By Cornelia de Bruin
The Daily Times
Article Launched: 06/14/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

FARMINGTON — San Juan County's air quality monitors registered ozone readings Wednesday right at the 75 parts per billion mark, which is the new federal standard for maximum ozone levels.

"Ozone is the key ingredient of smog," said Mike Eisenfeld, San Juan County Citizens Alliance New Mexico staff organizer. "It's a corrosive gas that forms when air pollution ... reacts with sunlight."

"We are at 75 (ppb) now. We are watching it, too," added Mary Uhl, director of the state Environment Department's Air Quality Bureau. "We have to go over it before we are in non-attainment."

Uhl said when an area goes into the non-attainment category, the state has the responsibility to develop a plan to reduce emissions, then prove that plan will work — or suffer the consequences.

"The federal government can withhold highway funds if corrective action is not taken," Uhl said. "We are just in the beginning of constructing a plan. We had an early action compact to talk about a plan because we had known the San Juan County area is on the cusp of non-attainment."

Uhl expects San Juan County to cross the line within the next two weeks. The ozone levels typically increase during the hotter summer months.

Uhl's boss, Environment Department Secretary Ron Curry, is in touch with the Navajo Nation regarding Sithe Global and Diné Power Authority's plans to construct Desert Rock Power Plant, a pulverized coal-burning facility in the Burnham area of the Nation.

"The New Mexico Environment Department has engaged in discussions about Desert Rock with the Nation through the president's office," she said.

President Joe Shirley Jr. did not return calls from The Daily Times requesting comment on issues under public scrutiny.

The state's position, publicized Tuesday by Gov. Bill Richardson's office, is that recent action taken by the EPA could affect the health of New Mexicans.

A decree filed by the EPA in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas was a response to a lawsuit filed against the federal agency by Bracewell and Giuliani of Washington, D.C., and the Navajo Nation to prod the EPA to issue an air permit for Desert Rock.

The EPA is required to act within one year of a permit seeker's request. In the case of Desert Rock, the timeline passed the four-year mark earlier this year. The consent decree states the EPA will act on the permit by July 31.

"Every indication is that this is an agreement being pushed by the Bush White House to the detriment of air quality in the Four Corners region," Richardson said. "I urge EPA to delay issuance of the permit pending full consultation with New Mexico regarding the far-reaching environmental impacts — including asthma-causing ozone, mercury and greenhouse gas emissions — that will be caused by this plant."

Frank Maisano, spokes-man for Sithe Global, countered, "It will be the cleanest coal plant in the United States with the most strict air permit ever."

"Additional requirements will reduce mercury by 90 percent and lower overall regional haze emissions by 10 percent, even with the new plant because of our plan to work with other projects in the region to reduce emissions at their sites," Maisano said.

It also will reduce global warming emissions by 20 percent, Maisano claimed, because of its efficiency.

Eisenfeld said the high levels recorded this week at Navajo Lake call into question the future of the proposed coal-burning Desert Rock Power Plant. San Juan County also is home to Four Corners Power Plant and San Juan Generating Station, two of the larger power plants in the West.

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9 in San Francisco, has asserted that the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant would not contribute to a violation of ozone health standards," Eisenfeld said. "(That is) an assertion that is now contradicted by monitoring data."

Added Jeremy Nichols of Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, "(This is) a wakeup call , it's also an opportunity to develop a strong, lasting cleanup plan."

"We need to cut smog-forming pollution more than ever before to keep us safe and healthy," Nichols said. "We need to start by denying the permit for the Desert Rock Power Plant to be built."

Cornelia de Bruin:

cdebruin@daily-times.com