By Sue Major Holmes
Albuquerque, New Mexico (AP) 12-09

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has withdrawn its biological assessment for a proposed power plant in northwestern New Mexico, saying it has “significant concerns” about the impact of mercury and selenium on two endangered fish species in the San Juan River.

BIA Director Jerry Gidner, in a letter Thursday to Fish and Wildlife Service Southwest Regional Director Benjamin Tuggle, said the decision will allow more time for coordination between Tuggle’s staff, the BIA and the Environmental Protection Agency.

It was the second review of federal decisions for the $3 billion coal-fired Desert Rock Energy Project on the Navajo Nation.

In September, the Environmental Appeals Board in part granted a request by regional EPA officials who wanted to review parts of an air permit issued last year.

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. also said he wanted the project to add equipment designed to capture carbon emissions from Desert Rock.

Gidner’s letter said adding such a component would require additional analysis and possibly a supplement to the biological assessment.

The Navajo Nation’s Dine Power Authority and Houston-based Sithe Global LLC, who have partnered to build the 1,500-megawatt power plant south of Farmington, have said Desert Rock would be one of the cleanest coal-burning plants in the nation.

Messages were left after hours seeking comment from the Navajo Nation and Desert Rock officials.

They also have said it would generate more than $50 million in annual revenues and create jobs on a reservation where more than half of people are unemployed.

Environmentalists, the state of New Mexico and some Navajos have voiced concerns about the project, saying a third coal-fired plant in the Four Corners region would compromise air quality, human health and the environment.

Mike Eisenfeld of one opponent group, San Juan Citizens Alliance, said a more in-depth biological assessment “would only delay the inevitable conclusion that Desert Rock should never be built.”

“Desert Rock would add more pollution to a river system already polluted beyond thresholds for selenium and mercury,” he said.

New Mexico Environment Secretary Ron Curry said the state is confident the BIA and EPA will agree there should be no new coal plants “without the latest and greatest environmental controls, including limits on greenhouse gas emissions.”

Quoted from News from Indian Country:
http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8143