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article Sep 19, 2020 : Injunction issued against hemp farm

https://navajotimes.com/reznews/injunction-issued-against-hemp-farm/?fbclid=IwAR375SvD2il6YgKe-6Sf_h8DbeyuXNcXZSC5Lu8eLVzlkVqIwfW2PywYMYk

Shiprock District Court has granted a preliminary injunction and temporary protection order against Dineh Benally, Native American Agricultural Company and Navajo Gold Company, leading to the Navajo Nation Police to begin shutting down hemp farm operations and telling hemp farm workers to leave

A few days after the Navajo Nation Police released a press release of the growing concerns and reports from Shiprock community members over hemp cultivation in June, the Navajo Nation filed a lawsuit against Benally, who is president of the San Juan River Farm Board, in his personal and official capacity, along with his Native American Agricultural Company and Navajo Gold Company, seeking to stop “the illegal and unregulated growth, production, transporting, licensing, and selling industrial hemp within the exterior boundaries of the Navajo Nation.”

It was summer of not only a pandemic but of community upheaval in Northern Agency as Benally’s neighbors protested against hemp production, the non-Navajo work force Benally brought in and everything that came along with it.

During the first day of the hearing on the restraining order, the Navajo Nation’s special counsel Charlie Galbraith of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, had his witnesses, who consisted of Oliver Whaley, director of Navajo Environmental Protection Agency, Navajo Chief of Police Phillip Francisco, and community members, give their testimony. They were cross examined by Gallup attorney David Jordan, representing Benally.

Near the end of the day Jordan called two witnesses, one of Benally’s security guards and a farmer who was paid by the San Juan River Farm Board President to use his farm to cultivate hemp. On Friday they were supposed to start up again with witnesses testifying and being cross-examined, including Benally himself. But Jordan and Benally decided to rest and not call witnesses, and with that both counsels gave their closing statements.

“We had several witnesses yesterday and we went down some rabbit holes of he-said she-said play-by-play of what happened,” said Galbraith in his closing statement. “It was just a very small sampling of the daily confrontation happening because of this hemp. Conflicts are happening…daily. They’re tearing families apart. They are a public health crisis…you heard Chief of Police Phillip Francisco call it a crisis situation.”

Galbraith continued to talk of the testimony given such as Whaley’s who explained the environmental harm these unregulated hemp farms and hoop houses are doing to the land. While stating the requirements needed to be met in order to grant a preliminary injunction, Shiprock District Judge Genevieve Woody referred to Whaley’s testimony as fitting the requirement of irreparable injury, loss, or damage to Plaintiff’s rights and interests that would continue to occur unless a preliminary injunction is issued.

Whaley said he had observed violations of the Navajo Nation Pesticide Act because NEPA did not issue licenses for some of the pesticides used on the farm. He also spoke of the septic tanks installed on the hemp farm with no construction or operating permits. They were not being maintained and were leaking sewage, which posed a threat of contamination to the land, he said. He added sand bags had been installed to divert water from the San Juan River, this being investigated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He stated trash was being illegally dumped on the farm lands, and on site-generators are attached to large water hauling tanks that he suspected contain gasoline to power the generators.

In Jordan’s closing statement he said should a preliminary injunction be ordered then Benally’s 2020 crop for nine farms would be “entirely lost.” There are 36 hemp farms that are so far identified.

“The plaintiff has completely forgotten their complaints,” said Jordan. “Their complaint had nothing to do with protesters, environment. It was CBD and hemp is illegal. It’s risky. It’s this and that. Things we didn’t hear anything about in their case. They didn’t even put on evidence of what my client is growing.”

Jordan had a problem with the “environmental guy” Whaley, noting he had explained NEPA has a procedure to address issues and then gives the offender a chance to fix the problem, after which they do a follow up.

“This case isn’t being brought by the Navajo Nation EPA,” said Jordan. “The Navajo Nation EPA isn’t asking for a preliminary injunction. Why? Because they have an entire remedy of law they are following. A procedure they are doing which gives my client a chance to address environmental concerns if they ask them.”

After the end of the hearing, local radio stations KGAK and KNDN broadcast interviews with farmers who gave up their farms for Benally to cultivate hemp on, and the farm workers themselves, discussing how Benally is a “good man” and that racial bias should not be an issue. During the hearing Jordan accused the protesters of using racist epithets toward Benally’s mostly non-Navajo workforce.

“The negative things being said about him (Benally) is just racial comments,” said one woman who works for Benally. “How can we go against our own Navajo kind? Coming at the Asians, you guys need to think where does your clothes come from? Where does your vehicle come from? Who are the ones bringing in the medicine? Who are helping the elderly? It’s the Asians who are here giving their time. We need to work together.”