundant solar resources in America are in the southwestern states. According to EPA scientists, sufficient solar energy falls in the southwest to provide all of the nation’s electricity at current consumption levels. New photovoltaic technologies, such as concentrated solar power plants, can now produce electricity at a cost competitive to coal, and solar panels produce no CO2 and other pollutants when generating electricity. Such data highlights that Native people’s call for the creation of a renewable energy economy is more than visionary – it is doable.

Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls discussed Honor the Earth’s support for such visionary grassroots action by stating, “We stand in solidarity with Native communities who are fighting toxic and climate changing fossil fuel-based energy on their land. Shifting the current U.S. energy paradigm toward renewable sources is the hope for our future as we come to fully respect and implement the rights of people to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and protect the environment for future generations."

Indigo Girls will perform a second show May 22 in Flagstaff, at the Pine Mountain Amphitheater. The two shows will benefit Operation Desert Rock, Dooda Desert Rock, Diné CARE and the Just Transition Coalition.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
HONOR THE EARTH 612-879-7529 or info@honorearth.org
FOR TALENT INTERVIEWS:
BECKY BODONYI 404-377-9900 or becky.rcam@gmail.com