New EPA standards mean cleaner air

The ozone issue in the Four Corners region is a very important issue. As EPA toughens the standards across the country, many areas like the Four Corners will be faced with significant new challenges to meet the new standard, but the result will be cleaner air.

At every opportunity the opponents of the Desert Rock Energy Project criticize the project even though it will be among the cleanest, most advanced plants in the U.S., will result in hundreds of new family wage jobs, be the largest taxpayer in the state and will help meet the region's growing need for power.

The most recent falsehood asserted by critics is that the project will significantly increase ozone and regional haze pollution for the region in light of EPA's tougher standards. Fortunately, the facts present a different case whether critics like it or not.

In fact, due to the extensive array of pollution controls on the expected project, it will be a low emitter of NOx, which is a major ozone-causing emission. Based on information developed by the Four Corners Task Force the 2005 NOx emission in the Four Corners area were approximately 148,507 tons annually Desert Rock would increase this number by less than two percent.

At the same time, developers have agreed to go even further to reduce overall emissions, paying for projects at other facilities in the region that will reduce Desert Rock's impact on regional haze and ozone-causing emissions by 110 percent, assuring an overall reduction in these emissions.

These potential projects may be at existing power plants or they may be at other oil/gas or industrial facilities in the region, but in the end, will mean a real reduction in ozone-causing emissions.

Ozone issues and regional haze pollution are a major concern for all communities, businesses and residents in the Four Corners. That is what we've heard during the four years and hundreds of public meetings that we have participated in within the communities around the Four Corners.

It is also why we've taken painstaking steps to develop Desert Rock to help meet these challenges, while at the same time providing tremendous economic and employment opportunities to Navajos.

Frank Maisano
Desert Rock Energy Company
Washington, D.C.