Shanker says the traditionalists are not opposed to finding a way to dispose of waste other than outhouses and pit privies.
But the government didn't consider any alternatives, such as above-ground plumbing, when it approved the project. The National Environmental Policy Act sets out a detailed checklist of things the government is supposed to do before it decides to go ahead with a project. Under NEPA, the government is supposed to consider other alternatives to a project, including what might happen if no action is taken at all. It is supposed to look at a project's effects on the broader community, including economic and cultural changes that might occur. And, Shanker says, it also should have taken into account the cumulative effects of four other water projects along with the sewer system--as is required by federal law.
Often, NEPA requires the writing of a full-blown "environmental impact statement" or at least a more abbreviated "environmental assessment." In the case of the Hopi sewer project, IHS determined that neither an EIS nor an EA were required because reservation sanitation projects are specifically exempted under IHS regulations. So instead of a NEPA-guided EIS, the IHS included a five-page "environmental review" in the overall facility plan for the Hotevilla project. The plan concluded that a more thorough assessment was unnecessary because the project would not have a significant impact on the environment.
The lawsuit dragged on with a federal judge first rejecting a request to stop the project and then, last year, ruling that the traditionalists simply couldn't sue the Hopi Tribe because the tribe is protected from lawsuits under sovereign immunity. The one-sentence decision issued last week by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals doesn't elaborate on that thinking. It simply affirms the lower-court ruling.
Shanker contends that the project was funded by federal dollars and built, for the most part, by the federal government. "Tribal sovereign immunity shouldn't frustrate the [U.S. government's] ability to comply with its own laws," he says.
For its part, the Indian Health Service says it followed the rules in building the project. John Hamilton of the IHS Phoenix-area office, who helped oversee the sewer and water projects in Hotevilla, says most Hotevilla residents were eager for the system to go in and told the government so at numerous public hearings.
"Why should a small percentage of the community stop it?" he says, adding that no one is forced to hook up to the system if he doesn't want to.
Hamilton also notes that the sanitation facilities are needed to prevent the spread of diseases like hepatitis and gastroenteritis, which can occur if raw sewage is allowed to build up in the community. No studies were done of health problems in Hotevilla--a point being raised by the traditionalists who say the dearth of sewage-treatment facilities has not harmed anyone. But Hamilton says an IHS study of Indian reservations nationally compared before-and-after disease rates in what's called Indian Country. In the 1950s, before federal sanitation projects were common, Indian communities suffered disease rates four to six times higher than the U.S. average. That rate has fallen to about the same as the national average since most communities now have sewage-treatment facilities, he says.
Masayesva is generally supportive of the sewer system simply because people are used to modern conveniences. "The young kids, they need indoor plumbing," he says. "Who in Phoenix would dream of not having a shower? These people are no different."
Besides, he adds, "If a sewer line can destroy your religion, that's not a very good religion."
But Masayesva is critical of the government for the way it handled the project, particularly because planners didn't study the effect of the project on the traditionalists and their strong religious beliefs. That's a central argument that Evehema and the other plaintiffs are raising in their lawsuit.
"How do you measure a culture?" asks Masayesva. "You can't transform beliefs into numbers that you can feed into your computers . . . and then crank out what the impacts are. When the government doesn't understand something, they ignore it. It's a racist thing."
For now, life goes on for Hotevilla and its contentious traditionalists. But several of the elder traditionalists have passed away, and Evehema's group appears to be dwindling.
Masayesva wishes a leader would emerge in Hotevilla, someone who could once again bind the people together.
The village as well as the tribe need visionaries who can deal with all sorts of issues, including a long-standing dispute with a major coal-mining company that the Hopi worry is draining their scarce--and sacred--water supply.
"I just also hope the young ones don't hold a grudge against Dan [Evehema]," Masayesva adds. "He is a valuable man because he is standing against someone and standing on principle. The young people should be very proud of him, and see that in a way he is for them."
Contact Patti Epler at her online address: pepler@newtimes.com
