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Press Release: COAL PLANT FAILS IN PENNSYLVANIA COAL COUNTRY

Robyn Jackson — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:45:39 -0700

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010

Contacts:

Randy Francisco, Sierra Club, Pennsylvania, 412-802-6161

Anna Frazier, Coordinator, Diné CARE, 928-380-7697

Rob Disney, Sierra Club, Las Vegas, 702-518-0188

COAL PLANT FAILS IN PENNSYLVANIA COAL COUNTRY

Health Risks and Controversy Remain At Sites in NM And NV

KARTHAUS, Penn. – An international energy developer financed by Wall Street equity firm The Blackstone Group has abandoned plans for a proposed 300-megawatt waste-coal power plant in rural Pennsylvania.

Sithe Global, which is also behind the proposed Toquop coal plant in Nevada and the Desert Rock plant on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico, announced Tuesday it was canceling its proposed $600 million River Hill plant near Karthaus, Penn. due to financing difficulties.

Progress on Sithe’s other two coal projects has also stalled as a result of permitting and financing difficulties and intense opposition from local communities who say the potential harm to their air, water and health far outweighs any economic benefits from the plants.

“We have suspected for a long time that the River Hill project was very tenuous at best,” said Randy Francisco, of the Sierra Club in Pennsylvania. “It says a lot about the viability of these dirty coal plant proposals when they can’t get taxpayer bailouts and they can’t make them pencil out even with the backing of a company with pockets as deep as Blackstone’s.”

Anna Frazier, coordinator of the Navajo group Diné CARE, said that Sithe’s proposed Desert Rock plant is also on equally shaky ground after suffering one setback after another over the past year. Desert Rock’s pollution permit was withdrawn by the EPA in Septermber, a permit for the transmission right-of-way needed to get the power to Southwest markets was overturned earlier in 2009, and the Department of Energy denied Sithe a request for $450 million in federal stimulus dollars late last year.

“The Navajo communities of Northwest New Mexico have always been opposed to Desert Rock, so we are encouraged by the cancellation of the River Hill project,” said Frazier. “In an area that is already under siege by pollution from fossil-fuel development, Desert Rock has been a six-year black hole that has wasted millions of dollars that could have been used to bring clean-energy projects to the Four Corners region.”

Sithe’s proposed Toquop plant near Mesquite, Nev., originally proposed as a natural gas-fired plant, also has been on the drawing board for years but still does not have a pollution permit or an approved BLM environmental impact analysis, and last year the project lost rights to water it needs for to operate.

“We’ve been trying to persuade Sithe for years to focus on developing Nevada’s vast solar and wind resources instead of outdated and dirty coal,” said Mesquite Mayor Susan Holecheck. “Hopefully, Sithe’s decision to abandon the Pennsylvania plant is a signal that we can soon put the nail in Toquop’s coffin, too, and get it out of the way for clean-energy jobs and economic development in Nevada.”

Air Quality: Request to Clean Up Four Corners Timely

Robyn Jackson — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:49:54 -0700

Air quality

Request to clean up Four Corners timely

Article Last Updated; Thursday, February 18, 2010 12:00AM

A collection of environmentally minded organizations led by the National Parks Conservation Association has petitioned two federal cabinet departments to declare northwest New Mexico's Four Corners Power Plant to be in violation of the Clean Air Act and thereby force it to be cleaned up. It is an effort that should be joined by area governments, greens and business interests. Whether driven by concern for nature, the local economy or sales-tax revenue, clean air is in all of our interests.

The petitioners include Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the Center for Biological Diversity, Dooda Desert Rock, Diné CARE, WildEarth Guardians and the Grand Canyon Trust. They should be joined, however, by anyone with a concern for Southwest Colorado's economic health. This is not only an environmental issue.

The petition was directed at the Department of Interior, which oversees the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, and the Department of Agriculture, which includes the Forest Service. Together, those agencies are responsible for most of America's public lands.

The focus of the request was on protecting the national parks, forests and monuments affected by pollution from the Four Corners plant. Those include Mesa Verde, the Grand Canyon, the San Juan National Forest, Utah's Canyonlands and Bryce Canyon, Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, any number of important cultural and archeological sites on tribal lands and the Weminuche Wilderness.

The petitioners say records kept by the plant's operator, Arizona Public Service, show the Four Corners plant - one of the largest coal-fired plants in the country - is also the largest source of air pollution in New Mexico. Each of the plant's five units burns more than 10 million tons of coal each year, and releases 1,300 tons of particulates, 12,000 tons of sulfur dioxide and 42,000 tons of nitrogen oxides.

Not included in the groups' announcement was the mercury already detected in area lakes and fish. Nor does it mention another good reason to clean up the power plant - its potential effect on the area's economy.

As the groups point out, the Four Corners plant is less than 200 miles from 16 national parks and wilderness areas. Those natural wonders, as well as man-made treasures such as those at Mesa Verde, together constitute the principal draw that supports Southwest Colorado's tourist industry. And people do not pay good money to come to Mesa Verde, to hike the San Juans or gaze out over the Grand Canyon so they can squint through a brown cloud. Too many of them can do that at home.

The petitioners report that the National Park Service says the Four Corners plant has the most effect on national park visibility of any coal-fired plant in the country. They also say modeling done by Arizona Public Service shows that Four Corners pollution cuts visibility by 25 times the level the EPA defines as “impairment."

Referring to the more than 40-years-old plant as “dirty" and “outdated," a spokeswoman for the National Parks Conservation Association correctly said, “It's time for the EPA to take action to protect our residents' health and our cultural and scenic treasures."

Doing so would also help Southwest Colorado's motels, shops and restaurants continue to prosper. And with that, local communities might better weather what may be enduring economic problems.

http://durangoherald.com/sections/Opinion/2010/02/18/Air_quality/

AIR POLLUTION: Coalition petitions to curb haze from N.M. coal-burning power plant (02/17/2010)

Robin Bravender, E&E reporter

A coalition of environmental groups asked the Obama administration today to declare that the pollution from a coal-burning power plant in northwest New Mexico is violating federal law by fouling air over national parks and wilderness areas.

The groups petitioned the Interior and Agriculture departments, asking them to formally certify to U.S. EPA that poor visibility in 16 national parks and wilderness areas can be reasonably attributed to emissions from the Four Corners Power Plant.

The petitioners are the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), Earthjustice, the Sierra Club, the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the Center for Biological Diversity, Dooda Desert Rock, Diné CARE, WildEarth Guardians and the Grand Canyon Trust.

The 2,040-megawatt Navajo Nation power plant has long been the target of environmentalists. The Four Corners plant is one of the nation's largest industrial emitters of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and carbon dioxide.

"Emissions from this dirty, outdated coal plant have obscured priceless views in our national parks in a brown haze for years," said Stephanie Kodish, Clean Air Counsel for NPCA. "It's time for EPA to take action to protect our residents' health and our cultural and scenic treasures."

"The Four Corners power plant meets or exceeds all federal and state environmental regulations and we continue to seek solutions that achieve environmental goals while keeping the plant financially viable," said Damon Gross, a spokesman for Arizona Public Service Co, the plant's principal owner and operator.

The National Park Service has found that the Four Corners power plant has the greatest visibility impact on Class I national parks of any coal plant in the country, the groups said. Mesa Verde, Canyonlands and Arches National Parks are among those most affected by Four Corners' pollution, according to the environmental groups.

The environmental groups hope that a certification by the Interior and Agriculture Departments will prod EPA to require more stringent technologies to address visibility problems in the nearby parks and wilderness areas.

New Mexico Senate Panel Approves Pore Space Bill

Robyn Jackson — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:41:26 -0700

Associated Press

New Mexico Senate panel approves pore space bill

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN , 02.04.10, 05:46 PM EST

SANTA FE, N.M. -- A Senate committee has approved legislation that would establish ownership rights for the empty spaces that lie beneath New Mexico's dusty landscape.

Supporters of the measure say the so-called pore space will be valuable as technology advances to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel power plants and other industries. Three Western states already have tackled pore space ownership, and many others are considering legislation that would lay the groundwork for carbon capture and storage.

New Mexico's effort is being led by Jack Chatfield, a rancher from northeastern New Mexico who has been spending every day at the state Capitol to ensure the bill passes.

He said Thursday he was pleased with the 8-3 vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It clears the way for the bill to be heard by the full Senate.

"It's a win-win type of legislation that will put New Mexico into position to deal with cutting-edge technology. It will ensure the property rights of landowners and maintain a healthy oil and gas industry," Chatfield said.

The bill is considered the first step toward establishing a carbon storage market in the state. Supporters believe common law is clear that surface owners own the rights to pore space, but the legislation aims to spell that out to avoid legal challenges.

Representatives of the oil and natural gas industry have said they want to make sure the legislation will not infringe on their rights to develop leases for oil and gas deposits. The pore space that would be used for carbon storage lies about a half-mile underground.

Mark Fesmire, director of the state Oil Conservation Division, said the legislation represents a "baby step" toward carbon storage and the state would have to follow by establishing regulations to address safety, long-term liability and other concerns that could arise from carbon storage.

Storing carbon dioxide deep below the earth's surface has not yet been tested on a large scale in the United States. It is being done in Norway's North Sea, where the world's first commercial carbon capture and storage project is sequestering about one million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.

Fesmire said he sees carbon storage as a "transition technology" that the U.S. can use to limit emissions while more renewable resources such as wind and solar are worked into the nation's energy portfolio.

One benefit, he said, is that carbon storage would require the same personnel, skills and machinery that is used during oil and gas development.

"The natural gas and oil industry is often cyclical. What this will do is be countercyclical and put some of the drillers, engineers, geologists and landmen to work when the oil and gas industry is down," he said.

New Yorkers get Toquop message

Robyn Jackson — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:43:06 -0700

Bob Challinor, Desert Valley Times

Michele Burkett traveled all the way to New York City to give Stephen Schwarzman the Christmas present she thought he deserved – a lump of coal.

The gift was ironic and symbolic. Schwarzman is CEO of The Blackstone Group, the financial behemoth that owns 80 percent of Sithe Global, Inc., the company planning to build the Toquop coal-fired power plant 12 miles northwest of Mesquite. Blackstone also is financing two other large coal-burning plants, Desert Rock in the Navajo Nation and the River Hill project in Pennsylvania.

Burkett, president of Defend Our Desert and a member of the Energy Task Force, has led opposition to the Toquop plant ever since construction plans were revealed for it. Last week she appeared right outside The Blackstone Group’s headquarters.

Dressed as an elf and accompanied by Robert Disney of the Sierra Club, who appeared as Santa Claus, Burkett joined several other representatives and leaders from grass roots groups in a sidewalk protest below Schwarzman’s office. Burkett carried a stocking containing a lump of coal and a post card picturing a little boy breathing through an oxygen mask.

Christmas greeting on the card: “Stephen Schwarzman, there’s a reason you’re getting coal in your stocking this year.”

On the back of the card was another message: “Dear Stephen Schwarzman, If you go through with your plan to pollute our air with more dirty coal plants, we’re all going to have to ask Santa for oxygen tanks for Christmas. Please invest in clean, renewable energy instead.”

The anti-coal activists handed out coal and postcards to passers-by.

“It was an opportunity to tell our story,” Burkett said.

Burkett took advantage of other opportunities in the Big Apple. The hotel where she stayed happened to be next door to a restaurant that featured coal-fired pizza.

“Most pizza is baked in wood-fired ovens,” Burkett said. “This restaurant had coal-fired pizza ovens. We wanted to deliver coal to the CEO of Blackstone so we went to a reasonably-sized store looking for coal brickettes. We couldn’t find any, but we went back to the pizza kitchen and we got pieces of coal.”

Defend Our Desert was joined by activists from the Sierra Club, Diné Care and the San Juan Citizens Alliance who delivered their message to Blackstone.

“That morning we walked down to the Blackstone building on Park Avenue – it was about eight blocks from our hotel – and I was dressed as an elf and Robert was dressed as Santa,” Burkett said. “Most people say that people in New York won’t make eye contact. We had people who not only looked at us but actually said, ‘Santa, I’ve been good.’

“We had a permit to stand on the sidewalk and make noise. We handed out postcards. Police came over and said hello and were very nice. I had only been in New York once, and the reception this time was very unique. I found the city to be very friendly.

“We were there at 7:30 a.m. to catch business people heading into the building who might actually deliver the message. We had several business people at break time, about five or six young executives who approached us and asked what was going on. We talked about the future, how power plants were burning yesterday’s technology for 50 years. People were interested in our story.

“A Sierra Club man from New York said it was unusual to see so many New York people give us this kind of recognition. It really doesn’t resonate to New Yorkers where power comes from. We drive by Reid-Gardner (power plant) every day and see hydrological dams, but in New York people are not aware of what generates electricity.”

During the rally, Burkett spotted a man taking notes and watching the group.

“I approached him, and he was from the Wall Street Journal,” Burkett said. “He heard our story.”

And Daniel Hausmann included what Burkett told him in an article that appeared in the paper. Burkett and Disney said Nevada and New Mexico both have several clean energy options and don’t need to build more coal-fired power plants.

“We do think they have alternatives,” Burkett told Hausmann. “They could finance solar as easily as coal.”

“A Blackstone shareholder walked by our group and saw that we were protesting against Blackstone’s financial support of dirty coal plants,” Burkett said. “She said, ‘I’m Blackstone shareholder. What’s going on?’ She listened to our story and said, ‘I don’t agree with what’s going on. I’m going to write a letter to them.’”

Schwarzman’s financial support of coal-fired plants was a contrast to another corporate CEO’s stance, Burkett said.

“The word we use is corporate responsibility,” she said. “I saw a TV interview with the CEO of Pepsico on trying to do the right thing. When they take water out of the ground, they put it back. They try to ship more efficiently. Right now it’s voluntary to do these kinds of things, but smart companies recognize change is coming before regulation. Smart companies are making changes.”

Burkett also said it was fascinating to meet leaders from other activist groups.

“Lori Goodman of Diné Care is fighting against the [Desert] Rock coal plant,” Burkett said. “She’s going against the Navajo Tribal Council that supports the new plant in New Mexico. San Juan Citizens Alliance leader Mike Eisenfeld said he and his group have watched the continuing pollution of the San Juan River exiting from plants in the Navajo Nation. It was great to meet the leaders of these grassroots groups.”

Burkett said it was most satisfying to connect to others who probably would not have known Defend Our Desert’s fight against the proposed Toquop coal-fired plant.

“I truly think being able to look into the eyes of people who I’ll never meet again and see them give us a nod that said, ‘You’re working on something important,’” Burkett said. “I felt that. I think the elf outfit breaks the barriers. It was an experience that won’t ever happen again in my life. It was quite unique.”

Michele Burkett, left, wears an elf suit as she joins other protesters outside the headquarters of the Blackstone Group in New York. (Justin Wilson / Media Resources)

Source: http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20091222/DVTONLINE01/91221008/1053/DVTONLINE/New+Yorkers+get+Toquop+message

Public News Service also has an article on this:

http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/11930-1

BIA withdraws assessment for Desert Rock

Robyn Jackson — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:01:43 -0700

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

Desert Rock project dealt crippling blow

Robyn Jackson — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:18:54 -0700

by Megan Graham
in The Durango Herald

[Article Last Updated; Thursday, December 10, 2009 12:32PM]

The proponents of the Desert Rock Energy Project are nothing if not persistent.

However painful though, learning when to take a hint is an important life lesson for anyone, and Sithe Global is no exception. It is time to walk away from the proposed 1,500-megawatt coal-fired power plant near Shiprock.

The signs have been growing increasingly ominous for Desert Rock's chances at approval. Beginning with a partial remand of its air permit, then a full remand by the Environmental Protection Agency, the project has had a difficult year in its journey through the regulatory process. This challenge should not evoke sympathy, though. That Sithe and its partners had made it as far as they had was more a function of the political climate than the validity of the process.

The science was shoddy or incomplete, and the premise was fundamentally flawed: We simply do not need - nor do we want - a brand-new coal-fired power plant to be built within spitting distance from two of the nation's dirtiest existing facilities. This sentiment is true no matter how the project's proponents attempt to sugarcoat what they propose. Their latest attempt similarly fell flat.

Until the air permit was remanded in September, Desert Rock's proponents had long claimed their project was not a viable one for using carbon-capture or carbon-sequestration technology - methods intended to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions associated with burning coal and other fossil fuels. After the air permit was revoked, though, the idea suddenly sounded good, and developers applied for $450 million in stimulus money to fund the pollution controls at the facility. The ploy was too little, too late, and the Department of Energy saw it for what it was: The request was denied.

There may be merit to carbon-capture/carbon-sequestration technology, but the problem goes deeper than that. In order to meaningfully address the climate change that carbon dioxide emissions contribute to, there must be a wholesale shift away from creating those emissions in the first place. That is the direction Desert Rock proponents - including those on the Navajo Nation who support the project - should look. There is every incentive in the world to transform Desert Rock from a polluting contributor to poor regional air quality, diminished public health and global climate change into a cutting-edge demonstration project of renewable-energy technology.

Attempting an end-run around the science - once again - by trying for stimulus money for carbon capture/sequestration technology without first conducting the proper studies suggests desperation from Desert Rock proponents. That the effort was dismissed should be a sign taken to heart.

The political winds - and those of public opinion - are blowing coal-fired power plants off the drawing board. It is time those touting the projects get the message and invest their energy elsewhere.

There is much good that can come from such efforts. The same cannot be said for continued attempts at winning approval for a project whose negative implications for many far outweigh the benefits to be enjoyed by the few who stand to profit.

meg@sanjuancitizens.org Megan Graham is director of the San Juan Citizens Alliance.

Source: Desert Rock Project Dealt Crippling Blow

Desert Rock carbon capture stimulus request denied

Robyn Jackson — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:15:13 -0700

By Marjorie Childress, The New Mexico Independent
12/8/09 2:55 PM

The government has denied Desert Rock Energy Company's bid for a federal stimulus grant, the Farmington Daily Times reported today. The company had hoped to use the money to include carbon capture sequestration technology into the project design of a coal-fired power plant near Farmington. Opponents of the project say the decision by the Department of Energy shows the Desert Rock project, which had it’s air permit pulled by the Environmental Protection Agency in September, isn’t feasible.

“It doesn’t look good for the Desert Rock project. I don’t see how they could possibly find more funds or expect the Navajo Nation to pay the remaining (expense),” Dáilan Long, of the anti-Desert Rock group Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, told the Daily Times. “It should be a signal for them (Navajo Tribal Council) to pull out and dump the whole project.”

The $450 million grant was seen as a way to green-light the project, according to Frank Maisano, spokesperson for Sithe Global, the parent company for Desert Rock.

“I would suspect that if the stimulus money came through, it would be a strong reason for the project to move forward,” Maisano told the Independent last week.

A representative of the Navajo Nation and the Desert Rock development, Doug MacCourt, told the Daily Times that the project was denied due to paperwork, and was not an indication that the project wasn’t viable.

But Nathan Plagens, vice president of the Desert Rock Energy Company, acknowledged to the Daily Times that increased government regulation of fossil-fuel power posed hurdles to the project without the incorporation of the carbon capture technology, and that the company would see how “the politics” play out before moving forward:

Given the ongoing restrictions being added to emissions standards nationwide, Desert Rock likely will wait to see how the politics play out before continuing the permitting process, he said.

“By no means is the project dead,” Plagens said. “There’s still some basis of this project being technically sound, but going forward, you’ve got to figure out and muddle through … the politics and potential regulations.”

Source: http://newmexicoindependent.com/42862/desert-rock-carbon-capture-stimulus-request-denied

Tribe's environmental fight

Robyn Jackson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:34:51 -0700

Coal mines and power plant give Navajos income, controversy
by Dennis Wagner - Nov. 2, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

WINDOW ROCK - A green controversy fueled by coal-fired power plants is raging on America's largest Indian reservation.

On one side is Joe Shirley Jr., president of the Navajo Nation, who rejects the notion of climate change even though he recently won an international award for environmentalism. On the other are environmentalists opposed to power plants in Indian Country and to the coal mines that provide their fuel. Caught in the middle are tribal members concerned with economic survival and the protection of sacred lands.

The dispute centers on fundamental questions of religion and heritage, as well as tribal finances.

The Navajo Generating Station near Page, which uses coal from mines on Black Mesa, employs hundreds of tribal members and helps finance the tribal government. The Desert Rock Energy Project, proposed in western New Mexico, has been under consideration for years. The $3 billion plant would be fueled by coal from a new mine, bringing more jobs and revenue to the Navajos.

The Environmental Protection Agency wants the Navajo Generating Station to install costly air-scrubbing equipment, an expense the tribe and some Arizona utility companies say could lead to the plant's closure. Environmental groups, which have targeted the plant for years because of the emissions-related haze that builds up over the Grand Canyon, applaud the scrubbers.

Andy Bessler, Sierra Club regional representative in the Southwest, said coal-fired power plants account for about 30 to 40 percent of carbon emissions worldwide. The Navajo Generating Station, the nation's third-largest emitter of nitrogen oxides, spews 19.9 million tons of carbon emissions each year and uses 9.1 billion gallons of water - enough to fill Saguaro Lake twice with water left over. The nearby Four Corners Power Plant is the second-largest emitter of nitrogen oxides.

"If we want to take care of global warming, coal power plants are the low-hanging fruit," Bessler said. "We can't just continue with business as usual if we want to protect the planet."

But Shirley, who last week was suspended by the tribal council amid an unrelated Navajo power struggle, challenges the very theory of worldwide climate change.

"There's no signs that have told me it's a problem," he said. "There's a lot of people running around out there saying, 'The sky is going to fall down. It's going to be the end of the world.' I don't believe that. I don't know what global warming is about. . . . Maybe I'm blind, I don't know. Maybe I don't have the intelligence. But where are the signs?"

Shirley, whose father-in-law is a medicine man, acknowledged that some Navajo traditionalists recognize climate change as a threat and have joined tribal conservation groups such as Diné CARE in claiming he sold out Native heritage to big business. Those critics, he said, have been sucked in by environmentalist propaganda.

Last month, Shirley criticized the Sierra Club, Grand Canyon Trust and other green organizations for interfering with Navajo sovereignty and caring more about insects or fish than the lives of Native Americans. The rebuke was especially stunning from the leader of a tribe that has for years aligned itself with green groups in political causes.

Six months ago, Shirley accepted the Nuclear-Free Future Award in Norway for collaborating with environmental groups to fight uranium mines near the Grand Canyon. Shirley, a Christian, said he consulted with Navajo traditionalists before deciding that carbon-spewing power plants and open-pit coal mines do not damage the Earth.

But Tony Skrelunas, a Navajo who works as Native American program coordinator for the Grand Canyon Trust, expressed dismay that Shirley spoke of resources without emphasizing stewardship.

"Even sheep herders learn to protect land from overgrazing," he said, "and to do the right thing so rains will come. . . . The thing that I find shocking is that, as Navajos, we are taught that there are different monsters in creation that try to destroy us. I think one of those that is really rising up is climate change."

More than 1,500 United Nations climate scientists agree that Earth's temperature has begun to rise at a potentially disastrous rate, and that carbon emissions are the major cause. Skrelunas noted a study issued this spring by Jayne Belnap, a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, which says global warming is expected to increase temperatures in the Four Corners area 10 degrees by 2100. Already, Belnap reports, drought has tripled the number of dust storms swirling from the high desert into the Colorado Rockies.

"I grew up on Big Mountain. We raised sheep," said Skrelunas. "It's massively different now. . . . Not as green. It doesn't rain anymore. There are lots of dust storms."

The Navajo reservation sprawls over portions of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, with an estimated population over 250,000.

Anna Frazier, coordinator for Diné CARE, said the mines and electric plants have wrecked the land, sucked springs dry and polluted skies. She said Shirley ignores those facts, trading heritage for short-term cash.

"He's ignoring the fundamental laws of the Navajo people," Frazier said. "Our traditions tell us we have to protect and preserve all living things."

Shirley said his priority is to help the Navajo people, who suffer from an unemployment rate over 50 percent, with average annual incomes under $15,000.

Environmentalists have exacerbated the financial woes, he added, forcing the closure of a tribal sawmill and helping to shut down another power plant - the Mohave Generating Station near Laughlin, Nev. - that received coal from Black Mesa.

"They came onto our land," Shirley said. "They didn't tell me, 'Here, Mr. President. Here are other green jobs.' They just shut us down, put more people into impoverishment. You want me to accept that?

"I'm working on independence, period," he said. "If it takes green jobs to get us back to standing on our own two feet, I'm for green jobs. If it takes Desert Rock or Navajo Generating Station . . . I'm for Desert Rock and Navajo Generating Station."

Source: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/11/02/20091102navajo1102.html

Navajo Nation gets $4.9M for smart grid

Robyn Jackson — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:40:03 -0600

Navajo Nation Gets $4.9M for Smart Grid
By Steve Lynn
The Farmington Daily Times
Posted: 10/28/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT

FARMINGTON The Navajo Nation will receive $4.9 million in stimulus funding to develop a smart electrical grid.
The money would fund a smart grid for the Nation that quickly would identify electrical system outages, monitor people's appliances for efficiency and better facilitate the use of alternative energy.

The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday announced $3.4 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for smart grid projects throughout the nation.

"This is an important investment in the Navajo Nation, one that will result in better service to the (Navajo Tribal Utility Authority's) nearly 40,000 customers," Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said in a prepared statement announcing the funding. "At the same time, this grant will help create good jobs in the area."

Bingaman, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, helped create the smart grid stimulus grant funding, according to the statement.

The funding will advance the use of renewable energy sources in the region, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said in the statement.

"Implementation of smart grid technology can help transform our energy infrastructure in the places we need it the most, like the Navajo Nation," Udall said in the statement.

No funds for Farmington

The city of Farmington, which applied for the same federal grant money as the Nation, did not receive any funding.

"I regret to inform you that your application was not selected for award," an Energy Department letter to the city stated. "This result represents the level of competition rather than a reflection on your application."

Another letter will provide details on the Energy Department's review of the Electric Utility, The letter stated.
The Energy Department received almost 400 applications for $9.3 billion in requests for smart grid projects.

The city's Farmington Electric Utility System budgeted almost $17 million for a smart grid, Electric Utility director Maude Grantham-Richards said.

Grantham-Richards was disappointed and said the lack of federal funding would delay the smart grid project.
Almost $2 million is budgeted for smart grid meters through the next two years, and another $15 million for other smart grid equipment over the next six years, Grantham-Richards said.

But there are unresolved issues with smart grids, such as whether they can be protected against security cyber attacks, she said. The utility wants to research those issues further before the project goes forward.

"We're going to take our time moving into this," she said.

Jen Stutsman, an Energy Department spokeswoman, said she could not comment on specifics of individual applications.

Energy Department experts considered several factors in deciding where funding would go, including job creation and the ability to provide at least an equal amount of funding for the smart grid, Stutsman said.
That means the Nation would have to contribute at least an additional $4.9 million toward its smart grid, Stutsman said.

"The department chose the highest ranking proposals that we felt could best put us on a path to transition towards a cleaner, smarter, more efficient electrical grid in the country," she said.

Smart grids include devices that monitor people's electrical use and the ability for heating and air-conditioning systems and appliances to be turned off at times when electricity is used most. People also could better monitor their own electricity use and its cost.

Navajo Tribal Utility Authority officials did not respond to telephone calls and an e-mail requesting comment Tuesday.

Steve Lynn:
slynn@daily-times.com
Source Link: http://www.daily-times.com/ci_13658109

Special report: Desert Rock debate continues

Robyn Jackson — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:44:17 -0600

Special Report: Desert Rock Debate Continues
By James Monteleone

The Farmington Daily Times
Posted: 10/25/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT

NENAHNEZAD Navajo Nation leaders are increasingly looking to the proposed Desert Rock power plant to surge the tribal economy as new environmental rules threaten operations at existing coal-fired plants, potentially costing hundreds of jobs and millions in tribal revenues.

The Desert Rock Energy Project sets itself apart from other generating facilities on the Navajo Nation because the tribe intends to invest more than $350 million into it, earning a 25 percent share in the $4 billion power plant's revenues that would provide millions in additional tribal income, said Doug MacCourt, representing the Diné Power Authority.

Critics of the development, however, claim the alleged economic gains will not trump the health and environmental costs to be paid by the Navajo and other residents of the Four Corners over the lifespan of a third coal-fired power plant within a single 30-mile radius if all three exist.

Desert Rock, proposed to be built in Nenahnezad about 25 miles southwest of Farmington, describes itself as a modern "ultra low" emissions facility that will produce a fraction of the chemicals and greenhouse gases emitted by the other two decades-old power plants in the area. The project, developed in conjunction with Texas-based developer Sithe Global, is on hold after the Environmental Protection Agency in April revoked an air quality permit for the facility, regardless of the proposed improvements describes Desert Rock as the key to the tribe's future.

The Navajo investment in Desert Rock, which would be paid almost entirely by borrowing from bank and bond markets, would be repaid over a 25-year period.

It likely would require payments less than what the Navajo Nation projects as its tax-free revenues from electricity generation. The tribe could opt to purchase rights for as much as 49 percent of the plant. However, the additional share is available only at a higher market rate.

The tribe anticipates earning more than $14 million in profit in the first year of Desert Rock's operation with a 25 percent share, and more than $46 million after 10 years of operation, MacCourt said.

"As you start getting out into year 25-plus, you're talking about really significant numbers for that 25 percent stake," MacCourt said. "When you couple that this will be financed largely through the security on the revenue stream, it's pretty much a no-brainer."

Utilizing Navajo resources

The two existing power plants on Navajo land could be forced to reduce operations and lay off as many as 300 plant workers if the EPA opts to require $1 billion in haze-improving environmental upgrades under consideration, company officials claim.

A project like Desert Rock capable of adding new, high-wage jobs is critical to the Navajo Nation, where a reported 50 percent of residents are out of work, according to the Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice-President.

Similar to the Four Corners Power Plant in Fruitland and the Navajo Generating Station in Page, Ariz., Desert Rock would provide an additional 400 full-time plant operations and mining jobs to Navajo workers and more than $50 million in tribal taxes and natural resource royalties. The four-year construction of Desert Rock also will employ more than 1,000 temporary workers.

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley was unavailable to comment on the Desert Rock project.

The bottom line for the Navajo Nation will continue to be supporting the needs of the community, and revenues and jobs provided by the project will go a long way to help improve the quality of life for tribal residents, Shirley spokesman George Hardeen said.

"Ultimately i's for jobs. That's Joe Shirley's perspective; jobs and revenue for the Nation to fund the services it provides," he said. "It takes money to address these, and Desert Rock is an important component to help generate the revenue needed. ... If we could make the same amount of money selling incense and candles that we could make selling electricity, we'd be in the incense and candles business. But energy production is and historically has been the most lucrative business wherever you go."

Taking an opportunity to create new revenues utilizing the 200-year coal supply available through the BHP Navajo Mine, the tribe has a unique opportunity to combine its investment in the facility with its rights to a large coal supply. It also could profit from a growing regional demand for electricity, Desert Rock advocates claim.

"With this power plant, they get it from a tax side, they get it from a (land) lease side, they get it as a revenue site," said Frank Maisano, an attorney representing Sithe Global and spokesman for the Desert Rock project. "There's a multitude of ways that the coal benefits them, and multiplies itself into direct benefit for the Navajo people."

Not a fix-all

Critics of Desert Rock argue the project is seen by some Navajo leaders as a fix-all solution to Navajo problems, welcomed without taking into consideration the long-term consequences of creating a third power plant in the region.

"The tribe is just taking whatever pennies they can get, and whatever pennies they can get, they think it's going to be able to solve all the financial problems that the tribe has," said Dailan Long, with Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment. "I think the tribe doesn't acknowledge some of the environmental costs, or some of the health costs, or some of the social costs that are already being incurred."

Although the project has promised dramatically lower chemical emissions, better research is needed to understand how the chemical byproducts continue to burden human health in northwest New Mexico, where numbers of children requiring medical treatment for asthma and other respiratory conditions annually increases, critics contend.

But in the cost-benefit analysis that weighs community health against economics for the Desert Rock project, the prospect of new money continues to win out among tribal decision makers, Long said.

Another concern cited by critics is that any new money created by the power plant project will go to fund pet projects of Navajo leaders, rather than reinvested money into the Nenahnezad and Burnham communities directly affected by the power plant blight and pollution.

The Nenahnezad Chapter, unanimously approving the Desert Rock site lease in 2004, requested $2 million for a community health facility, "a percentage" of the plant royalties be returned to the chapter for capital projects, annual pro-rated power plant funds to pay chapter scholarships and needed road construction equipment, according to the chapter resolution.

Chapter President Lucinda Bennalley could not be reached for comment regarding the status of the chapter requests.

"Proponents of the power plant are using economic development as an excuse. We can't use an excuse and put the lives of the people at risk. We can't just be thinking in dollar signs," said Elouise Brown, president of the anti-Desert Rock group, Dooda Desert Rock. "No matter how much money this proposed plant generates, it's not going to be enough to keep the people healthy, and our lives are not worth dollars in any amount."

James Monteleone:
jmonteleone@daily-times.com

Source Link: http://www.daily-times.com/ci_13637635?source=most_viewed

Diné CARE -- Mission and Contact

Robyn Jackson — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 21:26:25 -0700

Diné Citizens Against Ruining our Environment (Diné CARE) formed in the late 1980's as the the first Navajo grassroots environmental organization within the Navajo homeland. We continue to educate and advocate for environmental justice, based on our traditional Diné teachings and a commitment to protect and provide a voice for all life within the Four Sacred Mountains. We promote alternative uses of natural resources that are consistent with the Diné philosophy of the "Beauty Way." Our main goal is to empower local and regional community people to organize, speak out on issues that matter to them, and participate in nurturing a healthy environment. Diné CARE's goal to preserve the Diné lifeway starts from the ground up, within the homes of those living in the most impacted communities.

We are a non-profit organization 501(c)(3) by and for the Diné, the People. We do not collect dues or run membership drives. Our work is funded primarily through the support of volunteers, foundations and donors. Our members are not only those who are leaders in their communities, but all those Diné who strive to maintain a relationship with Mother Earth based on the concepts of Balance and Harmony. For us, membership means taking up the cause of Honoring Mother Earth and Honoring our Relations to our Environment. We are local, community people working together on issues that affect our communities.

Visit Dine' CARE's Homepage

Lori Goodman
10 A Town Plaza, PMB 138
Durango, CO 81301
PH: (970) 259-0199
FAX: (970) 259-2300
Cell: (970) 759-1908
kiyaani@frontier.net