In the 1930s, mining companies began looking at the coal deposits of Black Mesa, a geological formation
that extends south into the Hopi reservation. Tribal councils for both the Hopi and Navajo were formed to
sign lease agreements to mining companies for the reservation lands. However, the Hopi Tribal Council
could not sign lease agreements because the Dineh were legally settled there. This began the so-called
Dineh-Hopi conflict in which the Hopi have been struggling for title to their land. Similarly, the Dineh
living on this land have been struggling to maintain their rights to remain on the land which holds, amoung
other things, great religious value to them.
The Hopi reserve land has been divided, through a series of court cases, into what is now known as the Hopi Partitioned Lands, strictly for Hopi use, and Navajo Partitioned Lands for Dineh use. In 1997, the Accommodation Agreement was passed which allows for Dineh, who sign the agreement, to continue to live on Hopi Partitioned Lands, under the limitations of a 75 year lease from the Hopi Tribal Council, under Hopi legal jurisdiction. While many Dineh have already signed the agreement, there are some Dineh who see it as a "sell-out" and refuse to accept it. For them, it would mean not only a loss of sovereignty and freedom, but also the inevitable destruction of their land to the mining companies, to whom they believe the Hopi Tribal Council intends to lease the land.