Post by Okwes on Apr 9, 2008 15:43:40 GMT -5
Speaking Din���é to Dirty Power: Navajo Challenge New Coal-Fired Plant
by Jeff Conant, Special to CorpWatch
April 3rd, 2007
cartoon by Khalil Bendib
corpwatch.org/img/original/3-30-Clean-Coal.jpg
corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14435&printsafe=1
In a makeshift hut on a hilltop in the high desert near Farmington, New
Mexico, local schoolteacher David Nez projects a PowerPoint presentation
on a blanket nailed to the wall. Outside the door, a small wind and solar
generator silently provides the electricity for his computer-aided
presentation. Less than a mile away, a different technology rules. Smoke
plumes mark the horizon from huge coal-fired power plants, as an enormous
crane rips into the Navajo coal mine, the largest open pit mine in the
western U.S.
If plans go through for a massive new plant, co-owned by Houston-based
Sithe Global Power and the Din���é Power Authority (DPA), another coal-fired
facility will generate electricity on the lands of the Din���é indigenous
peoples (also known as the Navajo by the colonizers). This tribal
enterprise has split the Navajo Nation, with some praising the opportunity
for economic development and others decrying the inevitable effect on
environment and values.
Elouise Brown, Hank Dixon, Nez and a few of their Navajo elders have
gathered in the rustic hut to figure out how to block the new
construction. Brown found out about the project in December when she came
on a man drilling a test well on her family����²s grazing land. She cornered
the worker and forced him to leave. That same day she established a
blockade at the site now known as the Dooda Desert Rock vigil (Dooda means
����³no����´ in the Din���é language). Even without the new project a dense curtain
of brown smog hangs over the desert between the site of the vigil and the
distant silhouette of Shiprock peak.
The plant would burn 5.5 million tons of Navajo coal per year and produce
1,500 megawatts of electricity for the fast-growing cities of the
Southwest. "You will hear that the Navajo Nation supports this power
plant, but grassroots people do not support this," said Nez, who lives 20
miles from the site of the proposed plant.
Hank Dixon, a young Navajo whose family����²s land is impacted by the project,
called the decision-making process ����³undemocratic.����´
George Hardeen, spokesman for the office of Navajo Nation President Joe
Shirley, says it was precisely that: the Tribal Council voted 66 to 7 to
invite Sithe. ����³It����²s just that [the Dooda Desert Rock resisters] happen to
be on the side that lost the vote.����´
With frequent rallies in the state capitol at Santa Fe in support of the
Dooda Desert Rock Resisters, awareness of the issue is growing. Dixon,
Brown, and Nez think that when people get the facts, a majority of Navajo
will oppose the plant. They are planning to tour of the entire Navajo
Nation ����¶ an area the size of the state of West Virginia ����¶ to educate
their tribe.
The PowerPoint they are preparing will include such words as ����³mercury,����´
����³arsenic,����´ ����³acid rain,����´ ����³sludge,����´ and ����³smog����´ that have no equivalent in
Din���é, but have an all-too familiar impact on Navajo health, land, and
culture, Hank Dixon says. ����³Our Navajo people give a blessing every morning
with corn pollen to welcome the dawn.����´ Squinting out at the brown cloud,
he adds, ����³With that smog blocking the sunrise, we can����²t even see the
dawn.����´
Big Coal is Big Business
The proposed Desert Rock plant is one of the more than 150 new coal-fired
power plants planned to go into production in the U.S. by 2030. With
growing awareness of the role of global warming and air quality concerns,
many of these projects have sparked campaigns like the one envisioned in
the New Mexico hilltop hut.
The rush to build new coal plants is being largely underwritten by private
equity firms ����¶ big investors that raise money from pension funds and
wealthy individuals. The Blackstone Group, a Park Avenue investment firm
owns 80 percent of Sithe Global. Forbes has recognized Blackstone chief
executive officer Stephen Schwarzman as the 73rd richest man in the U.S.,
with a personal net worth of $2.5 billion. From his perch in one of the
most expensive townhouses on Park Avenue, formerly owned by John D.
Rockefeller, Schwarzman oversees a lucrative empire that includes 47
companies, with more than $85 billion in revenue from holdings as varied
as Aunt Jemima pancake mix, Houghton Mifflin Publishing, and Universal
Studios.
Despite the Blackstone Group����²s dizzying wealth, Sithe is asking the state
of New Mexico for an $85 million tax break to build the Desert Rock plant.
The Navajo Nation has already offered Sithe a 67 percent tax reduction and
a bargain basement price of $2.70 per thousand gallons for the water that
will be used in the plant. (The tax break failed to pass a March 2007
vote, but may be brought back by politicians down the road)
Frank Maisano, spokesperson for Sithe ����¶ and a man with a long history
battling emissions standards for the energy, automotive, and other
polluting industries ����¶ says the company needs tax breaks to make the
project commercially viable.
����³You have to understand that this is a three billion dollar project, so
the revenue it generates for both the State and the [Navajo] Nation will
be extremely significant. Even with the 67 percent tax reduction, it makes
Sithe the largest taxpayer on the Navajo Nation. This reflects the size of
the project and its importance to the Navajo.����´
For Sithe and other energy companies, there are many advantages to
building power plants on tribal land. For one thing, the Navajo
reservation is rich in coal ����¶ much of it owned by BHP Billiton of
Australia, the world����²s largest mining company. For Sithe, a key attraction
is the status of tribes as sovereign nations that are not required to
follow U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions standards.
����³They only recognize our sovereignty when they want to dump toxic waste on
us,����´ says Lori Goodman, spokesperson for Din���é CARE, (Din���é Citizens
Against Ruining our Environment), She charges that Sithe is benefitting
from ����³dick Cheney����²s secret meetings with the energy companies����´ that
resulted in the Energy Policy Act of August 2005. A provision of this act
known as the Tribal Energy Resource Agreements (TERA) made it unnecessary
for Indian nations to follow national laws such as the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act.
Sithe counters that the Navajo have a sovereign right to profit from their
resources. ����³It����²s easy for environmentalists to say you can����²t use that coal
because it����²s dirty,����´ says Sithe spokesperson, Maisano. ����³But the Navajos
have coal in the ground, and that is a huge economic development resource
for them.����´
Navajo spokesperson Hardeen agrees. ����³The Navajo Nation government has to
take care of its people by raising revenues and providing services, and
that����²s what this project will do.����´
Economic Opportunities
Sithe expects that the proposed Desert Rock plant will create 400
permanent jobs and generate $50 million per year for the tribe ����¶ a third
of the Navajo Nation budget ����¶ over the facility's 30-40 year life span.
Maisano points out that the plant is unique in that the Navajo Nation will
be part owners.
����³It����²s not just about $50 million a year,����´ he says. ����³It����²s an attitude and
an approach. It's adding to coal and water leases, to construction jobs,
to quality of life.����´
����³This project will kick-start the Navajo Nation economy,����´ says Hardeen.
����³Having a project of this size ����¶ the largest project in native America ����¶
is a huge cornerstone of the Navajo Nation����²s goals. There����²s really nothing
else that can compare to this.����´
"This is not just about one project," says plant opponent Hank Dixon.
"It����²s about the people surviving as Navajo. We have half a million Navajo
and they����²re proposing a plant that����²s going to employ 400 people. That����²s
not even a dent in our economic development problems.����´
����³If you����²re going to build an infrastructure to run a nation," adds David
Nez, "you can����²t do it on $50 million a year. We����²re like a third world
country, selling our natural resources really cheap. If we really want to
do that we should make these companies pay what it����²s worth.����´
But Nez raises a more fundamental objection: ����³Is the goal of the Navajo
people to get rich? Because quality of life, even if you����²re poor, means
clean air, clean water, beautiful scenery. Is Sithe going to buy water for
our children in the future?����´
The Four Corners ����¶ A National Sacrifice Area
Even if activists manage to derail the new plant, the Four Corners region
is already ����³a national energy sacrifice area,����´ says Mike Eisenberg of the
San Juan Citizens Alliance, a local community group. His group has been
protesting the Four Corners power plant and the San Juan generating
station, located within sight of each other just outside Farmington in San
Juan County, which are two of the most polluting plants in the western
U.S.
American Lung Association figures show that 16,000 people in the county,
or close to 15 percent of the population, suffer from lung disease, most
likely from plant emissions. The 2,040 megawatt Four Corners plant emits
157 million pounds of sulfur dioxide, 122 million pounds of nitrogen
oxides, 8 million pounds of soot and 2,000 pounds of mercury a year. The
1,800 megawatt San Juan generating station releases over 100 million
pounds of sulfur dioxide, more than 100 million pounds of nitrogen oxides,
roughly 6 million pounds of soot, and at least 1000 pounds of mercury.
Add to this the 18,000 oil and gas wells spread throughout the region and
you have ����³massive cumulative impacts that will never be reversed,����´ says
Eisenberg.
The Navajo Nation seems to have no accesible records of local health impacts.
����³We don����²t have numbers, because Indian Health Services is notoriously
under-funded and isn����²t keeping track [of the health impacts]," says David
Nez. "But when I was a kid no one here had asthma. Now lots of kids have
it.����´
CorpWatch calls to reach Indian Health Services for comments were not
returned.
Dr. Marcus Higi of Cortez, Colorado, who worked as a physician on the
reservation for four years, agrees with Nez. "I've seen the worst asthma
cases out here near the power plants," he said. "A kid would come in,
barely breathing. They're basically on the verge of death."
Air pollution is not the only problem. Waste from the area����²s two coal
mines has destroyed ground water with high sulfate content that kills
livestock, ����³wiping out ranching as a viable business on this part of the
reservation,����´ according to Jeff Stant, a consultant with the Clean Air
Task Force, a Boston-based non-profit group.
Some ����³70 million tons of coal combustion waste has been dumped in the
Navajo coal mine, making it the biggest dump of mine waste in the
country," Stant continues. "Between this and the nearby San Juan mine
there����²s 150 million tons of waste sitting there. That����²s more fly ash and
scrubber sludge than the entire nation generates in one year.����´
This waste, heavily laden with cadmium, selenium, arsenic, and lead ����¶
byproducts of coal-burning ����¶ leaches into groundwater turning it poisonous
to people, livestock, and vegetation. A forthcoming EPA report released to
the national environmental group Earth Justice indicates that groundwater
contaminated with coal ash leads to a cancer risk as high as 1 in 100 ����¶
10,000 times higher than previous EPA estimates.
����³When you look at the plan for the Desert Rock plant, one of the first
things it says is that the sludge and ash will be dumped back into the
mine pit," says Stant, who directs the Safe Disposal Campaign for the
Clean Air Task force. "It����²s the same thing the other plants have done, and
it����²s a disaster.����´
Desert Rock Emissions
Sithe says that Desert Rock will be a flagship for a new generation of
����³environmentally friendly����´ coal-fired plants. According to Desert Rock
Energy vice-president Nathan Plagans, fly ash from the plant will be sold
to make concrete, reducing the plant����²s solid waste output dramatically,
and the plant will use as little water as possible.
Jeff Stant, who has studied the project permit, disagrees. ����³Assertions of
plans are one thing. What the permit says is another.����´ Desert Rock����²s
pollution permit application says: ����³Solid wastes produced by the
combustion of the coal and the air pollution control system will be
returned to the mine.����´
Sithe has also made a voluntary agreement to reduce mercury emissions by
80 percent above what the pollution permit requires. But the Sierra Club,
another national environmental group, estimates that the plant will put
114 to 555 pounds of mercury a year into the local environment, along with
tons of other toxins. Regional waterways including the San Juan River are
already subject to fish warnings because of high mercury content.
The plant will also emit an estimated 13.7 million tons of global warming
pollution per year, Sithe claims that it has designed the plant to
function at super-critical heat, to get more energy out of less coal. Yet
Sandra Ely, environment and energy policy coordinator for the New Mexico
Environment Department, told the Farmington Daily Times that the plant
would raise statewide greenhouse gas levels by 25 percent.
While it is a leading cause of global warming, the EPA currently has no
restrictions on carbon dioxide.
That may change soon. California utilities' strict emission standards mean
that state will not buy power from coal-powered plants, and other states
may soon follow.
Carol Oldham of the Sierra Club is sanguine. ����³It����²s just a matter of time
before carbon is heavily regulated,����´ she says. ����³A number of industry
groups have called for an 80 percent carbon reduction by 2050. So we could
end up with a lot of empty plants paid for by our taxes.����´
Who Gets the Power?
The energy companies, for their part are also optimistic in assuming that
there will be no change in current energy demand, and no plan for energy
conservation or increased reliance on renewable sources of energy such as
wind and solar.
As the largest Indian indigenous reservation in the U.S, with land
spanning four states, the Navajo Nation is rich not only in coal, uranium,
and other valuable minerals, but in some of the country����²s best potential
for generating wind and solar power. Nonetheless according to Navajo
Tribal Utility Authority, some 18,000 Navajo homes still lack any
electricity whatsoever.
����³You cross that dirt road over there,����´ says Nez, ����³and there����²s a little
Hogan [traditional Navajo house] and a little sheep corral, no running
water and no electricity, and in the backyard there����²s a big behemoth power
plant sending electricity down to Tucson, down to Phoenix, or Las Vegas.����´
Instead of inviting power plants, "the tribe could look into putting up
windmills and solar panels, and set aside land with the okay of the people
who hold the grazing permits.����´
Standing outside a trailer at the Dooda Desert Rock vigil, Elouise Brown
is hopeful. Looking out at the dust cloud rising from the coal mine
nearby, on land that her people have grazed for centuries, she says
����³Something tells me these power plants aren����²t going to happen.����´
����³This is not just a local issue,����´ says David Nez. ����³This is a worldwide
issue. We need to stop global warming now, and we need to start right
here.����´
This article was made possible by a generous grant from the Hurd Foundation
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by Jeff Conant, Special to CorpWatch
April 3rd, 2007
cartoon by Khalil Bendib
corpwatch.org/img/original/3-30-Clean-Coal.jpg
corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14435&printsafe=1
In a makeshift hut on a hilltop in the high desert near Farmington, New
Mexico, local schoolteacher David Nez projects a PowerPoint presentation
on a blanket nailed to the wall. Outside the door, a small wind and solar
generator silently provides the electricity for his computer-aided
presentation. Less than a mile away, a different technology rules. Smoke
plumes mark the horizon from huge coal-fired power plants, as an enormous
crane rips into the Navajo coal mine, the largest open pit mine in the
western U.S.
If plans go through for a massive new plant, co-owned by Houston-based
Sithe Global Power and the Din���é Power Authority (DPA), another coal-fired
facility will generate electricity on the lands of the Din���é indigenous
peoples (also known as the Navajo by the colonizers). This tribal
enterprise has split the Navajo Nation, with some praising the opportunity
for economic development and others decrying the inevitable effect on
environment and values.
Elouise Brown, Hank Dixon, Nez and a few of their Navajo elders have
gathered in the rustic hut to figure out how to block the new
construction. Brown found out about the project in December when she came
on a man drilling a test well on her family����²s grazing land. She cornered
the worker and forced him to leave. That same day she established a
blockade at the site now known as the Dooda Desert Rock vigil (Dooda means
����³no����´ in the Din���é language). Even without the new project a dense curtain
of brown smog hangs over the desert between the site of the vigil and the
distant silhouette of Shiprock peak.
The plant would burn 5.5 million tons of Navajo coal per year and produce
1,500 megawatts of electricity for the fast-growing cities of the
Southwest. "You will hear that the Navajo Nation supports this power
plant, but grassroots people do not support this," said Nez, who lives 20
miles from the site of the proposed plant.
Hank Dixon, a young Navajo whose family����²s land is impacted by the project,
called the decision-making process ����³undemocratic.����´
George Hardeen, spokesman for the office of Navajo Nation President Joe
Shirley, says it was precisely that: the Tribal Council voted 66 to 7 to
invite Sithe. ����³It����²s just that [the Dooda Desert Rock resisters] happen to
be on the side that lost the vote.����´
With frequent rallies in the state capitol at Santa Fe in support of the
Dooda Desert Rock Resisters, awareness of the issue is growing. Dixon,
Brown, and Nez think that when people get the facts, a majority of Navajo
will oppose the plant. They are planning to tour of the entire Navajo
Nation ����¶ an area the size of the state of West Virginia ����¶ to educate
their tribe.
The PowerPoint they are preparing will include such words as ����³mercury,����´
����³arsenic,����´ ����³acid rain,����´ ����³sludge,����´ and ����³smog����´ that have no equivalent in
Din���é, but have an all-too familiar impact on Navajo health, land, and
culture, Hank Dixon says. ����³Our Navajo people give a blessing every morning
with corn pollen to welcome the dawn.����´ Squinting out at the brown cloud,
he adds, ����³With that smog blocking the sunrise, we can����²t even see the
dawn.����´
Big Coal is Big Business
The proposed Desert Rock plant is one of the more than 150 new coal-fired
power plants planned to go into production in the U.S. by 2030. With
growing awareness of the role of global warming and air quality concerns,
many of these projects have sparked campaigns like the one envisioned in
the New Mexico hilltop hut.
The rush to build new coal plants is being largely underwritten by private
equity firms ����¶ big investors that raise money from pension funds and
wealthy individuals. The Blackstone Group, a Park Avenue investment firm
owns 80 percent of Sithe Global. Forbes has recognized Blackstone chief
executive officer Stephen Schwarzman as the 73rd richest man in the U.S.,
with a personal net worth of $2.5 billion. From his perch in one of the
most expensive townhouses on Park Avenue, formerly owned by John D.
Rockefeller, Schwarzman oversees a lucrative empire that includes 47
companies, with more than $85 billion in revenue from holdings as varied
as Aunt Jemima pancake mix, Houghton Mifflin Publishing, and Universal
Studios.
Despite the Blackstone Group����²s dizzying wealth, Sithe is asking the state
of New Mexico for an $85 million tax break to build the Desert Rock plant.
The Navajo Nation has already offered Sithe a 67 percent tax reduction and
a bargain basement price of $2.70 per thousand gallons for the water that
will be used in the plant. (The tax break failed to pass a March 2007
vote, but may be brought back by politicians down the road)
Frank Maisano, spokesperson for Sithe ����¶ and a man with a long history
battling emissions standards for the energy, automotive, and other
polluting industries ����¶ says the company needs tax breaks to make the
project commercially viable.
����³You have to understand that this is a three billion dollar project, so
the revenue it generates for both the State and the [Navajo] Nation will
be extremely significant. Even with the 67 percent tax reduction, it makes
Sithe the largest taxpayer on the Navajo Nation. This reflects the size of
the project and its importance to the Navajo.����´
For Sithe and other energy companies, there are many advantages to
building power plants on tribal land. For one thing, the Navajo
reservation is rich in coal ����¶ much of it owned by BHP Billiton of
Australia, the world����²s largest mining company. For Sithe, a key attraction
is the status of tribes as sovereign nations that are not required to
follow U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions standards.
����³They only recognize our sovereignty when they want to dump toxic waste on
us,����´ says Lori Goodman, spokesperson for Din���é CARE, (Din���é Citizens
Against Ruining our Environment), She charges that Sithe is benefitting
from ����³dick Cheney����²s secret meetings with the energy companies����´ that
resulted in the Energy Policy Act of August 2005. A provision of this act
known as the Tribal Energy Resource Agreements (TERA) made it unnecessary
for Indian nations to follow national laws such as the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act.
Sithe counters that the Navajo have a sovereign right to profit from their
resources. ����³It����²s easy for environmentalists to say you can����²t use that coal
because it����²s dirty,����´ says Sithe spokesperson, Maisano. ����³But the Navajos
have coal in the ground, and that is a huge economic development resource
for them.����´
Navajo spokesperson Hardeen agrees. ����³The Navajo Nation government has to
take care of its people by raising revenues and providing services, and
that����²s what this project will do.����´
Economic Opportunities
Sithe expects that the proposed Desert Rock plant will create 400
permanent jobs and generate $50 million per year for the tribe ����¶ a third
of the Navajo Nation budget ����¶ over the facility's 30-40 year life span.
Maisano points out that the plant is unique in that the Navajo Nation will
be part owners.
����³It����²s not just about $50 million a year,����´ he says. ����³It����²s an attitude and
an approach. It's adding to coal and water leases, to construction jobs,
to quality of life.����´
����³This project will kick-start the Navajo Nation economy,����´ says Hardeen.
����³Having a project of this size ����¶ the largest project in native America ����¶
is a huge cornerstone of the Navajo Nation����²s goals. There����²s really nothing
else that can compare to this.����´
"This is not just about one project," says plant opponent Hank Dixon.
"It����²s about the people surviving as Navajo. We have half a million Navajo
and they����²re proposing a plant that����²s going to employ 400 people. That����²s
not even a dent in our economic development problems.����´
����³If you����²re going to build an infrastructure to run a nation," adds David
Nez, "you can����²t do it on $50 million a year. We����²re like a third world
country, selling our natural resources really cheap. If we really want to
do that we should make these companies pay what it����²s worth.����´
But Nez raises a more fundamental objection: ����³Is the goal of the Navajo
people to get rich? Because quality of life, even if you����²re poor, means
clean air, clean water, beautiful scenery. Is Sithe going to buy water for
our children in the future?����´
The Four Corners ����¶ A National Sacrifice Area
Even if activists manage to derail the new plant, the Four Corners region
is already ����³a national energy sacrifice area,����´ says Mike Eisenberg of the
San Juan Citizens Alliance, a local community group. His group has been
protesting the Four Corners power plant and the San Juan generating
station, located within sight of each other just outside Farmington in San
Juan County, which are two of the most polluting plants in the western
U.S.
American Lung Association figures show that 16,000 people in the county,
or close to 15 percent of the population, suffer from lung disease, most
likely from plant emissions. The 2,040 megawatt Four Corners plant emits
157 million pounds of sulfur dioxide, 122 million pounds of nitrogen
oxides, 8 million pounds of soot and 2,000 pounds of mercury a year. The
1,800 megawatt San Juan generating station releases over 100 million
pounds of sulfur dioxide, more than 100 million pounds of nitrogen oxides,
roughly 6 million pounds of soot, and at least 1000 pounds of mercury.
Add to this the 18,000 oil and gas wells spread throughout the region and
you have ����³massive cumulative impacts that will never be reversed,����´ says
Eisenberg.
The Navajo Nation seems to have no accesible records of local health impacts.
����³We don����²t have numbers, because Indian Health Services is notoriously
under-funded and isn����²t keeping track [of the health impacts]," says David
Nez. "But when I was a kid no one here had asthma. Now lots of kids have
it.����´
CorpWatch calls to reach Indian Health Services for comments were not
returned.
Dr. Marcus Higi of Cortez, Colorado, who worked as a physician on the
reservation for four years, agrees with Nez. "I've seen the worst asthma
cases out here near the power plants," he said. "A kid would come in,
barely breathing. They're basically on the verge of death."
Air pollution is not the only problem. Waste from the area����²s two coal
mines has destroyed ground water with high sulfate content that kills
livestock, ����³wiping out ranching as a viable business on this part of the
reservation,����´ according to Jeff Stant, a consultant with the Clean Air
Task Force, a Boston-based non-profit group.
Some ����³70 million tons of coal combustion waste has been dumped in the
Navajo coal mine, making it the biggest dump of mine waste in the
country," Stant continues. "Between this and the nearby San Juan mine
there����²s 150 million tons of waste sitting there. That����²s more fly ash and
scrubber sludge than the entire nation generates in one year.����´
This waste, heavily laden with cadmium, selenium, arsenic, and lead ����¶
byproducts of coal-burning ����¶ leaches into groundwater turning it poisonous
to people, livestock, and vegetation. A forthcoming EPA report released to
the national environmental group Earth Justice indicates that groundwater
contaminated with coal ash leads to a cancer risk as high as 1 in 100 ����¶
10,000 times higher than previous EPA estimates.
����³When you look at the plan for the Desert Rock plant, one of the first
things it says is that the sludge and ash will be dumped back into the
mine pit," says Stant, who directs the Safe Disposal Campaign for the
Clean Air Task force. "It����²s the same thing the other plants have done, and
it����²s a disaster.����´
Desert Rock Emissions
Sithe says that Desert Rock will be a flagship for a new generation of
����³environmentally friendly����´ coal-fired plants. According to Desert Rock
Energy vice-president Nathan Plagans, fly ash from the plant will be sold
to make concrete, reducing the plant����²s solid waste output dramatically,
and the plant will use as little water as possible.
Jeff Stant, who has studied the project permit, disagrees. ����³Assertions of
plans are one thing. What the permit says is another.����´ Desert Rock����²s
pollution permit application says: ����³Solid wastes produced by the
combustion of the coal and the air pollution control system will be
returned to the mine.����´
Sithe has also made a voluntary agreement to reduce mercury emissions by
80 percent above what the pollution permit requires. But the Sierra Club,
another national environmental group, estimates that the plant will put
114 to 555 pounds of mercury a year into the local environment, along with
tons of other toxins. Regional waterways including the San Juan River are
already subject to fish warnings because of high mercury content.
The plant will also emit an estimated 13.7 million tons of global warming
pollution per year, Sithe claims that it has designed the plant to
function at super-critical heat, to get more energy out of less coal. Yet
Sandra Ely, environment and energy policy coordinator for the New Mexico
Environment Department, told the Farmington Daily Times that the plant
would raise statewide greenhouse gas levels by 25 percent.
While it is a leading cause of global warming, the EPA currently has no
restrictions on carbon dioxide.
That may change soon. California utilities' strict emission standards mean
that state will not buy power from coal-powered plants, and other states
may soon follow.
Carol Oldham of the Sierra Club is sanguine. ����³It����²s just a matter of time
before carbon is heavily regulated,����´ she says. ����³A number of industry
groups have called for an 80 percent carbon reduction by 2050. So we could
end up with a lot of empty plants paid for by our taxes.����´
Who Gets the Power?
The energy companies, for their part are also optimistic in assuming that
there will be no change in current energy demand, and no plan for energy
conservation or increased reliance on renewable sources of energy such as
wind and solar.
As the largest Indian indigenous reservation in the U.S, with land
spanning four states, the Navajo Nation is rich not only in coal, uranium,
and other valuable minerals, but in some of the country����²s best potential
for generating wind and solar power. Nonetheless according to Navajo
Tribal Utility Authority, some 18,000 Navajo homes still lack any
electricity whatsoever.
����³You cross that dirt road over there,����´ says Nez, ����³and there����²s a little
Hogan [traditional Navajo house] and a little sheep corral, no running
water and no electricity, and in the backyard there����²s a big behemoth power
plant sending electricity down to Tucson, down to Phoenix, or Las Vegas.����´
Instead of inviting power plants, "the tribe could look into putting up
windmills and solar panels, and set aside land with the okay of the people
who hold the grazing permits.����´
Standing outside a trailer at the Dooda Desert Rock vigil, Elouise Brown
is hopeful. Looking out at the dust cloud rising from the coal mine
nearby, on land that her people have grazed for centuries, she says
����³Something tells me these power plants aren����²t going to happen.����´
����³This is not just a local issue,����´ says David Nez. ����³This is a worldwide
issue. We need to stop global warming now, and we need to start right
here.����´
This article was made possible by a generous grant from the Hurd Foundation
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