Staff Writer
Article Launched: 06/13/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

No matter if you're for or against the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant, the time is past for the Environmental Protection Agency to act on an air permit.

Diné Power Authority and Houston-based Sithe Global Power applied for the air permit that is required to operate the plant way back in early 2004. Under federal law, the EPA has one year to make a determination and issue a decision.

It's more than four years later — and still no decision.

That all looks to change this summer, though. The EPA filed a consent decree last week in U.S. District Court in Houston, agreeing to act on the permit by July 31. Before the decree is final, however, the EPA has to publish it in the Federal Register and allow public comment on the document.

An EPA spokeswoman said unless the Department of Justice discovers facts that disclose problems with the consent decree, the federal agency will make a decision by the end of July.

Along with an air permit, Desert Rock must also obtain an environmental impact statement through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. That final approval may also happen later this year.

The EPA already is way behind on the air permit decision and must act either way. The agency claims responding to about 1,000 mostly negative comments on the draft air permit in the past year, and climate modeling uncertainties, have delayed the process.

The Desert Rock project, which would be located near Burnham on the Navajo Nation, is clouded by controversy.

Supporters say the coal-fired plant will add hundreds of permanent jobs and pump in

$50 million annually to a poverty-stricken Navajo reservation.

Detractors, including New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, oppose building a new plant in an area that already is home to two major coal-fired operations. They say another large power plant would further harm the environment and put residents' health in further jeopardy.

Richardson, a former presidential candidate who is being mentioned as a vice president possibility for Barack Obama, urges the EPA to again delay a decision until New Mexico can be consulted more on the overall impact of another coal-fired plant.

Just what new concerns will be brought up following what's already been a four-year process? Most of those 1,000 comments in EPA's hands no doubt are similar issues that run the gamut between environmental protection, global warming concerns and other matters. Countless regional public hearings have been held in the past several years on the air permit and environmental impact statement.

Again, the time has come to act. If the project meets all of the necessary federal requirements, it should move forward. If it does not, Desert Rock can't be built in its present form. The waiting game on the air permit, frankly, has to end — one way or another.

Keep in mind that many unknown variables still exist for Desert Rock. Potential litigation, looming EPA smog standards that would push San Juan County over the legal limit and the ever-increasing climate change debate may keep Desert Rock on the back burner for the foreseeable future.