March 19, 2008 Contact: Marissa Stone, NMED Communications Director

For Immediate Release Telephone: (505) 827-0314 or (505) 231-0475


Environment Secretary Issues Statement on Dine Power Authority and Desert Rock Energy Co. Lawsuit of EPA over Desert Rock Power Plant


(Santa Fe, NM) – New Mexico Environment Secretary Ron Curry issued the following statement today on Dine Power Authority’s and Desert Rock Energy Co., LLC’s lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding the coal-fired Desert Rock power plant air permit, which EPA has jurisdiction over. The lawsuit contends EPA failed to make a timely decision on the permit for the proposed plant.

"New Mexico's position on this plant is clear; the Desert Rock plant as currently proposed is a step in the wrong direction,” Secretary Curry said. “We need to be moving forward, toward new carbon capture ready technologies for power generation, not back to the old dirty coal plants of the past.

As planned, this new facility will adversely impact air quality, exacerbate existing environment problems, and negatively impact scarce surface and ground water resources. Also, the technology as proposed by Sithe refuses to consider real technological advances. It appears Sithe's investment in plant planning is outdated without taking into account the needs of climate change policy.

The estimated 12 million tons of carbon dioxide emitted each year from the Desert Rock Energy Facility would increase New Mexico greenhouse gas emissions by about 15 percent, making Governor's Richardson's aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals difficult – if not impossible – to meet.

This lawsuit is unfortunate and premature. At the request of the Navajo Nation, New Mexico Environment Department staff has been meeting with tribal environmental officials to discuss this project and the potential for carbon emission reductions. To sue now undercuts these ongoing discussions. We respect the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation and the rights of tribal governments to determine their economic futures and to pursue positive change within their communities. However, the responsibility of taking strong action to combat global climate change is one we must all share."


For more information contact Marissa Stone, NMED Communications Director, at (505) 827-0314 or (505) 231-0475.

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Navajo Nation Enterprise Sues EPA Over Proposed Power Plant
Source: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/9da87f5b460fa1b49ce132a3af7964ab.htm

March 19, 2008: 12:53 PM EST


NEW YORK (Associated Press) - A Navajo Nation enterprise has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the agency's lack of action on an air permit application for a proposed coal-fired power plant.

The Navajo Nation's Dine Power Authority and Houston-based Sithe Global Power have partnered to build the $3 billion, 1,500-megawatt Desert Rock plant south of Farmington, N.M.

The DPA and Sithe applied for an air permit in early 2004. Under federal law, the EPA has a year to make a determination and issue a decision.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Houston by DPA and Desert Rock Energy Company, LLC, seeks to force the EPA to make a ruling. Construction on the plant can't start until an air permit is granted.

Steven Begay, the general manager of DPA, said the air permit "gives the green light for a lot of other things."

"Time is money," he said. "Sithe is spending money, and we're spending money. The longer we wait, the more money we spend ... and we don't want to do that. We want to move forward."

Sithe Global is a subsidiary of private equity giant Blackstone Group of New York.

The EPA has received more than 1,000 comments on the air permit, each of which the agency has to respond to, said Margot Perez-Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the EPA in San Francisco.

"Typically it doesn't take this long, but there is really no normal time frame," she said. "It really depends on the complexity of the project, and in this case, it is a complex process."

Perez-Sullivan couldn't say when the EPA might act on the permit application and declined to comment specifically on the lawsuit.

The Navajo Nation notified the EPA in January that it intended to sue over the permit, and when the EPA took no action after 60 days, the tribe decided to move forward with the lawsuit. The EPA and agency administrator Stephen Johnson are named as defendants.

Shirley, who traveled to Washington, D.C., last week and met with Johnson to urge his agency to issue the permit, has made Desert Rock a priority in his administration. The tribe is expecting millions of dollars in lease payments, taxes and coal royalties once the project is complete.

"There is a ripple effect. The longer we wait the more it's costing not just the Navajo Nation but the investors who are helping us with this project," said George Hardeen, a spokesman for Shirley. "Investors can't wait forever.

Sithe has invested about $20 million in the project so far, and the lawsuit claims the tribe is losing $5 million in tax revenue for every month the permit is delayed.

"This is a huge issue for the Navajo Nation. It's economic development, it's jobs, it's the future opportunities for the nation," said Frank Maisano, a spokesman for Sithe. "We're happy to do our part to move it along in support of the nation."

The air permit would set limits for emissions covered under the federal Clean Air Act, such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulates and lead emissions. Both federal officials and Desert Rock developers have said the draft permit contains some of the strictest controls ever set for a coal-fired power plant in the United States.

But some Navajos and environmentalists argue that Desert Rock, which would be built on tribal land near the Navajo community of Burnham, would harm the environment and residents' health. There are two other coal-fired power plants in the Four Corners region.

The New Mexico Environment Department and others have criticized the draft permit for not including enforceable conditions to address adverse visibility and for not analyzing mercury or carbon dioxide emissions.

Others have complained that a better understanding of existing air quality conditions in the Four Corners region is needed before acceptable standards can be set for Desert Rock.