In early January, a small group of Navajos blocked
Mobil Oil Corp. offices near Aneth, Utah, with a 20-foot tepee,
demanding a halt to oil and gas drilling on their desolate corner
of the reservation. The tribe’s Aneth Chapter accused Mobil of
contaminating local springs, ruining prime grazing lands and not
hiring enough Native Americans.
The protesters
said they were also fed up with tribal headquarters in Window Rock,
Ariz. Mark Maryboy, a Navajo Nation council delegate, said the
tribal bureaucracy takes millions in royalties from Mobil’s 300
wells, but leaves locals without running water or electricity.
After three days of talks held in the tepee, the
tribe and the oil company signed a new 32-point agreement, said
Beth Ann Rust, a Mobil negotiator. The agreement, which replaces
one from 1978, will allow power and other utility companies to
reach remote sections of the reservation by using existing Mobil
facilities, Rust said. Maryboy said the agreement also directs the
Navajo Nation to funnel more money back into the Aneth community, a
move which depends on the tribal leaders’ cooperation.
“It’s up to me and the other chapter officials
to make it become a reality,” he said. “Otherwise, we’re back to
square one 10 years from now.”
* Danielle
Desruisseaux
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Tepee blockade spurs talks.
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