STOP THE COLUMBUS PROJECT
January, 1991
The University of Arizona plans to build a $200 million
international observatory on Dzil nchaa si an, Mt. Graham, the
sacred mountain of the Apache people, including a $60 million
Columbus binocular telescope, in collaboration with the Italian
gov't and Germany's Max Planck Institute.
Recently, the university of Ohio withdrew its support of $15
million for financial reasons. The Smithsonian Institution has
also withdrawn support from the Columbus Project, as it's called.
The mountains adjacent to the San Carlos Apache Indian
Reservation in the Coronado National Forest. The Apaches have
demanded a halt to The project, because of the destruction it
will bring to their spiritual homelands.
-Wendy L. Helgemo in HONOR digest
Tucson, AZ - The Apache Survival Coalition (ASC), an
organization led by Apache Tribal Council members, elders,
medicine men and women and their supporters, filed suit
against the U.S. Forestry Dept.. in August. According to the papers
filed by the ASC, the lawsuit is the result of "...the actions and
omissions of the United States Forest Service in planning and
otherwise approving a telescope project on "Dzil nchaa si an,"
otherwise known as Mt. Graham..."
The suit alleges that "the Forest Service granted a Special Use
Permit to the Arizona Board of Regents and the University of
Arizona to construct three telescopes atop Mt. Graham...(and this
is) in violation of the United States Constitution and various
federal statutes." The laws violated include: the American Indian
Religious Freedom Act, the First and Third Amendments of the
Constitution, the National Environmental Policy Act, the National
Preservation Act, and the National Forest Management Act.
ASC's lawsuit joins the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra
Club, the Audobon Society and Defenders of Wildlife who have
brought suit against the University of Arizona for violation of the
Endangered Species Act.
Mt Graham is one of several sacred sites threatened by
industrial and commercial development. These sites include the
Medicine Wheel in Wyoming where the Forest Service is considering
building a parking lot and observation platform and Badger Two
Medicine in Montana where Chevron and Fina propose oil drilling in
a pristine area sacred to Blackfeet.
Readers can send letters of protest about the Mt. Graham project
to: Germany: Dr. Heinz Riesenhuber, Fed'l Minister for Research and
Technology, Heinemannstr. 2, 5300 Bohn 2, Federal Republic of
Germany. Italy: Pope John Paul II, c/o Archbishop Agostino
Cacciavillan, Apostolic Nuncia Ture, 339 Massachusetts Ave, NW,
Washington, DC 20008. University of Arizona, Dr. Manual Pacheco,
President, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, (202)621-1514.
To support or request information, contact: Apache Survival
Coalition, P.O. Box 11814, Tucson, AZ 85734 from The Circle
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Michele Lord * Walk in Peace with
milo@scicom.alphacdc.com * our Mother Earth
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