URL: http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/594727nm09-15-07.htm

EPA Calls Out BIA On Coal-Fired Plant
By Leslie Linthicum
Journal Staff Writer

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says it has some problems with another federal agency's report on the potential environmental effects that a proposed coal-fired power plant will have on the Four Corners.

The EPA questions some of the numbers and projections in a Bureau of Indian Affairs draft environmental impact statement, which was released this summer and was the focus of 10 public hearings across the Four Corners and in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

The BIA has extended its comment period through Oct. 9 on its environmental assessment of the Desert Rock power plant, which Houston-based Global Sithe plans to build on Navajo reservation land in concert with the Navajo Nation.

In a 12-page analysis of problems with the environmental impact assessment, the EPA notes "unresolved concerns" with the BIA's analysis of groundwater contamination and air quality effects of the construction and operation of the 1,500-megawatt plant.

In a letter to the BIA's regional office in Gallup, the manager of the EPA's Environmental Review Office asks the BIA to consider its critique and incorporate its concerns in the final version of the environmental impact statement.

Opponents of the plant said the EPA's report "confirm the deficiencies" of the Desert Rock environmental assessment.

"We commend EPA's recognition that Desert Rock presents unresolved environmental justice issues," said Dailan Long of Diné CARE, a largely Navajo group that opposes the plant. "The two existing power plants and three coal mines in the region have created a legacy of disproportionate impacts to the Diné people."

Desert Rock would be the third power plant in the Four Corners area, and opponents argue the region has already borne its share of air pollution.

Sithe Global contends its plant will be the cleanest coal plant ever built and that the company will buy pollution credits and help other plants make improvements that will result in a net decrease in air pollution in the region.

The BIA must approve a business site lease for the plant's construction to begin.
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"We commend EPA's recognition that Desert Rock presents unresolved environmental justice issues," said Dailan Long of Diné CARE, a largely Navajo group that opposes the plant. "The two existing power plants and three coal mines in the region have created a legacy of disproportionate impacts to the Diné people."

There is only one way to resolve these issues, and that is to send Sithe packing. SC