No Power for the Powerless

Mohave Electric is seeking to abandon a 70-mile power line that runs north from U.S. 66 to the edge of the Grand Canyon and turn it over to the BIA, the Havasupai and their neighbors, the Hualapai. But the federal government and the tribes do not want to assume ownership of the line. The BIA and Mohave Electric have been locked in a legal tussle for years over the issue.

The BIA, meanwhile, is responsible for operating the power line that connects with Mohave Electric's line at the edge of the canyon and runs to the village of Supai, thousands of feet below the rim. The BIA line also is decrepit and needs an overhaul.

The Havasupai are the big losers in this turf war between the BIA and Mohave Electric. Neither the utility nor the BIA has been providing routine maintenance along the 70-mile distribution line.

The lack of maintenance has left Supai vulnerable to frequent and lengthy blackouts. There were more than 17 power outages in Supai in the past two years, some of them lasting weeks at a time, Bob McNichols, the former BIA superintendent for the Havasupai tribe, tells me.

The blackouts are devastating to the tribe.

Tribal chairman Thomas Siyuja told me about a litany of problems that have been endured by the community because of the frequent and lengthy power failures.

"This is a really big impact on the tribe and the people who are losing all their food and frozen meat in their freezers," Siyuja says.

Getting food is no easy task in Supai. It must be packed in by horses or flown in by helicopter.

Siyuja says medicine that needs refrigeration has been ruined, including drugs needed to treat diabetes that is rampant in the community.

Elderly and young members of the community have been ravished by heat strokes, Siyuja says. During the most recent blackout, several tribe members were evacuated by helicopter to hospitals for heat-related ailments.

The community's only store and cafe were forced to close.

Siyuja says the community's water system was crippled and emergency backup generators were inoperable during the most recent blackout because the tribe lacked propane needed to run them.

With limited water supplies, the village was unable to save a house that burned down after the power was temporarily restored.

The village's lodge that hosts tourists from around the world was forced to close, costing the impoverished tribe untold revenue.

The power outages are a black mark for Arizona tourism.

I met a family from Denmark who had just hiked down the trail into Supai, expecting to stay in the lodge. But the lodge was closed because of the blackouts. Eva Langkjer and her family members started hiking into the canyon at 4 a.m. and were now faced with having to turn around and hike back out because there was no place for them to stay.

"We planned to eat at the restaurant and cafe and bring as little as possible and buy what we need," Langkjer says.

The trip to Havasupai was to be the highlight of the family's vacation to America, she says.

Utility executives, BIA bureaucrats and Arizona elected officials have shown little empathy to the power plight faced by the Havasupai.

The only person in state government who appears to be seriously concerned is state Corporation Commissioner Kris Mayes. She's been closely following the issue and has encouraged the BIA and Mohave Electric to reach a negotiated settlement and immediately take steps to make sure electricity is delivered to the tribe in a reliable manner.

"The people who are hurt are the Havasupai, and that's just not right," Mayes says. "That really angers me, and it's gone on way too long. Some branch of government needs to step up and resolve the issues."

The logical branch of government to step up and demand that the BIA and Mohave Electric settle their differences and take steps to assure that power is delivered to the Havasupai is the governor.

Her office did not return my call to discuss this issue. This leads me to believe that Napolitano will do nothing on this issue because there is no political gain in helping out a few Indians at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.