By Cornelia de Bruin The Daily Times
Article Launched: 05/03/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


NEW YORK CITY — Representatives of Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment met earlier this week with the upper management of Sithe Global at the company's corporate offices in New York City.
Sithe Global is the company partnering with the Diné Power Authority, a business enterprise the Navajo tribal government formed to build and operate Desert Rock Power Plant. The 1,500 megawatt coal-burning plant proposed for Burnham on the Navajo Nation is backed financially by The Blackstone Group, which holds an 80 percent ownership stake in Sithe Global LLC.

Diné CARE participants were Anna Frazier, coordinator; Earl Tulley, vice president; and Lori Goodman, treasurer. The trio met with Bruce Wrobel, Sithe Global chairman and chief executive officer; and Thomas DeLeo, chief operating officer.

Global warming vs. cumulative effects

"They had no idea that any Navajo people opposed the plant," said Dailan J. Long, community organizer for Diné CARE. "They were prepared to talk about global warming and climate change issues, but we took the conversation to the cumulative effects the plant would have on us."

The meeting began Wednesday, but Sithe asked it be extended into a Thursday session.

Diné CARE also drew attention to the increase in construction costs of building Desert Rock since Sithe and the Diné Power Authority first proposed it in December 2003 to present, and the amount of carbon dioxide the plant would emit.

Sithe said the plant will emit about 10.9 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, but points out CO2 is not federally regulated as a pollutant.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson released an Executive Order in June 2005 requiring greenhouse gas emissions in New Mexico — which include CO2 — to be reported.

"EPA has made no effort to initiate regulations or programs to enforce this new authority that will help combat climate change," Richardson said in November 2007. "Our state will continue to take the lead in addressing global climate change."

Richardson initially supported Desert Rock, but changed his mind later.

"We presented Sithe with our alternative energy plan," Long said, referring to a document released in mid-January that contrasts the development of coal-fired power plants to the Navajo people's Fundamental Laws, which direct them to live in harmony with their environment and its inhabitants. "We gave them the renewables document and showed them we're doing the homework."

Long described the meeting as "very successful," noting it resulted in a commitment from Sithe to meet with Diné CARE in Burnham at an unspecified date.

"We will continue the dialogue," he said.

Sithe's CEO gives his assessment

Sithe Global Chairman and CEO Bruce Wrobel does not remember saying he did not know some Navajos opposed the Desert Rock Power Plant.

"I'm very aware of the Navajos in opposition to it — we get copies of all the comments," Wrobel said. "Over the course of two days, several hours, we had a very good conversation and arrived at a broad understanding of both sides, both points of view."

Wrobel said he has to rely on his discussions with Navajo elected officials because the reservation is so big and so diverse that he has to make the assumption that they speak for the people.

"Elections could make a difference; the Democrats may retake the White House, but unless we can meet with a couple hundred thousand people it's hard to understand what the consensus is," he said.

Wrobel expressed frustration that Desert Rock Power Plant is targeted for attack "when it is the cleanest, not the dirtiest."

"If ever there was a coal plant that makes sense to build, Desert Rock is it because as a mine-mouth plant, the additional transportation costs and dust issues do not exist," he said. "It will be the cleanest plant in the United States."

The plant remains in a waiting game because of EPA's continued studying of comment and supporting documents.

Sithe Global is committed to creating renewable energy, Wrobel said, but is constrained by a lack of subsidies offered for the energy and existing "bottlenecks" in obtaining wind turbines and solar panels.

"All those bottlenecks create impediments for the creation of renewable energy," he said. "We will continue the dialogue. I've been there a couple times and will continue to do so. Even if we continue to agree to disagree, we will still get together over coffee."

It's about the health of the people

Tulley, Diné CARE vice president, felt the group reached a mutual understanding based on Diné's speaking for the health of its people, and Sithe's inclination to "turn a buck."

"I'm pretty confident there will be cultural sensitivity workshops," he said. "We have an agenda; industry goes into destitute areas and we pick up the pieces. We believe corporations are interested in the financial health of the corporation, but we want to campaign for the health of people — it's a wealth and health issue."

Ninety-nine percent of Navajo tribal members who spoke about effects of the plant at a series of public hearings held by the Environmental Protection Agency opposed its being built. EPA continues to process comments and statements it received, and has not issued the Prevention of Significant Deterioration permit necessary for the plant's operation.

The federal agency's lack of action resulted in the filing of a lawsuit through United States District Court in Houston March 18 by Desert Rock Energy Company, LLC and the Diné Power Authority.

EPA will not comment on its delayed action other than to cite the approximately 1,000 comments sent to it during the hearing and comment process that ended in November 2006, according to Margot Perez-Sullivan, an EPA spokeswoman.

The proposed plant also needs an Environmental Impact Statement before it can begin construction.

Sithe's selling points for Desert Rock

Proponents of the plant cite the importance of economic development to the Navajo Nation and the Nation's overwhelming poverty and substandard living conditions.

They draw attention to the average of 1,000 jobs during the four-year construction period, the 200 full-time operating jobs, direct and indirect annual construction-period payroll of about $200 million and $20 million operation payroll.

"The Desert Rock Project is committed to providing over $5 million to impacted Navajo chapters for capital improvements to chapter houses, and senior centers, as well as scholarships and job training," information from Sithe Global states.

The proposed plant is estimated to contribute 17 percent of the new power generation that will be required to serve projected population growth in the Arizona, New Mexico and southern Nevada region by 2015.

Cornelia de Bruin: cdebruin@daily-times.com

NPR Four Corners Public Radio - Victor Locke
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/ksut/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1269972

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — President Joe Shirley Jr.’s idea to reduce the Navajo council from 88 members to 24 is seen as retaliation by some.

“Initially, as I read the press release on the reduction, I thought it is just a retaliation against the council, the current sitting council, for overrides,” Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan said.

It is also odd that it took Shirley halfway through his second term to “find his platform and begin working on it, six years after coming into the office,” Morgan added.

In a release issued by his press officer, George Hardeen, Shirley said Navajo people expressed their desire to see the Council reduced to 24 members in a 2000 tribal referendum. The president believes the people still support it, and when he campaigned for re-election, he said he would “pursue it diligently” in his second term.

In a scathing open letter to the president, Judiciary Committee Chairman Kee Allen Begay questioned the initiative and whether it would benefit the Navajo Nation.

“YOU are severely misleading our Navajo people of your justifications and it is very obvious that it’s just another tactic of retaliation against the Legislative Branch!” Begay wrote. “As I always said about you and your staff, you put your oppression in full throttle ... when it comes to putting down the Navajo Nation Council.”

Reduction of Council will obviously create a situation where communication with local residents — at the local level, chapters — suffers, Morgan said.

A reduction in the number of council delegates “would greatly improve government efficiency and effectiveness, balance power between the legislative and executive branches of Navajo government, significantly reduce micro-management by Council oversight committees, return the legislative branch to its intended policy-making function and vastly cut the bloated cost of the Council’s operations and expenses,” Shirley’s release stated.

But Morgan thinks the president’s plan would increase costs, and it appears undemocratic.

“Decisions would be made omitting the ‘people’, that would not be a democracy, but rather a dictatorship operation,” Morgan said. “The hasty move is to save money, I suppose; but it would limit services to the people, put a limitation on everything to everyone.

“It defeats the intent of any government services. The government’s expectation is to deliver services to all members of the nation,” the speaker added.

Morgan also was concerned that Shirley’s “cost-cutting” only seemed to be cutting into the legislative branch.
“What are the executive and judicial branches contributing to this splendid idea?” Morgan wondered. “Trying to make changes in a single branch is not a ‘government reform’, but a ‘government deform’.”

Delegate LoRenzo Bates, chairman of the Budget & Finance Committee, said he was concerned with the president’s plan because no feasibility study was done, no estimate of what its impact would be.

Begay said the president should look at his own executive branch appointees, such as division directors, if he wants to find out why the needs of the Nation are not being met.
“Which of your corrupt programs or divisions do I need to point out to you, that you are NOT effectively addressing or making corrections in your own programs, but instead blaming the Navajo Nation Council (for) your unsettling issues?” Begay wrote.

Begay also took the president to task for his comments that the current 88 delegates waste the tribe’s money.

“Is it really a wasteful spending of our 401K savings and benefits? Have you ever put into consideration that the Navajo Nation Council use their own vehicles when conducting their duties; unlike your executive branch, which has a fleet of gas guzzling SUV’s. And you or your staff doesn’t pay a penny for the wear and tear of these vehicles or even pay for the gas! And not to mention insurances!

“Now tell me who is taking advantage of the free-loading, utilizing the Navajo people’s money? Now compare the Navajo Nation Council’s supposedly wasteful spending with your Executive Branch salaries? What’s the average salary of your top political appointees? I believe its $80,000 or more (including your press officer getting paid much higher just to jet out negative information),” Begay wrote. “And your staff assistants also average around $55,000 or more just to pick up checks at the cashiers or just drive around (Window Rock)!”

“I also believe they also have deferred compensation, 401K’s and other benefits. Now average out your staff salaries and the NNC stipends, tell me which drawing out more,” Begay added.

Shirley’s initiative also pointed out how the council routinely waives the law when making appropriations.

But the president does that when its convenient, Begay said. He said laws were waived for the casino efforts, Desert Rock and paying litigation costs, Begay pointed out.
Begay also questioned the president’s open door policy, and suggested he needed to follow the Navajo concept of K’e.

“Why is it that you pose questions or just spill your dirty laundry for the whole world to see? Why is it that your office is just smudging our Great Navajo Nation (People) and Our Navajo Nation sovereignty with endless negative issues and remarks?” Begay wrote. “I will be convinced to support your effort should you, Mr. President Shirley, justify your initiative decisively and accurately ... We can tackle these issues only if we could talk and deliberate on it in our own Navajo language and Navajo thinking.”

On Tuesday, Shirley’s office submitted ballot language to the Navajo Nation Election Administration on two initiative questions, reducing council’s size and giving the president a line-item veto.

Now, an estimated 16,000 petitions signatures must be gathered and certified for the initiative measures to be included on the 2008 general election ballot.

Shirley’s goal is to obtain as many as 25,000 signatures within 90 days to ensure that the measure makes on to the ballot. Under tribal law, he has six months to gather the needed signatures.

If voters approved Shirley’s initiative, it could take effect during the 2010 elections.

Delegates must introduce legislation on the council floor, so it remains to be seen where Shirley’s initiative will go.
“Just because the president makes a huge intimidating move, it doesn’t necessarily mean the legislators will accept,” Morgan said. “That’s democracy.”

John Christian Hopkins can be reached at Hopkins1960@hotmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT


Thursday, May 01, 2008 Deswood Tome
202-682-7390 or 202-607-5507 (wireless)




Diné Power Authority Outlines Projects at
Senate Hearing on Indian Energy


WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs heard testimony today on Indian Energy Development at an oversight hearing.


“Diné Power Authority is the Navajo Nation entity responsible for utility-scale power generation and transmission development on Navajo lands,” said Steve Begay, general manager for DPA.


The Senate Committee held the hearing to hear from tribes to focus on Title V of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and on the implementation of the act. The Navajo Nation used the forum today to list the various projects and update the Committee on needs for more energy development.


“Our first major project is the Navajo Transmission project,” said Begay, referring to a 469 mile high voltage transmission line connecting the generation-rich Four Corners region of the desert southwest. “This permitted project is the only high-voltage system of its size and length that is ready for construction in the United States today.”


Begay was one of four tribal representatives who was invited to testify before the Committee.


“Our second major project is the Desert Rock Energy project, a $3.4 billion mine-mouth, coal-fired power plant that would generate up to 1,500 megawatt located on the Navajo Nation,” said Begay. “Desert Rock would have the lowest regulated emissions of any pulverized coal-fired plant in the United States.”


Begay emphasized the revenue that the proposed energy plant would bring to the Navajo Nation. At $50 million per year for the first year of operation Desert Rock would generate an estimated $1.5 billion to the Navajo treasury in the first 30 years.


During the hearing Begay cited the delay in the issuance of the air quality permit for Desert Rock as an obstacle that the Navajo Nation is encountering with a federal agency. The permit is pending review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.


Begay also renewed the need for Congress to assist in funding the carbon capture and sequestration portion of the coal-fired plant. “The addition of the Carbon Capture and Sequestration to the new generation of clean coal plants that is represented by Desert Rock stands to bring the highest return on this ‘environmental investment’ as opposed to retrofitting older, less efficient coal plants,” Begay said.


“Our third major project is the Diné Wind Project, one of the largest wind generation systems under development in the U.S. today,” said Begay. “In 2006, DPA began a joint venture with Citizens Energy Corporation because of their strong commitment to working with Native communities.”


Senate Indian Affairs Committee Vice Chair Lisa Murkowski, R-AK, thanked Begay for testifying. “I want to commend the Navajo Nation for pursuing the Diné Wind farm project.”


Chairman Dorgan said that the Senate Committee staff will travel to the various tribes to hold round table discussions on development and obstacles that tribes face.


# # #

By Chee Brossy
Navajo Times

WINDOW ROCK, May 1, 2008

On March 27, the Navajo Nation, through Diné Power Authority and the president's office, announced an agreement in principle with a nonprofit Boston energy firm to develop wind power on the reservation. Several locations are under consideration.

One of those locations is Gray Mountain, near Cameron, Ariz. Studies have identified the area to be one of the best locations for developing wind power in Arizona.

The power would be generated by giant wind turbines - about 20 stories high - placed strategically on a ridge or other site where conditions favor steady winds.

The agreement with Citizens Energy is non-binding, according to a news release from the president's office.

But the community of Cameron, whose chapter includes Gray Mountain, wants to be included in any development and negotiations involving their land base, said Rayola Werito, chapter manager.

So far, communication with Window Rock has been spotty, while a private company from Oklahoma has worked hard to build bridges with the chapter.

"We weren't looking for a developer or any studies to be done," Werito said. "It started with (the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority) coming in with an anemometer to study the wind. Then DPA came in with Citizens Energy, but then it didn't move on from there, and DPA never came back."

Then the chapter was contacted by the Oklahoma-based Independent Power Project, which wanted to perform more studies and develop wind power in cooperation with the chapter.

"(Independent Power Project) came to the chapter and did many presentations," Werito said. "And the community really supported their project. They come back to the chapter on a monthly basis to do workshops, and report to the community on the feasibility studies. They have shown more concern for the community."

Currently the chapter's only agreement with IPP is for a feasibility study of the wind energy potential on Gray Mountain. This includes setting up towers with anemometers - devices that measure wind power - to determine if and where wind turbines could be placed.

Across the United States, renewable energy is a rapidly growing market and wind energy is shaping up to be a major source.

Diné Power Authority officials have been hesitant to make any agreements with outside companies for renewable energy on the reservation and continues to see it as a marginal player next to conventional sources such as coal-fired power plants.

The agreement with Citizens is the first time DPA has signaled its interest in pursuing a renewable energy project, at least to the public.

Begay characterized DPA's cautious approach as linked to developing technology in the renewable energy industry.

"It's a changing industry," he said. "Some players may be there today but not tomorrow. It's entering a maturing phase, but it's still high-cost power - it hasn't hit that point where it is low cost."

DPA is looking to add renewable energy to its energy portfolio, Begay said, but any wind energy projects are still in the initial planning stages.

"Plans have been under way for a couple of years to get the permission to use the land and abide by the Land Department's procedures for the wind project," he said.

Begay also stressed that any negotiations are in the initial stages, along the lines of feasibility studies. And no site has been chosen as a location for the wind project.

But one thing the community of Cameron would like to see is more one-on-one talks with tribal agencies dealing with renewable energy development.

"We don't want what happened at Desert Rock to happen here," said Werito, referring to the controversial coal-fired power plant proposal backed by DPA. "We want the community to be involved. We do know that this will benefit not just Cameron, but the entire Navajo Nation. We're looking forward to renewable energy."

The chapter brought its concerns to a meeting with DPA on April 8.

In an interview after the meeting, Begay said the chapter will have to "work with the central systems" of the tribal government, such as DPA and the Renewable Energy Task Force, a part of the executive branch.

"We will continue to work with them but we will also follow the Navajo Nation laws, the laws of the central government," Begay said.

The chapter is also cautious in its negotiations with IPP. Chapter President Teddy Bedonie said it is apprehensive about the number of turbines that IPP has suggested Gray Mountain can hold - IPP has said possibly 200 of the giant structures could be placed on the mountain for energy production.

"The scenery around the Little Colorado and the Grand Canyon is very important to us," Bedonie said. "We don't want to pollute Gray Mountain with wind turbines."

In a related issue, chapter officials brought up concerns about existing transmission lines that run through the chapter. Werito noted that the chapter has seen no revenue from the lines, which carry power from the Navajo Generating Station at Page to Phoenix and other cities.

"The community is not benefiting from it, so concerns came up," she said. "So the people (of Cameron) are cautious about the projects we let into the community."

Desert Rock foes go to top

Desert Rock opponents took the fight to New York City this week. Several Navajo Nation tribal members, who will be impacted by the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant, met this week with top officials with Sithe Global Power, the power plant’s proponent, and the Blackstone Group, which owns an 80 percent financial stake in Desert Rock.

On April 30, members from the Navajo grassroots group, Diné Citizens Against Ruining our Environment, sat down with Bruce Wrobel, Sithe’s chairman and CEO, and David Foley, senior managing director of the Blackstone Group, in New York. During the meeting, they urged the executives to reconsider the massive power plant, which is proposed for Navajo Nation land just southwest of Farmington. They advocated instead for clean energy options for the reservation, which is rich in both wind and sun resources.

“Desert Rock is a bad financial risk for investors and bad for Navajo health and prosperity,” said Dailan Long, community grassroots organizer for Diné CARE.

Long added that while the proponents claim Desert Rock will generate $50 million in tribal revenues per year for the Navajo Nation, the plant could actually come at a higher price. If it is built, Long said the Navajos could feel the financial impact of impending global warming legislation, which could mean a carbon tax of between $63.5 million and $292.1 million dollars per year, according to his calculations. Diné CARE is arguing instead in favor of the Navajo Nation’s vast renewable energy resources, which will be free of carbon costs.

“The Navajo Nation contains valuable, untapped solar and wind resources which could be a wise investment for the tribe and Blackstone,” said Lori Goodman of Diné CARE. “Solar and wind development is common sense for the Diné.”

Long and others also contended that Navajos will face forced relocation by the proposed expansion of the existing BHP Billiton Navajo coal mine that would fuel Desert Rock. They added that additional pollution will further degrade the health of local Navajo communities already impacted by two nearby coal-fired power plants and other industrial facilities. Both the San Juan Generating Station and the Four Corners Power Plant sit within 25 miles of the proposed Desert Rock facility.

“There is an existing legacy of energy exploitation in Navajo communities where coal, natural gas, and oil are found under our homes and communities,” said Long. “Desert Rock plans to export its power to large cities in Nevada and southern Arizona and leave us with the pollution.”

Diné CARE was invited to New York to speak at the United Nations Seventh Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples on April 29. During the forum, they detailed the impacts of living in a region being dramatically affected by intensive energy development. They also presented their economic study, “Economic and Energy Alternatives to the Desert Rock Energy Project,” which found that wind and concentrating solar power would deliver more jobs, less financial risk and less pollution to the Navajo Nation.

For immediate release: Contact:
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Penelope Whitney, 415-397-5000 x 313
Dailan Long, Diné CARE, 505-801-0713
Mike Eisenfeld, San Juan Citizens Alliance, 505-360-8994


MEDIA ADVISORY

Navajo tribal members to meet with Blackstone & Sithe in New York
Diné CARE will ask execs to invest in clean energy, not coal, on their reservation


NEW YORK CITY – Navajo Nation tribal members who will be impacted by the proposed Desert Rock coal-fired power plant will meet with Bruce Wrobel, Sithe Global Power's chairman and CEO, and David Foley, senior managing director of the Blackstone Group, in New York City on April 30.

Members from the Navajo grassroots group, Diné Citizens Against Ruining our Environment (Diné CARE), will urge the executives from the two companies to invest in clean energy on the Navajo nation rather than in another polluting, financially risky coal plant that will have detrimental impacts on Navajo health and culture.

“Desert Rock is a bad financial risk for investors and bad for Navajo health and prosperity,” says Dailan Long, community grassroots organizer for Diné CARE. "Desert Rock's projected emissions of 12.7 million tons of carbon dioxide each year is a risky liability for the Navajo Nation with disastrous consequences for global climate change."

Diné CARE was invited to New York to speak at the United Nations Seventh Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples on April 29. They will detail the impacts of living in a region being dramatically affected by intensive energy development and present their economic study, “Economic and Energy Alternatives to the Desert Rock Energy Project,” which found that wind and concentrating solar power would deliver more jobs, less financial risk and less pollution to the Navajo nation. That study is available at http://www.box.net/shared/static/tirr6zsw0g.pdf.

Blackstone and Sithe are the financial backers behind the Desert Rock Energy Project, a proposed 1,500-megawatt coal-fired power plant in New Mexico on the Navajo Nation. Blackstone holds an 80 percent ownership stake in Sithe Global LLC, which has partnered with the Diné Power Authority, a business enterprise of the Navajo tribal government, to construct and operate Desert Rock. State and federal agencies have documented extensive health and environmental concerns with the project, and as a result, federal operating or construction permits have not been issued.

Members of Diné CARE say that Navajos will face forced relocation by the proposed expansion of the existing BHP Billiton Navajo coal mine that would fuel Desert Rock. Toxic coal combustion waste, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and mercury will further degrade the health of local Navajo communities already impacted by two nearby coal-fired power plants and other industrial facilities. Both the San Juan Generating Station and the Four Corners Power Plant sit within 25 miles of the proposed Desert Rock facility.

Despite the proximity of these plants, many Navajo living nearby continue to live without running water or electricity, and Desert Rock will not change that.

“There is an existing legacy of energy exploitation in Navajo communities where coal, natural gas, and oil are found under our homes and communities,” says Long, who lives in Burnham, New Mexico, a traditional Navajo community surrounded by oil fields, the coal mine, and the two existing coal plants. “Desert Rock plans to export its power to large cities in Nevada and southern Arizona and leave us with the pollution.” San Juan County ranks sixth in the nation as one of the nation’s 20 worst CO2 polluters – most of which are metropolitan areas like Houston and Detroit - according to a recent Purdue University study.

Sithe and Desert Rock’s backers say it will generate $50 million in tribal revenues per year for the Navajo Nation, but Long said it will likely be Navajos who will feel the financial impact of impending global warming legislation – estimated from $63.5 million to $292.1 million dollars per year for Desert Rock – since the project is a merchant plant with no existing contracts to sell its power. A wiser choice for the Navajos would be to invest heavily in the nation’s vast renewable energy resources, which will be free of carbon costs.

“The Navajo Nation contains valuable, untapped solar and wind resources which could be a wise investment for the tribe and Blackstone,” says Lori Goodman of Diné CARE. "Solar and wind development is common sense for the Diné."

Navajo Nation weighs costs and benefits of coal mining on its land

By KARI LYDERSEN

As a child, bonnie Wethington remembers hunting for “star-crossed fairy rocks” and catching lizards in thigh-high grass below the majestic Ship Rock and Church Rock on the Navajo Nation, near Four Corners (where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah meet).

Now in her 40s, Wethington, a member of the Nation, laments that the grass is sparse and scrubby, and there is hardly a lizard in sight. She says the changes in the land have much to do with the noxious plumes pumping out of two massive coal-burning power plants in the area, and the harvesting of coal from a wide gash in the red and gold earth that runs for miles near her family’s land.

“Now we just have a barren wasteland and acid rain from the power plant,” she says, adding that Navajo consider small reptiles their evolutionary forebears — so their disappearance is ominous.

“The land is changing,” she says. “The rabbits are dying, the lizards, the cattle are dying off, even the horny toads are dying, and we consider them our grandfathers.” Then she adds: “I used to think Navajos were immune to cancer. Now I’ve had a few relatives die of cancer. I think it’s the power plant.”

The Navajo, like a number of Native American tribes in the Southwest, has found itself in an ironic conundrum.

While this swath of Native land is largely dry, windswept and difficult to farm, it sits in an area rich with mineral and fossil fuel resources — coal, natural gas, oil and uranium. Although Native Americans believe in protecting the earth like a mother, exploiting these resources has provided one of few economic lifelines for a number of impoverished Native communities.

The Southern Ute tribe in southwest Colorado is flush with income from its natural gas leases. About 1,300 tribal members enjoy monthly payments of about $1,400 and, after age 60, a generous pension of about $65,000 a year; plus the use of a spacious fitness center, Montessori school, hospital and other amenities. That’s thanks to the Southern Ute Growth Fund, a private equity investment fund that, since its 1999 inception, has leveraged its gas income into a $1.45 billion portfolio, including real estate, construction and oil exploration. (The tribe declines to break down how much of this investment is in natural gas.) A large wooden seal adorning the tribe’s headquarters shows a gushing oil well and gas pipelines, along with livestock and mountains — its traditional tribal identifiers.

But historically, it was outsiders who exploited Native Americans lands, leaving environmental and social havoc in their wake.

The Black Mesa Coal Mine on Navajo and Hopi land, east of Phoenix near the New Mexico-Arizona border, is a prime example. The mine fed coal to the Mohave Generating Station located 273 miles away in Laughlin, Nev., via a slurry pipeline — meaning the coal was ground and mixed with water to form a slushy liquid that could be pumped through the pipeline. Each year, the tribes sacrificed about a billion gallons of their sparse water supply to blend and pump the coal to Laughlin, where it was burned to produce electricity for a large swath of the West. Meanwhile, one in three Navajo homes — about 18,000 total — has no electricity, according to the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority.

In 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) closed the Mohave Generating Station — built by multinational Bechtel — because of its high sulfur dioxide emissions. With the station closed, Black Mesa’s coal production has been suspended until the Peabody coal company can find another customer.

Also on the reservation, 130 miles north of Black Mesa, the Four Corners and San Juan coal-burning power plants produce electricity that is transported to regional customers on high-tension power lines that pass right over many unwired Navajo homes.

(These are the plants Wethington blames for destroying the local ecology and causing cancer. Numerous studies have also linked emissions from coal-burning power plants to higher rates of asthma and other health problems. The Black Mesa mine has no connection to these plants.)

Desert Rock

Now the Navajo tribe is considering a $4 billion coal investment that proponents claim would give the tribe ownership over — and significant profit from — its mineral resources.

Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. supports the proposed Desert Rock generating station, which is spearheaded by the New York firm Sithe Global Power, in partnership with the tribal Dine Power Authority. The station would generate 1,500 megawatts of power, burning local coal harvested by BHP Billiton — one of the world’s largest mining companies and the current supplier of the Four Corners and San Juan plants.

Shirley, a controversial figure who made Desert Rock a central platform of his 2006 re-election campaign, describes the plant as a way to “put food on the table and put shoes on little feet.”

Proponents say the tribe would earn $50 million a year in coal royalties, taxes, jobs and related investment. Plus, if it can come up with the capital, the tribe could purchase up to 49 percent interest in the venture. Fliers handed out by proponents promise jobs that could pay $60,000 a year.

“This is the first energy development we’ve been able to personally be a part of,” says tribal chapter president Lucinda Yellowman Bennalley. “We’re very excited.”

Bennalley and other proponents of the plan say many of their relatives who have left the reservation because of a lack of jobs want to return, and they hope jobs at Desert Rock would make that possible.

But the proposal has divided the tribe, shattering long-standing friendships and alienating neighbors. During a March meeting with journalists, Shirley described Navajo opponents of the plan as “dissidents.”

Meanwhile, these critics say they have suffered ongoing harassment and intimidation from tribal police. George Hardeen, spokesman for Shirley’s office, says that claims of harassment — including murdered dogs and cattle — were investigated by independent veterinarians and were found to be groundless.

Lucy Willie, 65, who lives near the proposed Desert Rock site, was part of a December 2006 encampment protesting the Desert Rock plan. Armed tribal police threatened to take her to jail, she says.

If the Desert Rock plant opens, not only would it bring emissions, but BHP Billiton could also significantly expand its coal mining operations across its 25-square-mile lease.

Brad Bartlett, an attorney with the Energy Minerals Law Center, charges that BHP Billiton has done a poor job of safely storing waste from the open pit and underground mines it currently operates on Navajo land, and of restoring the tapped-out sites it has mined to supply the Four Corners and San Juan generating stations with coal.

“None of this land has been restored to its pre-mining usage,” Bartlett says. “The waste has everything in it: mercury, selenium, cadmium, radiological contaminants. The ash is stored in unlined ponds and the dust goes everywhere. Eventually they will probably leave the Navajo Nation with the cost of the cleanup.”

Willie, who has tended sheep on the same land since she was 7 years old, doesn’t want to see the ecosystem destroyed this way.

“Five-fingered creatures are supposed to nurture a healthy environment,” she says. “Navajo are not meant to be wanderers. We always come back to a place we call home. Generations down the line, I hope this will still be here for them.”

The Navajo Nation is divided into 110 chapter houses, with each chapter acting essentially as a small local government. The Burnham chapter, which encompasses the proposed Desert Rock site, voted against the idea. Then the boundaries were redrawn so the site lay within the Nenahnezad chapter, which voted for it.

However, the tribe still needs an air permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On March 18, the Diné Power Authority and Desert Rock LLC (a subsidiary of Sithe) sued the EPA, claiming it has delayed the permit for four years and is obligated to act.

On March 12, prior to the filing of the suit, Navajo President Shirley, who flew to Washington, D.C., to meet with EPA administrator Stephen Johnson, characterized the federal government’s failure to shepherd through the project as a violation of the tribe’s sovereignty. Likewise, he claims outside environmentalists are stirring up opposition among tribal members.

“Outsiders are coming in, foreigners giving money to Navajo to say no,” Shirley told a group of journalists on the reservation shortly after his meeting with the EPA. “The majority of Navajo support it. What do you want us to do, continue to stay quagmired in poverty? I want to get us standing on our own two feet.”

Wind and sun

In 1988, the grassroots group Dine CARE formed to protect local forests and fight a proposed toxic waste incinerator near Dilkon, a town in the southwest part of the reservation. (“Dine” roughly means “people,” and it is the way Navajo refer to themselves. CARE stands for Citizens Against Ruining our Environment.)

—————-
Last fall, the group released a study on renewable energy potential on the Navajo Nation. It describes “world-class” solar resources in the Arizona side of Four Corners, and reservation-wide “abundance of moderately to highly valuable solar and wind resources, all largely untapped to date.”

“The Navajo Nation is poised to be a leader in renewable energy,” says Dailan Jake Long, who grew up near the Desert Rock site and recently graduated from Dartmouth College. “Solar and wind could supply Navajo homes with electricity without the negative consequences of Desert Rock.”

Wind energy potential is low in the area immediately surrounding the proposed site, but other parts of the Navajo Nation are considered promising for wind turbines. However, a lack of access to high capacity power lines prohibits the large-scale sale of energy to the interstate grid.

Proponents say Desert Rock would be a “clean coal” plant — which refers to plants that use technology with an integrated gasification combined cycle and “scrubbers” — to greatly reduce emissions of mercury, nitrous oxide and sulfur dioxide. Desert Rock’s environmental impact statement says it would emit 12.7 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Though the Bush administration has pushed coal as the fuel source of the future, concerns over pollution and greenhouse gases have meant a nearly de facto moratorium on the building of new plants.

Utilities have canceled or suspended plans for at least 45 coal-fired power plants nationwide. Various state governments have adopted greenhouse gas reduction platforms that would make it difficult, if not impossible, for new plants to be built.

In 2006, California led the way by prohibiting the purchase of energy from plants spewing more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt of energy produced.

Long and other Desert Rock opponents argue that now is the time to turn to renewable energy for economic self-sufficiency. In late April, Long, 25, will discuss the Diné CARE study and ideas for renewable energy at the United Nations in New York.

“The nation could invest in lifelong clean jobs and sustainable development projects that don’t desecrate the land and relocate people off the reservation,” he says. “This is the opportune time. [Nonrenewable] resources can only last so long. We’re not just about resistance, we’re creating blueprints for our nation, roadmaps for the future.”

Kari Lydersen writes for the Washington Post out of the Midwest bureau and just published a book, Out of the Sea and Into the Fire: Latin American-US Immigration in the Global Age.

By Cornelia de Bruin The Daily Times
Article Launched: 04/27/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


FARMINGTON — San Juan County is ranked No. 6 on the nation's Top 20 Worst Offenders for Carbon Dioxide Emissions list in research published by a Purdue University professor.

Being one of few non-major metropolitan areas included on the list further sets San Juan County apart from other cities listed by Kevin Gurney, Ph.D.
San Juan County follows counties that include Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit.

"This is really due to the electrical demand," Gurney said. "There is a wide-spread phenomena (in the U.S.) to produce power and send it to other areas."

Gurney said he was surprised to discover that all parts of the nation were represented on the Top 20 list.

"There is a great representation of the variety of sources of emissions," Gurney said. "The list shows the different texture of emissions."

Gurney pulled most of his data from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, but also obtained information from a federal acid rain program, the Federal Home Administration and the 2000 U.S. Census.

His research drew attention when ScienceDaily published its results in its April 17 issue.

Los Angeles' pollution comes from transportation, while Harris County, Texas — home to Houston — is polluted by industrial sources.

Part of San Juan County's pollution is generated in tandem with the energy produced at the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station in Waterflow and Four Corners Power Plant in Upper Fruitland. Further affecting local air quality are pollutants emitted by petroleum and petrochemical production, Gurney said.

What's in the air?

The industry produces carbon and other pollutants. New Mexico Environment Department officials claim nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, benzene, toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene, methane, hydrogen sulfide and sulfur oxides are the main pollutants generated by the oil and gas industry in San Juan County.

"It's a shell game," said Mike Eisenfeld, of San Juan Citizens Alliance. "BLM doesn't know how many compressors are in the area. It refers inquiries to the state Environment Department, who has no data."

San Juan Citizens Alliance took action against the BLM in 2003 when it was considering permitting about 10,000 new oil and gas wells in the county, Eisenfeld said.

"We were putting the onus on an ozone task force," he said. "Almost six years later no data is available from the task force other than suggestions for how to mitigate the effects of more drilling. We continue to say the way to prevent the ozone is to deny the permits."

Joel Farrell, assistant field manager for BLM's Farmington office, could not furnish any ozone task force data. He referred questions about the group's findings to the Environment Department in Santa Fe.

Eisenfeld said the clusters of all oil and gas industry equipment combine to become an aggregate source of pollution.

Mary Uhl, bureau chief of the Environment Department's Air Quality Bureau, said the main contributors to San Juan County's carbon emissions are its two power plants.

Susan Sponar, a spokeswoman for PNM-operated San Juan Generating Station, said Gurney's conclusions do not come as a surprise since two of the nation's largest coal-burning power plants are in San Juan County and others are not far from them.

She pointed out the utility is in the middle of a $320 million upgrade of the plants — an upgrade that shows it might exceed initial estimates of improvement in lessening carbon emissions.

"We are also taking part in a study sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute that would develop a cost-effective technology to take the carbon out of the plants' emissions," Sponar said. "The goal is to develop a technology for existing or new plants, using chilled ammonia technology."

It also is a founding member of a group called U.S. CAP, a consortium of electrical companies and environmentalists working toward a national carbon policy created to regulate all sources of carbon emissions.

"The policy takes a long view regarding carbon emissions," Sponar said.

Damon Gross, spokesman for Arizona Public Service, which owns and operates Four Corners Power Plant, did not return a call requesting comment.


Study timing

The results of Gurney's study come at a time when the nation's power companies plan to increase their use of coal in generating energy.

The Sierra Club notes about 150 new coal-fired power stations are on the drawing board across the U.S., adding some already are under construction.

Slated for Burnham, on the Navajo Nation, is the 1,500-megawatt Desert Rock Power Plant, which will burn pulverized coal. Diné Power Authority, formed by the Navajo Nation to operate the plant, and Sithe Global Energy, which is paying for its construction, are awaiting federal environmental permits.

"There is no doubt that coal is the most carbon dioxide-emitting energy," Gurney said. "Natural gas is better, and there's also wind- and solar-generated energy."

Gurney's point is popular with foes of Desert Rock Power Plant, such as Eisenfeld of San Juan Citizen's Alliance. Eisenfeld and Dailan Long, community organizer of Diné CARE (Citizens Against Ruining our Environment) both push for alternative energy generation.

Gurney hopes to extend and apply the results of his research.

"It raises questions of socioeconomic issues, but it also takes a quantum leap to do something more detailed," the researcher said. "It has been difficult for public and policy makers to have a closer connection to climate change."

The political dialogue on the subject has gone in several directions, he said.

"The climate change story is not as it's been portrayed as originating with Al Gore," he said. "It comes from a community of people who do science."

The first hypothesis that pumping tons of chemicals into the atmosphere and the effect of the sun on them could cause the climate to change originated with a Swedish geophysicist, Svanti Arrhenius, at the turn of the 19th century.

"He was the founder of modern-day meteorology," Gurney said.

Gurney is an assistant professor of earth and atmospheric science, and leader of a carbon dioxide inventory project called Vulcan. He received his doctorate in ecology from Colorado State University in 2004.

Top 20 for carbon pollution

The nation's Top 20 worst counties for carbon dioxide emissions, and the amounts of pollutant pumped into the atmosphere include:

1. Harris, Texas (Houston) - 18.625 million tons of carbon per year

2. Los Angeles, Calif. (Los Angeles) - 18.595 tons/year

3. Cook, Ill. (Chicago) - 13.209 tons/year

4. Cuyahoga, Ohio (Cleveland) - 11.144 tons/year

5. Wayne, Mich. (Detroit) - 8.270 tons/year

6. San Juan, N.M. (Farmington) - 8.245 tons/year

7. Santa Clara, Calif. (San Jose) - 7.995 tons/year

8. Jefferson, Ala. (Birmingham) - 7.951 tons/year

9. Wilcox, Ala. (Camden) - 7.615 tons/year

10. East Baton Rouge, La. (Baton Rouge) - 7.322 tons/year

11. Titus, Texas (Mt. Pleasant) - 7.244 tons/year

12. Carbon, Pa. (Jim Thorpe) - 6.534 tons/year

13. Porter, Ind. (Valparaiso) - 6.331 tons/year

14. Jefferson, Ohio (Steubenville) - 6.278 tons/year

15. Indiana, Pa. (Indiana) - 6.224 tons/year

16. Middlesex, Mass. (Boston metro area) - 6.198 tons/year

17. Bexar, Texas (San Antonio) - 6.141 tons/year

18. Hillsborough, Fla. (Tampa) - 6.037 tons/year

19. Suffolk, N.Y. (New York metro area) - 6.030 tons/year

20. Clark, Nev. (Las Vegas) - 5.995 tons/year



Source: Purdue University, Kevin Gurney, Ph.D

By Marley Shebala
Navajo Times

"Shocked" was the reaction of Omar Bradley, BIA Navajo region director, on Monday to a lawsuit filed against him, the BIA and Interior Department.

Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment and the San Juan Citizens Alliance are suing under the federal Freedom of Information Act on grounds that the federal agencies have withheld documents used in writing a draft environmental impact statement on the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant.

The groups are challenging the draft study's central conclusion that harmful effects to people and the environment would occur but would not exceed tolerable levels.

"I'm shocked," Bradley said of the lawsuit, "because we've been providing them with documents."

He said the BIA had to comply with federal regulations and policies in releasing documents to Diné CARE and the Citizens Alliance, both environmental groups based in Durango, Colo., that oppose Desert Rock.

Bradley declined to comment further on the lawsuit, filed April 2 in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.

Brad Bartlett of the Energy Minerals Law Center in Durango, lead attorney for the environmental groups, confirmed Wednesday that the BIA had released some of the requested documents.

But Bartlett said a good portion of those documents was redacted - blacked out.

For example, he said, the BIA provided the lease agreement between the Navajo Nation, Diné Power Authority and Sithe Global Power of Houston but most of the document was blacked out.

DPA, a Navajo tribal enterprise based in Window Rock, is partnering with Sithe to develop the $3 billion, 1,500-megawatt power plant, which would burn coal. The lease agreement was approved by the Navajo Nation Council.

Bartlett explained that the important part of the lease was a clear description of the site to be used, and the source of water that would be used by the plant.

The BIA is charged with protecting Native American land and water resources, which is why the BIA bears the chief responsibility for analyzing the possible impacts of Desert Rock, he added.

Bartlett noted that the source of Navajo water to be used by Desert Rock is of the utmost importance because the tribe is pushing Congress to approve a settlement agreement with New Mexico regarding water rights to the San Juan River.

Part of that settlement involves a commitment for $6 billion in federal funds to construct a water pipeline from the river to Gallup. The pipeline would also provide water to Navajo communities in the eastern areas of the Navajo Reservation.

But Bartlett noted that the pipeline route would also pass near the proposed power plant, which will use large quantities of water, raising questions about whether the use of river water is contemplated somewhere in the thousands of pages of fine print.

Sithe and DPA have tested the groundwater at the Desert Rock site and the results show there isn't enough groundwater to meet the plant's need for 6,000 acre feet of water a year over five decades, Bartlett said, referencing testimony given last week by President Joe Shirley Jr. in Washington, D.C.

Diné CARE and the Citizens Alliance share Shirley's concern for the water needs of the Navajo people and the city of Gallup, which is why the groups requested those documents from the BIA, he explained.

And Bartlett said if the water for Desert Rock is coming from the Navajo Nation water settlement with New Mexico, Navajos who still haul their own water deserve to know the impact of Desert Rock.

He said the two groups also sued Bradley, the BIA and Interior over communications with the contractor hired to prepare the environmental study, URS Corp.

It's common for the BIA to contract consultants but the BIA must understand that any communication by the consultant, like itself, is subject to the federal freedom of information law, he explained.

Barlett noted that initially the two groups asked the BIA for any and all communication between the BIA and Sithe.

The BIA responded that it wasn't communicating with Sithe and that URS, as the preparer for the environmental impact statement, was communicating with Sithe, he said.

Barlett said when the groups resubmitted their request for any and all communication between URS and Sithe, the BIA informed them that they couldn't provide the documents because of the working relationship between URS and Sithe.

If URS is really working for Sithe, and URS is under a federal contract with the BIA to prepare the environmental assessment that involves the impact of Sithe's proposed plant to the Navajo Nation and its citizens, then there certainly is a "potential for bias and for the BIA to start over," he said.

He added that the groups are also requesting public records concerning the impact of the Navajo Mine, which would supply coal to Desert Rock.

Diné CARE and Citizens Alliance want to know how many Navajo people were relocated to make way for the mine, operated by BHP Billiton, and how many more would be relocated if it expands production to feed Desert Rock, Bartlett said.

But he said the BIA's response was to ask Diné CARE, a nonprofit grassroots organization, to pay $1,800 in copying and clerical fees. The BIA decided the group was not eligible for the fee waiver provided under FOIA because it would use the information to make money, a position Bartlett called "absurd."

The defendants have 20 days to respond to the suit, meaning a response was due before the court Tuesday. Bartlett said he had not heard anything.

Burt Shirley, spokesperson for Diné Power Authority, was attending a DPA board meeting Wednesday and was unavailable for comment.

Sithe spokesman Frank Maisano said, "The charges are nothing new. They are the same old, tired, conspiracy charges that we have come to expect from project opponents.

"All this amounts to is another delaying tactic," he said. "It's time for opponents to stop throwing the darts at the board, hoping they'll hit something. These tactics have only hurt the Navajo workers and the Navajo people who stand to benefit."

Sithe and DPA recently sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failure to issue a decision on the application for an air quality permit for Desert Rock.

Proposes green energy production for Navajo

By Kathy Helms
Din Bureau

WINDOW ROCK Joseph Patrick Kennedy II and representatives of Citizens Energy Corp. blew into Window Rock Wednesday like a breath of fresh air, promising economic development and profit for the nations largest tribe from its most abundant resources wind and sun.

The trademark Kennedy charisma and impassioned speech brought the Navajo Nation Council to its feet as the eldest son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy spoke of the poverty of Indian nations and prejudice in Congress against Native Americans.

But just as the 1960s was a time of revolution, this election year promises to be a time of great change, Kennedy said, with the same opportunity for changing the direction that this country takes over the course of the next eight years.

He reminded Council that their ancestors understood the importance of living in balance with nature, that human beings arent all-powerful, that we dont have some God-given right to just dig up and develop anything and everything that we see to the detriment of local communities as long as some people can get rich.

Kennedy, 55, served 12 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and started Citizens, a non-profit energy company, about 30 years ago.

We all remember the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970s and how there were enormous gas lines, the price of oil was skyrocketing, oil companies were making profits that were really astounding, and the poor were being left behind.

Beginning in 1979 with oil-trading ventures in Latin America and Africa, Citizens has used revenues from commercial enterprises to channel millions of dollars into charitable programs in the United States and abroad.

We sold solar farms, we sold wind farms, we created all sorts of businesses to go out and try to make a profit. With the profit we make, we try to help the poor. And that is what Im here to talk with you about today, he said.

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. announced Monday during his State of the Nation address that the Nation entered into an agreement in principle with Citizens on March 12 to explore wind energy development.

We hope to develop the largest renewable energy project on Native American lands, Shirley said.

The venture is expected to create up to 150 construction jobs, 10 to 20 permanent jobs, and provide about $3 million in annual tax and royalty revenues with an option for the Nation to acquire majority ownership in the future.

You know much better than I will ever be able to tell you, the poverty rates of most Indian people in this country is a scourge on the reputation of the United States of America, Kennedy said to rousing applause.

Twelve percent of all Americans live in poverty. By comparison, 27 percent of Native Americans live in poverty; 43 percent of Navajos live in poverty.

In the greatest depression that this country ever went through, 25 percent of the people of this country were unemployed. The unemployment rate among Native Americans today is twice what it was for all Americans in the Great Depression, and nobody says a word about it.

He recalled coming to the Navajo Nation as a young boy with his father.

There was a big press conference, and you know, the devastation that we saw as the result of drug and alcohol abuse on this reservation is something that I will never forget. That trip, and the impression it made, has a lot to do with the direction his life has taken today.

I worked for the federal government. I worked for the federal Anti-Poverty, and very, very quickly after I started working there, I began to think, This isnt an agency designed to help the poor get out of poverty. This is an agency that is designed to maintain the poor in poverty. And if you ask me, thats what weve seen the BIA do for the last ... His words were drowned out by applause.

As a congressman of the United States, I saw first-hand the cover-up of what happened to the Indian Trust Fund. I saw what would happen when I chaired the Housing Committee, what would happen to Native American housing when it would get on the House floor.

Im telling you, you think there isnt prejudice in this country against Native Americans, you go to the Congress of the United States and you wonder why the only way you have to make money is through gambling.

The reason why Native Americans have gambling today is because the Congress of the United States didnt have the guts to stand up and write the check that was necessary to provide for the housing ... Again, his words were lost amid applause and whistles.

I understand what it means to have to go in and fight for the poor ... to fight for people on the outside of political and economic power, he said.

Its time for a change, and time for a new kind of company, according to Kennedy. He is hopeful that Navajo and Citizens will go out and start to develop the natural renewable resources that this tribe has been blessed by our Lord with.

Kennedy said the last half hour of the plane ride into Window Rock was a very bumpy little ride. Though that tends to frighten some, When Pete Smith, Roger Freeman and I start bumping around in an airplane, we love it and you know why? Because that means its windy as hell out there!

So, guess what? You live in a windy place. There may not be a lot of oil and coal and gas left out there, but one thing youve got is wind; and youve got sun ... and with that we can make money.

All of us at Citizens Energy are dedicated to try our best to lift the poor out of poverty, not by giving out a hand-out but giving a hand-up, he said, adding that he believes the Navajo/Citizens partnership could be the envy of Indian people and all people that have energy development on their land.

Resources Committee Chairman George Arthur said Citizens, like other companies coming to Navajo, is interested in wind energy development in the Gray Mountain area.

There is criteria that goes from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most quality type wind. I understand that the Gray Mountain area is in the upper 8, so I know that theres a lot of interest there.

I was just telling him (Kennedy) that my concern is a lot of these people come in and we dont know their primary interest, other than making money off us, and were no longer interested in that kind of arrangement.

Kennedy said Citizens is looking at Gray Mountain and a number of other sites.

There are power lines, theres a lot of the infrastructure thats necessary to actually get this power developed. ... This is, I hope, the kind of initiative that would be welcomed.

Navajo Council support sought
for Gray Mountain wind project

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Though there are five transmission lines running right through the middle of Cameron Chapter, most of the homes are without electricity and residents have seen no benefits from the lines criss-crossing the barren landscape.

But Cameron Delegate Jack Colorado and Community Services Coordinator Rayola Werito say that is about to change.

Chapter residents approved a resolution Sunday supporting Independent Power Projects Inc.’s plan to conduct a feasibility study for a wind farm to be located atop Gray Mountain, and asking the Navajo Nation Council to support the chapter-based effort.

“We’re just giving them the OK to do the feasibility study. That’s it. If there’s going to be all those wind turbines that’s going to be put up, then we’re going to negotiate with that company just like we’re doing with IPP,” Colorado said.

“The Navajo Nation, they don’t include the chapters in the negotiations,” but the chapter realizes it needs to do that, he added, “because all these transmission lines running through Cameron Chapter, the rights of way, they’re just in the way and we’re not benefiting from them — no electricity, no nothing.”

Bruce McAlvain, president of IPP Inc., during Monday’s presentation to Council, said the company has been in the area more than a year and a half and has worked closely with the chapter.

“We have endeavored to do this as properly as possible and build a trust and support with the local community,” McAlvain said.

McAlvain believes there are four to eight sites that would be viable for development. “We are in a current position to put in additional monitoring equipment on top of Gray Mountain to give us a better, finite detail of what the resource is, but right now we believe that it will hold a 250 megawatt wind farm, possibly a 500 megawatt wind farm.”
He said IPP is in the “due diligence phase” with its industry partner, Sempra Energy of San Diego, on the potential project.

Werito said IPP first approached them in October 2006. “Before IPP came to the chapter, presentations were given to the chapter from Diné Power Authority with Citizens Energy. In October 2007 they gave a presentation to the community and questions were raised.

“Benefits was one of the No. 1 things they were asked. At that time, DPA and Citizens Energy did not have a response for the community. We passed a resolution yesterday to have IPP partner up with Sempra Energy ... They’re well known. They’re probably one of the biggest developers of wind farms. They also do their own financing.”

She said the community is requesting the Nation and DPA work with IPP and Sempra in support of the project.

“I think this is a great initiative by a community, although I have some reservations,” Delegate Jonathan Nez said.

“This is a good initiative, a grassroots-level type thing. I think Council should support it — at least hear the ins and outs of it and be educated. It’s clean, renewable energy, and that’s what I support,” Delegate Leonard Chee said after the presentation.

Resources Committee Chairman George Arthur and Delegate Ervin Keeswood took issue with the presentation. Arthur said he did not recall IPP coming before his committee, which has oversight on such projects. “There is a protocol that is in place.

“I am somewhat puzzled about where we are with making these allowances for private industry to present to council at this stage. I do have a concern about that.”

Keeswood agreed, saying the item was out of order. “It should go back to the various committees and let them determine the process. After that’s done, if there’s legislation attached, then we have something to talk about.”

Chee said the chapter should be commended for its efforts, “rather than saying, ‘Oh, you’re here in Window Rock. You have to do everything on our terms,’ while we’re not doing anything here. There is not a Navajo energy policy in place. We’re kind of keeping the chapters quiet while they need services — power services.”

Delegate Colorado said, “We have APS service line running right through the middle of the Cameron Chapter area, but APS does not agree with the contract that is being offered to them from the Navajo Nation. Because of that, they are not doing any power line extension over there.

“Cameron Chapter had to go and find funding to get solar panels. The chapter got $1.9 million to get 100 solar panels. The mountain people, way out there, they have electric now and refrigerators in their homes. The chapter did that.

“The authority that the Navajo Nation talks about, they need to include the chapters in that authority so they’ll be negotiating between the chapters, the Navajo Nation and the company, all the way through.

“If we’re going to do a wind farm out here, we’re going to do one that can serve the community,” he said. If they’re not going to provide power to the community, “they’re out of the picture.”

Proposed plant parallels evident

Staff Writer
Article Launched: 04/19/2008 10:01:19 PM MDT

Editor:

I have followed coverage of the proposed Desert Rock coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Nation as well as reporting on the anticipated return of uranium mining in the Grants Mining Belt.

I find the parallels interesting, especially when you look closely at comments made by Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. in support of the coal plant and his opposition to uranium mining. In an interview with Tim Gardner of Reuter.com, Pres. Shirley said the Desert Rock coal plant is needed because it will bring jobs to the Nation and provide more than $50 million annually. His exact quote was, "it's all about putting food on the table, putting shoes on little feet."

What I find ironic are the words Pres. Shirley uses to defend the Desert Rock coal plant. He says that technology has improved, making the plant the cleanest of its kind, and carbon emissions will be less due to its efficiency. With economic development and environmentally sound operations, according to Pres. Shirley, it's a win-win situation.

The irony is that the same science Pres. Shirley uses to defend desert Rock is the same science that demonstrates the dramatic improvements that have also occurred in uranium mining. Why does the science work when defending a coal plant, but doesn't work for uranium mining?
Pres. Shirley strongly expresses opposition to uranium mining because of environmental and health problems that occurred during the last mining cycle. Mining companies that plan to mine in New Mexico were not here during the last cycle. Several of these companies are already using in-situ mining processes in other states for over three decades. The science is working; there haven't been any environmental disasters at any of the uranium mine sites.

Reasonable thinking people are realizing that nuclear energy is the only power that will reduce greenhouse gases. The World Nuclear Power Organization reports that 34 new reactors are being built, 93 are on order or planned, and another 222 are proposed. Uranium is the only fuel source for those plants.

I represent the members of the Eastern Navajo Allottee Association who live outside the Navajo Nation's boundaries. We also need economic development. We will not benefit financially from the Desert Rock coal plant nor will we receive any of its electricity.

However, we sit on vast reserves of uranium deposits and would welcome the opportunity to provide for our families and their future. Pres. Shirley is right; its all about putting food on the table and shoes on little feet. We just need to agree on the science.

BENJAMIN HOUSE

Eastern Navajo Allottee Association, Inc.

Crownpoint

By Cornelia de Bruin The Daily Times
Article Launched: 04/21/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

FARMINGTON — San Juan County is one of 14 New Mexico counties given two thumbs up by Colorado College for its renewable energy potential.
Colorado College, located in Colorado Springs, Colo., rates western states from the renewable energy point of view. Lead researcher and report author Elizabeth Kolbe said renewables are a refreshing change of pace for this part of the nation.

"Generally the Rockies is a region affected by the extraction of minerals," she said. "I'm definitely against the building of more coal-fired power plants in the West, or the mining of coal."

Among the findings researchers who compiled the school's fifth annual State of the Rockies Report Card noted this year:

- Energy use in the Rocky Mountain region is 9 percent less than the national average, while consumers' monthly bills are 17 percent below those of the rest of the nation.
- Five of the eight Rockies states are among the top 15 windiest in the country.
- Wind is the leading renewable resource in the Rockies.
- Seven of the eight Rocky Mountain states are rated "superior" solar sources.
- The region's geothermal resources distinguish it from other parts of the nation.
- The three highest energy-using states in the Rockies are Idaho, Nevada and Arizona.

The Rockies region includes the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming and Utah.

Kolbe analyzed each county within the region, assigning them grades based on the counties' potential for biomass, solar, wind and geothermal energy. Her results highlights which counties are positioned most favorably to take advantage of a renewable energy boom when supplemented with the necessary labor and infrastructure.

San Juan County does not top the list of New Mexico's counties, a spot held by Quay and Río Arriba counties, but received an "A" grade for its solar potential. It is one of six such counties within the state.

This area received an "A-minus" grade for its geothermal potential.

Surprisingly Kolbe's research did not place San Juan County with other New Mexico counties acknowledged for their wind power potential. San Juan Citizens Alliance and Diné CARE (citizens against ruining our environment) are pushing for the use of wind power as a better alternative than the Desert Rock Power Plant the Navajo Nation's government hopes is built near Burnham.

"By any measure ... renewable energy is far superior to burning coal," said Diné CARE Community Organizer Dailan Long. "That's why the Navajo Nation needs to develop alternative sources."

Kolbe agreed there is a place — both for the Diné and the state — for harvesting energy from non-coal sources.

"I know there is no way that a solar plant can replace a 15,000-megawatt (coal-fired) plant, but people collectively installing solar panels on their homes could really help the Navajo people," she said regarding the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant. "It could help the state achieve its renewable portfolio standard."

New Mexico's Public Regulatory Commission mandated that 20 percent of utilities' energy come from renewables by the year 2020.

The State of the Rockies Report Card is a 120-page book containing reports about Affordable Housing, Restoring Rivers, Wilderness and Extractive Industries and Renewable Energy.

The different sections are viewable at http://www.coloradocollege.edu/stateoftherockies/reportcard.html. To order a copy contact Colorado College Bookstore at (800) 854-3930.

Cornelia de Bruin:

cdebruin@daily-times.com

Although President Joe Shirley Jr. has put one foot down, signing an agreement with the Citizen Enterprises Corporation to produce more than 500 megawatts of sustainable wind energy on Navajoland, the air is not quite clean yet.

Why is it that he said that Navajos "do not want to sit by (and) watch another generation of mothers and fathers die" regarding uranium mining on Navajo land? How about the Desert Rock Plant? How about using precious water to slurry coal?

The Desert Rock Plant and slurrying coal with precious water are also not welcome by many of his people on their land. Also, many species of animals, including man globally, depend on him putting his other foot down.

Desert Rock Plant will put the Navajo Nation in the category of man living luxuriously off the energy-rich land, like a spoiled child off wealthy parents.

I attended the Longest Walk 2 forum at Northern Arizona University on March 26, 2008. When the panel discussion ended, it ended on a negative note: that most of the tribal governments do not support increasing awareness of the consequences of high-energy consumption.

It is quite obvious the Navajo Nation is not an exception. Money for gold rings and travel expenses is what seems to drive them, just like kings. However, they need to remember that they are our servants, that they were elected to serve the Navajo people.

I also read the Longest Walk 2 founder Dennis Banks' story about how the growth of his wild rice plantation is growing shorter every year. He made it quite clear that global warming is real.

Many of us are scratching our heads and asking, "How can President Joe Shirley Jr. sit by and watch mothers and fathers and their children die from the pollution from another power plant, the Desert Rock Plant?"

The time has come for President Joe Shirley Jr. to put the other foot down on Desert Rock Plant. Otherwise in the Navajo custom it is considered that one is out of balance in his intellectual approach and leadership - specifically for a people whose elders strongly believe that they are the keepers of Mother Earth and who have elected him to serve them.

Erma Yellowman-McCabe
Flagstaff, Ariz.

ScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2008) — The top twenty carbon dioxide-emitting counties in the United States have been identified by a research team led by Purdue University.

The top three counties include the cities of Houston, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Kevin Gurney, an assistant professor of earth and atmospheric science at Purdue University and leader of the carbon dioxide inventory project, which is called Vulcan, says the biggest surprise is that each region of the United States is included in the ranking.

"It shows that CO2 emissions are really spread out across the country," he says. "Texas, California, New York, Florida, New Mexico, the Midwest — Indiana, Illinois, Ohio — and Massachusetts are all listed. No region is left out of the ranking, it would seem."

The listing of the counties includes the largest city in each county. The numbers are for millions of tons of carbon emitted per year.

Harris, Texas (Houston) — 18.625 million tons of carbon per year
Los Angeles, Calif. (Los Angeles) — 18.595
Cook, Ill. (Chicago) — 13.209
Cuyahoga, Ohio (Cleveland) — 11.144
Wayne, Mich. (Detroit) — 8.270
San Juan, N.M. (Farmington) — 8.245
Santa Clara, Calif. (San Jose) — 7.995
Jefferson, Ala. (Birmingham) — 7.951
Wilcox, Ala. (Camden) — 7.615
East Baton Rouge, La. (Baton Rouge) — 7.322
Titus, Texas (Mt. Pleasant) — 7.244
Carbon, Pa. (Jim Thorpe) — 6.534
Porter, Ind. (Valparaiso) — 6.331
Jefferson, Ohio (Steubenville) — 6.278
Indiana, Pa. (Indiana) — 6.224
Middlesex, Mass. (Boston metro area) — 6.198
Bexar, Texas (San Antonio) — 6.141
Hillsborough, Fla. (Tampa) — 6.037
Suffolk, N.Y. (New York metro area) — 6.030
Clark, Nev. (Las Vegas) — 5.955
The current emissions are based on information from 2002, but the Vulcan system will soon expand to more recent years.

Gurney says Vulcan, which is named for the Roman god of fire, quantifies all of the CO2 that results from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and gasoline. It also tracks the hourly outputs at the level of factories, power plants, roadways, neighborhoods and commercial districts.

"It's interesting that the top county, Harris, Texas, is on the list because of industrial emissions, but the second highest CO2 emitting county, Los Angels, California, is on the list because of automobile emissions," Gurney says. "So it's not just cars, and it's not just factories, that are emitting the carbon dioxide, but a combination of different things."

Gurney notes that some counties on the list are there but they are producing goods or power for occupants of a different area.

"Counties such as Titus, Texas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Clark, Nevada, are dominated by large power production facilities that serve populations elsewhere," he says.

"My favorite one on the list is Carbon, Pennsylvania," Gurney adds.

The three-year project, which was funded by NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy under the North American Carbon Program, involved researchers from Purdue University, Colorado State University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The Vulcan data is available for anyone to download from the Web site at http://www.eas.purdue.edu/carbon/vulcan. Smaller summary data sets that offer a slice of the data and are easier to download also are available for non-scientists on the Vulcan Web site. These can be broken down into emission categories, such as industrial, residential, transportation, power producers, by fuel type, and are available by state, county, or cells as small as six miles (10 kilometers) across.

Adapted from materials provided by Purdue University.

Frank fires back
(Editors’ note: The following letter is in response to the March 6 editorial, “Cocktails with Frank.)

Will,

Saw your recent snarky piece and would love to tell you a few things you forgot:

1) I have worked on a number of power plant-related issues and nearly every one of them has been a rational argument for finding and walking the fine line between growth, economics and environmental protection. There is a need to understand all sides of issues and find the right balance that will not only protect the environment, but meet community needs and protect its economy as well.

2) Before you go reading “Source watch” and take it as gospel, you should always check what else people work on. The climate group, when I worked with it (1998-2002), was widely recognized as credible business group that had a strong influence on the economic debate surrounding whether policies like the Kyoto Protocol would work or what they would cost. I think 10 years later, history has shown we were right about Kyoto. Also, I never did any work for the nuclear industry – although I would be happy to since Sen. Harry Reid doesn’t like me already anyway.

3) Perhaps you should investigate my involvement building wind turbine projects. In fact, by the number of quotes I have in the media, one might argue I have been more active on renewable projects than I even have been on Desert Rock or any coal power project. I suggested building wind turbines around the ridges of Durango just as we have in other regions to air permit and EIS meeting-goers, but surprisingly (not), I got a similar response as in those other places: “Not here”... Funny how that seems to happen.

4) I live within 15 miles of two big, coal-fired power plants, both of which are much closer than Desert Rock is to Durango. By the way, both are older than San Juan and Four Corners and have less emissions controls. Both of them are also close to the Chesapeake Bay, a relatively large, significant water resource ... even by Durango standards. By the way, my three small kids are growing up happy right here playing their sports, playing with friends, learning about the environment in our state. I think the power plants and car emissions (which are a much bigger problem here) may have affected their ability to hear though, because many times they don’t listen to me when I tell them to do things.

5) While I might have offered to buy you a beer, I don’t drink or smoke, so we wouldn’t be able to hang out and progress to heavier drinking. Sorry, not any particular reason, just never did. That way my judgment remains sound always.

6) I don’t drive Cadillacs .. .In fact I like to drive hybrids like the Prius – especially when I am on the road.

7) I do travel to Las Vegas often because, in fact, we are building another state-of-the-art, advanced coal plant just north of Las Vegas. I don’t think it’s my place to tell people how they ought to live, though. But certainly Las Vegas and the entire Southwest continues to grow rapidly and needs power. And it’s not just Las Vegas. St. George, Utah, is the second-fastest growing community by percentage in the U.S., according to recent census numbers. These power needs must be met. By the way, don’t gamble either. Just don’t like it.

8) Why shouldn’t the Navajos – who are aren’t as fortunate as those living in Durango – get opportunities to make a better life for their families as well. You might remember, the Nation will get hundreds of jobs, millions in revenue from taxes and royalties and new opportunities for economic development. It was their idea to do this project, and they invited us to help them build it better than any coal plant ever built before. I know nobody in Durango really cares about the Navajo Nation, but they should. Out of sight ... out of mind.

9) I’ve been to the plant site plenty of times ... have you? If not, I would recommend it. I think for the most part, you might find it to be a pretty darn good place to put a power plant – especially since it will have virtually no emissions of regional haze pollutants and use 85 percent less water than a typical plant (most of which goes to pollution control). And with the Navajo’s coal mine right next to the plant, not much use for trains, trucks or other items which have fuels costs and emissions as well.

10) Well, no smoking, drinking, gambling or girls. Sounds like your mapped out excursion might be pretty boring after all when you add me into it. Nothing but rational policy wonk talk and bragging on my kids’ sports, packed into a hybrid driving across the desert. At least we could get some Tony Hillerman novels on tape. I still have a few more to read (I love those books). Too bad you didn’t join us last time ... Anyway, the offer is still good.

– Sincerely, Frank Maisano spokesman, Desert Rock

Environmental lawyers make a concentrated effort to stop new ones from being built; a coalition claims 65 victories in the last year. But industry groups are fighting back.
By Judy Pasternak
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-coalwars14apr14,1,2805749.story

April 14, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Every time a new coal-fired power plant is proposed anywhere in the United States, a lawyer from the Sierra Club or an allied environmental group is assigned to stop it, by any bureaucratic or legal means necessary.

They might frame the battle as a matter of zoning or water use, but the larger war is over global warming: Coal puts twice as much temperature-raising carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as natural gas, second to coal as the most common power plant fuel.

The plant-by-plant strategy is part of a campaign by environmentalists to force the federal government to deal with climate change. The fights are scattered from Georgia to Wyoming, from Illinois to Texas, but the ultimate target is Washington, where the Bush administration has resisted placing limits on carbon dioxide and Congress has yet to act on a global warming bill.

The campaign against new coal-powered plants has infuriated utilities, which say the environmentalists' tactics are an abuse of the regulatory and judicial systems. They are counterpunching with ads, lobbying and court briefs of their own, bringing the clash over coal to a pitch that rivals the environmental and legal fights over nuclear power decades ago.

The environmental coalition, which includes the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund and Environmental Integrity Project, claims 65 victories over the last three years. The Sierra Club is coordinating opposition to about 50 additional power plant proposals.

"We have a national presence, so we're sort of mission control," said Pat Gallagher, director of the Sierra Club's environmental law program.

The goal: "We hope to clog up the system," said David Bookbinder, the Sierra Club's chief climate counsel. "It's putting pressure on Congress to put together a comprehensive plan."

Utilities and industry groups acknowledge that the environmentalists have been responsible for stopping some coal plants that otherwise would have been built. But the number is "nowhere near" 65, said Jeff Holmstead, a former EPA official who is now an industry lobbyist.

The partners in the anti-coal crusade are picking fights over any and all generators that use coal "regardless of merit," said Brendan Collins, a lawyer in Philadelphia who represents utilities and power plant developers. "They are doing it in a way that is unfair."

Since a meeting in Washington last summer, the partners in the anti-coal crusade have been focusing more squarely on carbon dioxide emissions in their local skirmishes, hoping to create precedents for dealing with a pollutant that is not federally regulated.

Their first high-profile victory came in Kansas last October, when state regulators denied a request by Sunflower Electric Co. for an air-quality permit for two 700-megawatt generators that would run on coal in the town of Holcomb.

The Sierra Club petitioned the state's health and environment secretary, Roderick L. Bremby, to deny the air-quality permit on grounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

"I believe it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing," Bremby said at the time.

Ever since, the state courts and Legislature have been haggling over coal and carbon dioxide in Kansas, and Sunflower has been unable to proceed.

Nick Persampieri, a Denver-based attorney for the environmental law firm Earthjustice, represents the Sierra Club in opposition to the Sunflower plant. He works closely with the Sierra Club's Kansas chapter. "You could argue that power plants harm everyone all over the country, but we always have somebody local to help us get standing" in court, he said.

Bookbinder is the Sierra Club's point man against a proposed power plant on tribal land in Utah, a case that shows the scope of the anti-coal push.

Usually he focuses on big-picture, national litigation from his Capitol Hill office. Bookbinder was one of the original petitioners in last spring's landmark Supreme Court decision that the EPA has authority to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant. But when he found himself with a block of free time last fall, he told Sierra Club headquarters in San Francisco, "I'll take a coal plant."

He received this mission: Halt a project by six electric cooperatives that run the Bonanza generator on the Uintah and Ouray Indian reservation. The co-ops, operating as Deseret Power, want to add a new unit with the capacity to manufacture 110 megawatts of electricity, about a fifth the capacity of the average power plant.

Bookbinder spied a big opportunity in the small project. Because the Bonanza plant is on property held in trust for Indians by the U.S. government, it was the Environmental Protection Agency, not a state, that issued the permit allowing the co-ops to proceed.

Bookbinder persuaded an administrative appeals board to consider overruling the EPA's permit on the grounds that it would vent more than 3 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. Oral arguments are scheduled for late May, and a decision is expected near the end of the summer.

If Bookbinder is successful, a ruling would affect any project that comes before the EPA, which has permitting authority for power plants in eight states, all federally owned land, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Deseret's lawyer, Steffen N. Johnson, declined comment.

But this time, industry groups are jumping into the fray in a big way. "Where it's going to be precedential, we will be getting involved," said Russell Frye, who filed a half-inch-thick brief last month that supports the power plant on behalf of seven powerful trade associations, including the American Petroleum Institute, Chamber of Commerce of the United States, the American Chemistry Council and the National Assn. of Manufacturers.

Various business groups are discussing how to handle the environmentalists' challenges in a more comprehensive way, but industry sources said their members have such a wide range of positions on climate change that it's been difficult. Some suggest bringing conspiracy charges against the environmentalists if they can find instances in which the national groups recruited locals to allow them to file legal papers that they couldn't have filed otherwise. But "no one has the guts," said one industry lawyer.

Instead, Collins and two law partners wrote an article for the spring 2008 issue of the American Bar Assn.'s natural resources journal, advising clients to build in schedule and budget delays due to litigation -- because it is inevitable.

"It's good for lawyers. It's good for me," said Frye. "But it's not particularly constructive to have all these symbolic gestures that may gum up the works but won't necessarily advance what we as a society ought to be doing."

Stopping the Bonanza plant, he said, "might not give you more bang for the buck than controlling an existing source" of carbon dioxide emissions, "or replacing light bulbs."

Members of the environmental law brigade concede that stopping new plants may not be as effective in reducing emissions as getting the oldest, dirtiest, least efficient coal plants offline. Coal supplies half of America's electricity.

"We'll need to find a way to go after them, too," Persampieri said.

judy.pasternak@latimes.com

Coalfields Turn Into Battlefields

Push for New Plants
Divides Democrats
In Rural, City Areas
Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-na-coalwars14apr14,1,2805749.story

By STEPHEN POWER in Wise, Virginia, and NICK TIMIRAOS in Levittown, Pa.
April 14, 2008; Wall Street Journal, Page A6

The race for the Democratic nomination hinges on a handful of states
where coal is still king. That puts Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack
Obama in a bind: how to attack global warming without threatening an
industry that provides half the U.S.'s electricity and more than 80,000
mining jobs.

Campaigning in the Pennsylvania presidential primary this month,
Senators Clinton and Obama are championing technology to capture and
store carbon-dioxide emissions from coal -- while vowing to invest in
renewable energies such as wind and solar power.

BURNING ISSUE

The News: The Democratic race is shifting to states that depend heavily
on coal, putting Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a bind as they try
to appeal to green audiences.

The Backdrop: Coal producers and their allies are spending heavily to
bolster public support for coal.

The Politics: In some states, efforts to build coal-fired plants are
pitting Democrats in rural areas against city and suburban dwellers
worried about climate change and air pollution.

"Coal is going to remain a major player in American energy," Senator
Clinton told the Pittsburgh Business Times last