Susan Carroll
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 24, 2005 12:00 AM
TUCSON - The Tohono O'odham Nation on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in federal
court seeking to halt a $13 million telescope construction project atop Kitt
Peak as leaders threatened to break a lease signed decades ago allowing
scientific observations on the tribe's sacred mountain.
The complaint in U.S. District Court in Tucson asserts that the National
Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution violated federal law by
starting construction last September on a cluster of four telescopes, dubbed
VERITAS, designed to detect high-energy particles from sources such as black
holes and exploding stars.
"Since the announcement of plans to construct a new array of telescopes and
related buildings, the Nation has asserted that further building would
destroy the spiritual nature of the site," the lawsuit states. "Not only
were its objections ignored, but the federal government violated numerous
provisions of federal law in order to commence construction without formally
considering the Nation's position."
Curt Suplee, a National Science Foundation spokesman, said Wednesday that
officials at the Virginia-based agency had not received a copy of the
complaint from the court and could not comment on the lawsuit. VERITAS
spokesman Trevor C. Weekes also declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that the National Science Foundation, which has leased
land atop Kitt Peak since 1958, ignored concerns by tribal members that the
project "would destroy the spiritual nature of the site" and seeks to stop
construction during an investigation into whether the government violated
historic preservation or environmental policy laws.
The site selected for VERITAS, or Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope
Array System, is located on Kitt Peak, known as Iolkam to members of the
Tohono O'odham Nation and revered as one of the tribe's sacred sites for
spiritual ceremonies, according to the complaint. Kitt Peak National
Observatory, about 60 miles southwest of Tucson, also is home to more than
20 other telescopes.
"The nation has always maintained that this mountain is of cultural
significance to our people," said Vivian Juan-Saunders, the nation's
chairwoman. "We want a role in decision making, and we have a right to
decision making. I'm appalled that certain federal laws are not being abided
by a federal entity."
The lawsuit states that the Smithsonian Institution subleased the land from
the National Science Foundation in 2003, but accuses the government of
failing to properly seek approval from the tribe or public comments. A
previous site selected for VERITAS in the Santa Rita Mountains eventually
was rejected because of its proximity to a Native American sweat lodge,
according to the court records.
The Tohono O'odham's lawsuit alleges that the National Science Foundation
failed to send draft reports to tribal leaders assessing the potential
cultural and environmental impact, which prevented the nation from
identifying Kitt Peak as a sacred site eligible for historic property
protections.
Tribal leaders twice denied the National Science Foundation's requests to
lease land on Kitt Peak before signing a perpetual lease in 1958, the
lawsuit states. Juan-Saunders said tribal leaders were drawn into that
agreement by "the promise of revenue and employment" during an era when the
federal government was systematically taking away land and certain rights
from tribes across the country.
"Today we're in an era of self-governance and self-determination, where the
Tohono O'odham Nation is concerned that our rights are being violated," she
said, adding that the tribe will seek to break the 47-year-old lease if
leaders are not satisfied that cultural and spiritual sites are adequately
protected.