EPA asked to consider proposed coal plant's technology

By FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 06/19/2008 06:35:27 PM MDT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Gov. Bill Richardson and Attorney General Gary King want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that a proposed coal-fired power plant in northwestern New Mexico has the best technology to deal with hazardous pollutants before construction on the plant can begin.
Under the federal Clean Air Act, the EPA has to review the Desert Rock Energy Project's maximum achievable control technology, or MACT, before work can start on 1,500-megawatt plant.

Richardson and King, however, are asking the EPA to make that determination as part of the air permitting process, though the agency is not legally required to.

"Doing so provides for enforceability of the MACT requirements while ensuring the compatibility of those requirements with the design parameters specified in the PSD (air) permit," they wrote in a joint letter to the EPA on Thursday.

The air permit would set limits for emissions such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulates and lead emissions. The MACT determination would look at pollutants such as lead, arsenic and mercury.

Mary Uhl, bureau chief of the state Environment Department's Air Quality Bureau, said some hazardous pollutants, such as mercury, contain particulates that are covered under the air permit.
"If you don't tie the two together, you're getting an inaccurate or incomplete picture of the control technologies that will be put on the plant," she said.

An EPA spokeswoman in San Francisco, Margot Perez-Sullivan, said the agency has received the letter and will formally respond in a timely manner.

She said distinguishing the air permit and MACT processes "is the right way to do it." She declined to comment further.

Houston-based Sithe Global Power and the Dine Power Authority, an enterprise of the Navajo Nation, are partnering on the $3 billion Desert Rock plant to be built on tribal land south of Farmington.

The EPA has said it will issue a decision on the air permit by July 31 as part of a settlement of a lawsuit developers brought against the agency for delaying action on the permit.

Desert Rock proponents say the plant's technology would be cleaner and more efficient than that used in current coal-fired power plants.

"The reality is this power plant has the most advanced technology that you can have for a power plant," said Sithe spokesman Frank Maisano.

While the developers are touting the technology, the state said Sithe refuses to consider real advances that would combat global warming.

"It's premature to say this is the best technology out there because that is a determination EPA has to make," said Phil Sisneros, a spokesman for King.

Richardson and King are asking that the EPA acknowledge its obligation to make the MACT determination and identify the procedure it will follow.

If EPA does not complete the MACT determination before it acts on the air permit, the New Mexico officials want the EPA to reconsider the permit to incorporate any modifications that might be brought up in the MACT determination.

Source: http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_9639617

June 19, 2008
For Immediate Release
Office of Governor Contact: Allan Oliver 505-476-2214
Office of Attorney General Contact: Phil Sisneros 505-827-6792
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Governor Richardson, Attorney General King Blast EPA for Violating Clean Air Act in Fast Tracking Desert Rock Permit

Governor and Attorney General Issue Letter to EPA Criticizing the Agency’s Failure to Provide Environmental Analyses regarding Harmful Pollutants from the Proposed Plant
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(SANTA FE) New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Attorney General Gary King today criticized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for violating the federal Clean Air Act by fast tracking a permit for the proposed Desert Rock coal fired-power plant without completing the proper reviews on important air pollution issues.

Governor Richardson and Attorney General King assert in their letter that EPA’s recent proposal to expedite the permitting decision for the proposed plant without conducting required environmental analyses of hazardous air pollutants could have severe negative impacts on air quality for New Mexicans and others in the region. The proposed plant, under the jurisdiction of the Navajo Nation, would be in northwest New Mexico.

"EPA is overlooking air quality protections in federal law by fast tracking this permit,” Governor Richardson said. “This is a grave mistake. The children of northwestern New Mexico should not have to be exposed to higher levels of mercury and lead in the air they breathe. New Mexico and the nation must be making advances toward new clean technologies for electricity rather than continuing to build the dirty coal plants of yesterday.”

Governor Richardson has been vocal in his opposition to the proposed plant because of well-documented detrimental impacts from coal fired power plants on human health, especially on children.

“The Clean Air Act is very clear in spelling out what the EPA must do to protect people from hazardous power plant emissions,” said Attorney General King. “Because EPA listed coal-fired power plants as a major source of hazardous air pollutants, we are on solid legal ground to request that the EPA do what the law says.”

The EPA must do a complete and thorough analysis before reaching any conclusions on this air permit, the joint letter states. They also criticize EPA for failing to abide by the Clean Air Act, which prohibits the construction of new power plants without a prior EPA maximum achievable control technology determination for the emission of hazardous air pollutants. In addition to providing that determination, EPA is also required by law to identify a procedure it will follow related to that process.

EPA, which has not made a MACT determination in this case, previously issued a rule that sought to avoid that requirement for power plants altogether. However, New Mexico along with other states recently prevailed in overturning EPA’s attempted roll back in a federal lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The letter also expresses “serious concerns about the environmental impacts of constructing Desert Rock in a region already impaired by other large coal-fired power plants.”

Mercury contamination from Desert Rock poses great threats to the health of New Mexico’s children and to local waterways. Mercury, a known neurotoxin which contributes to learning disabilities in children, also pollutes nearly every reservoir in New Mexico with high levels of contamination.

Desert Rock is expected to emit substantial amounts of mercury, arsenic, lead, dioxins, and other hazardous air pollutants, including approximately 166 tons per year of hydrogen chloride and 13.3 tons per year of hydrogen fluoride.

Governor Richardson in recent months directed New Mexico Environment Secretary Ron Curry to meet with the Navajo Nation related to the state’s issues with the plant.

The Environment Department determined the proposed facility will adversely impact air quality, exacerbate existing environmental problems and negatively impact scarce surface and ground water resources. Also, the technology as proposed by Sithe Global refuses to consider real technological advances in the area of combating global climate change. The Environment Department has concerns that 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’s greenhouse gas emissions by about 15 percent.

** Original Letter Attached ***

Center of Southwest Studies opens “Connections: Earth + Artist” exhibiton

by Jules Masterjohn

Pick up any magazine and one will find that the topic of the environment is hot. The recent issue of ARTnews lists nine exhibitions around the U.S. that address today’s conservation concerns.

Earlier this month, on the other side of our blue planet in New Zealand, the Natural World Museum opened its annual exhibition as part of the United Nations “Art for the Environment” initiative. “Moving Toward a Balanced Earth: Kick the Carbon Habit,” is “designed to utilize the universal language of art as a catalyst to unite people in action and thought.”

The exhibition’s curator wrote, “Artists are often described as prophetic visionaries and poetic shapers of the world – one step ahead of humanity.” This sentiment underscores the important role that artists have in offering new ways to understand ourselves and the world we share.

Thankfully, there’s no need to increase our carbon footprints and travel to San Francisco, New York or New Zealand to see art that will inspire us to action on behalf of the environment. The exhibition, “Connections: Earth + Artist = A Tribute Art Show in Resistance to Desert Rock” will open this Sun., June 22, at Fort Lewis College’s Center of Southwest Studies.
Navajo artist Gloria Emerson's "Desert Rock.”/Photo by David Halterman

The exhibit is a tribute to the Navajo elders who are standing vigilantly against the proposed building of Desert Rock Power Plant. Desert Rock would be the third coal-burning facility located on or near the Navajo Reservation in northern New Mexico. Exhibition organizers, artist Venaya Yazzie and writer Esther Belin, were inspired by the elders’ resolve and certitude to protect the Earth. Dooda’ Desert Rock is a resistance group and camp where the Navajos are holding a vigil, using “their prayers as weapons against disharmony.”

It was just after Yazzie visited the Dooda’ Desert Rock encampment that she knew she wanted to bring artists together. “We are doing this exhibit for all the elders, because the elders are resisting Desert Rock for future generations.” Raised by her grandparents, Yazzie grew up speaking Navajo and listening to Diné stories. “I have a heart for them and I have been saddened by seeing them not being listened to by our tribal government,” she said as she toured the exhibit.

Viewing “Connections: Earth + Artist” is a powerful experience. Artists in the exhibition share diverse voices in solidarity with the environment and its inhabitants. Walking into 4 the gallery, one encounters many unique and thought-provoking works in the form of painting, mixed-media collage, photography, quilts, film, poetry and sculpture. There is wide representation in the exhibit: male and female artists, fine arts and traditional arts, and writing and the visual arts. The works by native and nonnative artists from as far as Minnesota were chosen for the exhibit. However, the majority of the work is from artists living in the Four Corners, the airshed for the proposed power plant. Of the nearly 60 entries submitted, the five-person jury selected 35 pieces, all of which reflect the theme of Desert Rock resistance or the broader concept of humankind’s compromising presence in the natural world.

The gallery is spacious and inviting. A thoughtful installation choice, for much of the work reverberates beyond the materials that comprise them: compelling ideas and strong emotions push past the boundaries of the physical artwork to inhabit the space with us.

Many of the works are persuasive, and some are haunting. Octogenarian Navajo artist Gloria Emerson’s painting “Desert Rock” stays with the viewer for a long time. It is a portrayal of the Diné cultural belief that there are “otherworldly beings who lurk around us with dire intentions,” and it serves as a reminder to be prepared for “those forces that intend ill fortune and to counteract them with positive action.” Chills run down the spine after contemplating the strange figure pictured in her ominous landscape.

The phrases in Christy Ferrato’s poem, “A Wrong Turn in the Desert,” elicit similarly uneasy feelings, as she gives us a tour of towns across the Navajo reservation. One stanza reads:

Shiprock/ Skeletal dogs wait outside the Chat-n-Chew/ A guy in a camouflage t-shirt and an American flag headband try to/ Sell me a dream catcher.

Pagosa Springs artist Kathleen Steventon goes beyond the borders of the reservation to the land of ideology with a two-faced symbol of America, “Short Term Gain.” Steventon divides her canvas with half of the face of Lady Liberty on one side uncomfortably pairing her facial features with that of a skull on the other side, the boney face smothered in columns of thick smoke. Her appealing palette and lusciously applied thick oil paint are seductive while her message is distressing.

Cultural icons are also used as expressive forms by artists Jeff Madeen and Ricardo Moreno. Madeen’s intriguing found-object wall sculpture “Downward Spiral” is exactly that: a spiraling form that falls downward off the gallery wall, crafted from the metal edge of a downhill ski with tree bark from a beetle-killed Juniper affixed to its surface. He states, “This sculpture signifies the impact we as a race have had on the planet.”

Moreno uses the Chinese symbol for harmony between opposites, the Yin-Yang, as the visual and conceptual foundation for his computer-generated archival print, “Transcend Dualism.” Language is an integral part of this work, with pairs of words indicating polemic ideas placed around the symbol’s edges. “Affluence-Poverty, Society-Environment, Us-Them, Mountain-Desert, and Here-There” are offered for our consideration. Moreno intends to “remind us of the multiple perspectives to the issues” and that it is important to hear and integrate all points of view before taking action.

Works by visual artists Sonja Horoshko, Thaddine Swift Eagle, James Joe, Denna Carney, Sharon Abshagon, Mary Ellen Long, Tirzah Camacho, Ed Singer and filmmaker Duran Washburn as well as writings by Ann Smith, Darsi Olsen and Esther Belin offer insight into our relationship to the environment.

Yazzie’s hope is that “Connections” will educate and get people thinking outside their comfort zones, that we will each deeply consider our roles as inhabitants of the planet, and make our choices accordingly.

“Connections: Earth + Artist = A Tribute Art Show in Resistance to Desert Rock” opens with a reception from 1-4 p.m. on Sun., June 22, at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive. Additional events include a Summer Solstice Sighting and Sunday breakfast from 6-8 a.m., a 2:30 p.m. poetry reading, and a 3:15 p.m. showing of “This Beautiful World” by Duran Washburn and Poison Wind, a documentary film produced by Jenny Pond and Norman Brown. •

Four Corners smog exceeds standard

It’s official. Four Corners smog levels exceeded federal health standards for ozone air pollution last week. A monitor near Navajo Reservoir registered another high reading on June 11, which triggered federal action for New Mexico’s San Juan County.

The region’s two coal-fired power plants, tens of thousands of oil and gas compressors, motor vehicle exhaust, industrial facilities, and gas and chemical vapors are major contributors to the worsening air quality. When these nitrogen oxide emissions combine with volatile organic compounds and cook in the sun, a substance called ozone forms. Ozone, or smog, is particularly toxic for children and those who are active outdoors. When inhaled, ozone triggers respiratory ailments, including reduced lung capacity, bronchitis and aggravation of asthma. Repeated exposure over only a few months can cause permanent lung damage.

Recognizing these health hazards, the Environmental Protection Agency significantly strengthened its air quality standards for ground-level ozone in early March. By signing its most stringent ozone standards ever, the agency took steps to improve public health and protect sensitive trees and plants.

Two years ago, the New Mexico Environmental Department installed an ozone monitor at Navajo Reservoir. In that time, the monitor has registered an average ozone reading of 79 parts per billion, well above the new standard.

“We would need to see a reading of 64 this year at that station to stay in compliance,” explained Mary Uhl, of the New Mexico Air Quality Bureau.

The June 11 reading registered 70 ppb and officially put San Juan County over the edge. The violation will require the most substantial cuts in ozone-forming pollution ever in the Four Corners region. Action will likely be taken against the Four Corners Power Plant and San Juan Generating Station, in addition to the region’s oil and gas wells, natural gas processing plants, and oil refineries.

“The Four Corners Region is in the midst of a health crisis,” said Mike Eisenfeld, of the San Juan Citizens Alliance. “Ozone air pollution is adversely affecting children and families in San Juan County and the surrounding region. We need relief.”

Opponents of the Desert Rock Power Plant added that the violation should challenge the future of the proposed coal-burning facility. They cited the EPA’s assertion that the proposed power plant would not contribute to a violation of ozone health standards, a point that is now moot.

“While this violation is a wake-up call, it’s also an opportunity to develop a strong, lasting clean-up plan,” said Jeremy Nichols, of Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action. “We need to cut smog-forming pollution more than ever to keep us safe and healthy. We need to start by denying the permit for the Desert Rock Power Plant.”

However, Desert Rock is proposed on Navajo land, and the plant can only be regulated by the Navajo Nation EPA.

“We have jurisdiction to control the power plant and oil and gas emissions only in New Mexico,” Uhl said. “We don’t have control over Colorado or the Navajo Nation. We’ll have to work with those entities to bring the area into compliance.”

– Will Sands

Source: http://www.durangotelegraph.com/telegraph.php?inc=/08-06-19/quick.htm

June 18, 2008
By Chuck Slothower | Herald Staff Writer

Coal must be part of the energy mix in the United States as demand for electricity grows, an industry representative said during a visit to Durango on Tuesday.

Brad S. Jones, regional communications director for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, said wind and other renewable sources should play a part in meeting Americans' electricity needs. But coal is needed to provide reliable power.

Coal produces 72 percent of the electricity generated in Colorado, and about 50 percent of U.S. electricity, Jones said.

Electricity demand is expected to grow 30 percent in La Plata County in five years, said Pam Patton, chairwoman of the La Plata Electric Association board.

Coal has generated headlines in the Four Corners as regulators study the Desert Rock Energy Project. A proposed $3 billion, 1,500-megawatt coal-fired power plant that would be built on Navajo land about 30 miles southwest of Farmington, Desert Rock would consume an estimated 6.2 million tons of coal per year, according to a federal study.

Environmental groups have raised concerns about the plant's emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas that has been linked to global warming. Desert Rock would emit an estimated 12.7 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. A car would have to burn 1.3 billion gallons of gas to reach the same level of emissions.

Jones said the coal industry is working to tackle carbon-dioxide emissions - with the help of technology.

"The technology is there," Jones said. "What's missing is incentives and funding to make it commercially viable."

Companies are experimenting with injecting carbon dioxide into saline aquifers and underground coal seams, Jones said.

"There's never been a challenge the industry has faced where technology has not been the answer," Jones said.

Andrew Gulliford, a Fort Lewis College professor of Southwest studies, expressed skepticism that technology will solve all the problems associated with coal.

But Jones pointed to the precedent set by acid rain, an environmental problem that he said was largely solved with technology.

Jones indicated the coal industry has come to grips with the likelihood of additional federal regulations.

"The industry is now recognizing that reducing emissions is a good thing and that it's a moral issue for the American people," he said. "We've all come to the realization that federal regulations are going to occur in the next couple of years."

By Dutch Salmon/ For the Sun-News
Article Launched: 06/17/2008 09:44:13 AM MDT

The San Juan River, particularly the tailwater fishery in the first 15 miles or so below Navajo Dam in extreme northwestern New Mexico, would by most accounts make the top ten of "destination" fly fishing locales nationwide. Even today, when its fishery is, by common opinion, not what it was a few short years ago, and its management beset by controversy. I got a taste of the fishing possibilities, and an earful on the management debates, on a recent trip to Farmington.

First, the State Game Commission at the Farmington meeting May 29 prohibited the use of more than two flies in the "quality waters" of the San Juan - the first four miles below the dam where bait is already prohibited and single, barbless hooks are the rule. Some anglers, and guides, had taken to stringing out two or three or more dropper flies and the result, many felt, was the unnecessary snagging and injury of trophy trout almost all of which are scheduled for release in that section.

That was the easy part. I got the bigger picture of management debate the next day when Oscar Simpson of the National Wildlife Federation and I went fishing with guides Larry Johnson and T.J. Massey of Soaring Eagle Lodge, plus Marc Wethington.of New Mexico Game & Fish.
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We put in near "Texas Hole" dispersed between two drift boats and began to drift, fish, and talk our way downstream.

The main issues, I learned from Johnson, are flow rates and erosion leading to sediment loading of the riverbed.

"The Bureau of Reclamation (BoR)," Johnson said, "manages the release from Navajo Lake to satisfy water users downstream — the Navajo, irrigators and others. We (fishermen) aren't water rights holders so we're at the bottom of the list....we don't get much attention."

Wethington said releases were also timed and controlled by requirements of two endangered fish in waters downstream too warm for trout - the Colorado pikeminnnow and the razorback sucker. Their requirements, at least as the BoR interprets them, can also lead to low flows.

"When they (BoR) raises or lowers the release from one extreme to the other, that's bad for the (trout) fishery," Johnson said.

The low extreme, a 250 cfs minimum, depletes habitat and kills fish though Johnson said that in his opinion such low flows "have not been prolonged."

Erosion into the stream, all agreed, has multiplied with the increase in oil and gas development in the nearby uplands, mostly on BLM land. At Simon Canyon, where we stopped for lunch, I was told of one recent storm event "that sent a load of run-off down the wash where it ended up a wall of silt that went clear across the river."

Heavy siltation affects the river's insect population. A 2002 Game & Fish study said, "There are approximately 100,000 bugs per square meter on the river, " the main reason the San Juan's browns and rainbows average about 16 inches per catch, are thick-bodied and muscular, and not uncommonly reach 20-inches-plus. One indication of the fishery decline due to siltation problems, loss of bugs, and effects of ill-timed water releases was offered by Wethington.

"At the peak (about 2002)," Wethington said, "there were 70 to 80 guides working this section of the San Juan. Now there are 30 to 40."

Stronger comments regarding BoR priorities and BLM oil and gas management came from Andreas Novak, a Farmington angler who has fly fished from the river's bank two or three times a week since 1983. Novak said he has been "stunned" by the number of oil and gas developments, and attendant roads, that have been put in over recent years.

"It's led to erosion like never before," he said. "Most of the fish now are above Rex Smith Wash (the first major drainage below the dam), and where I used to fish the whole four miles of the quality waters, now I just fish the first mile and a half."

Novak has seen far too much of 250 cfs minimum flows to suit him.

"A flow rate of 250 to 350 cfs for six months in the middle of the winter equals a fish kill," he said. "Similar flow rates have been documented from 2002 through 2006. The BoR program is "horde and dump'; they manage the water for what they call "present and future projects', like the (proposed) Navajo Project and Desert Rock coal fired plant which include provisions for water out of Navajo Lake. Yet air quality in San Juan County is already 6th worst in the nation, right up there with big cities like L.A. (Los Angeles). I'd like to see a minimal flow of at least 750 cfs, 1000 cfs would be better, with a 5000 cfs maximum in the spring which I believe is a good thing for the fishery."

Is the glass half full (Johnson) or half empty (Novak)? Regardless, 5000 cfs is just what Oscar and I contended with that day. "Tough fishing," Johnson said, as he tied on a #18 San Juan worm and even smaller #24 midge dropper, tiny flies in my experience that imitate some of the San Juan's food base.

"Why would a trophy trout bother?" I thought. Yet our strike indicators kept dipping under. Oscar, who claims he is no fly fisherman, landed two rainbows and a brown in the 15 to 16 inch range. I hooked three myself, lost two (one at the net) before finally landing a roughly 16-inch rainbow that was easily the heaviest trout at that length I've ever seen. T.J. handled the net quite nicely.

A few days after we left, Johnson reported a client had just caught a 27-inch brown that went 9 lbs. Since the browns in the San Juan, unlike the rainbows, are naturally reproducing, this was a special catch.

"The San Juan is still good," Johnson said. "It could be better. I'd like to get a small group together, including guides, local anglers, Game & Fish, State Parks and a few others. If we could come to agreement on what the San Juan needs, we could then go to BoR and BLM as a unified force and maybe influence some changes for the better."

"Good idea," I said, though fundamental change for wildlife and recreation will always be tough so long as the water rights are reserved for the consumptive users. I'd say the trout of the San Juan are worth more than a new power plant any day. But we have a hundred years of law and tradition to overcome before instream flows equal consumptive uses of our rivers. A new paradigm is needed in western states water management.

For more information on fishing the San Juan, have a look at Larry Johnson's website at: www.soaringeaglelodge.net.