The Hopi believe that the Four Corners—where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona meet—is the center of the universe and holds all life on Earth in balance. It also has some of the largest deposits of coal, uranium, and oil shale in the world. According to the National Academy of Sciences the Four Corners is a "national sacrifice area." This ancestral home of the Hopi and Dineh (Navajo) people is the center of the most intense energy development in the United States. Traditional grazing and farm land are being swallowed up by uranium mines, coal mines, and power plants.

The Four Corners, sometimes referred to as the "jointuse area," is comprised of 1.8 million acres (729,000 ha) of high desert plateau where Navajo sheep herders have grazed their flocks on idle Hopi land for generations. In 1972 Congress passed Public Law (PL) 93-531, which established the Navajo...