Residents burned by BIA no-show at Desert Rock hearing

By Jason Begay
Navajo Times, June 21, 2007

WINDOW ROCK - Depending on whom you ask, the delay of federally mandated public hearings on Desert Rock Power Plant and its draft environmental impact statement was either a curse or blessing.

Desert Rock opponents - who said they showed up to the first scheduled meeting Monday to find it was canceled - say the cancellation was another sneaky move from a shady project that will corrupt Navajoland, its people and the air above.

Ask Desert Rock backers, and they say the postponement gives the public more time to find and review copies of the lengthy document and submit more informed comments.

In any case, the hearings, originally scheduled to begin June 18 at locations throughout the Four Corners, were postponed until July 17. A Desert Rock spokesman said the delay was caused by governmental red tape.

Specifically, the BIA failed to publish the required Federal Register notice in time, said Frank Maisano, spokesman for Sithe Global Power, the Texas-based energy development company behind Desert Rock. The necessary forms reportedly sat for a week on the desk of a BIA employee who was on vacation, he said.

"There's not a conspiracy here," Maisano said. "The fact of the matter is, this is a bureaucratic process and it took longer than we planned."

However, the delay also has given Desert Rock planners time to schedule two additional meetings, as was requested by environmental groups and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Maisano said.

Still, that provided no comfort to the 15 or so people, mostly protestors, who showed up Monday morning at the Navajo Nation Museum, expecting to vent their concerns about the mammoth project. Many came from the Burnham, N.M., area, where the 1500-megawatt generating station would be located.

Among them was Faith Gilmore, who said she left Burnham at 6:30 that morning to make the 9 a.m. starting time.

Dooda Desert Rock President Elouise Brown, a leading opponent of the project, said she arrived early and took a seat in the auditorium. When nothing happened, she sought out museum staff, only to learn the meeting had been canceled.

"They said it was canceled since June 1, but we were never told," Brown said. "There's a lot of people who think there is a hearing today. Now we don't know what to do."

Environmental groups have filed a complaint with the BIA, which is coordinating the environmental study, saying both the agency and Sithe Global "have negligently misled the public regarding the timing of the public hearings and the opportunities for public comment."

Omar Bradley, director of the BIA Navajo Region office, said Sithe Global published the hearing schedule before getting the OK from his office, and that it appeared on the Desert Rock Web site prematurely.

The Web site, www.desertrockenergy.com, is owned and maintained by Desert Rock Energy, the Sithe subsidiary set up to develop and run the power plant.

The hearings are meant to give the public a chance to voice opinions, challenge the draft findings, and introduce new information about expected impacts from the plant, which will burn coal from the adjacent Navajo Mine.

The draft environmental impact statement, a document about the size of the Phoenix phonebook, analyzes how the power plant would affect the surrounding environment and people under various development scenarios. A technical consultant funded by Sithe Global and the DinŽ Power Authority prepared the EIS, which is required under federal law.

It concludes that there will be adverse impacts but that these would be outweighed by the benefits of job creation and revenue for the tribal government.

Opponents fault the study for inadequate research and misleading conclusions, and say it dodges the most significant question of this era - how the power plant would contribute to global warming.

In addition to the hearings, comments are also being collected on the Desert Rock Web site. Following the public comment period, the BIA and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will review the comments before deciding whether to approve the EIS, giving one of many required go-aheads for the project.

Maisano said Sithe Global did not learn the new meeting dates from the BIA until late last week. The company issued a press release Friday - a day after the June 14 issue of the Navajo Times came out - three days before the first two hearings were scheduled.

According to the complaint, filed on behalf of the San Juan Citizens Alliance, the only other clue to the cancellations was when the original meeting schedule disappeared from the Desert Rock Web site in early June.

"The Alliance is highly concerned about the confusion now generated by the BIA's public hearing announcements," the complaint states. "Hundreds of individuals are expected to turn out to these now canceled meetings."

Such confusion could lead some people to give up on the process altogether, the complaint states.

Maisano said Sithe announced the new meeting schedule almost immediately upon learning of it, he said. New hearing dates were posted June 15.

"I think we've been pretty open and upfront about this process," he said.

However, Lucy Willie, who came from the Northern Agency to Monday's canceled meeting in Window Rock, said she has yet to find a usable copy of the EIS. She requested a copy from DPA, asking specifically for a paper copy. Instead, Willie said, she was mailed an envelope containing computer discs.

"What an I supposed to do with this?" she asked. "I don't have a computer."

According to the Web site, paper copies of the draft Desert Rock Energy Project Environmental Impact Statement are available for viewing at public libraries in Farmington, Flagstaff, Gallup and other towns, and at chapter houses in Shiprock, Burnham, Nenahnezad, San Juan, Sanostee, Upper Fruitland, Teec Nos Pos, and Toadlena/Two Grey Hills chapters.

The new schedule for public hearings is as follows:

• July 17, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Farmington Civic Center.
• July 18, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Ute Mountain Casino, Towaoc, Colo.
• July 10, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Iron Horse Inn, Durango, Colo.
• July 19, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque.
• July 20, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Runnels Building (Larrazolo Auditorium), Santa Fe.
• July 23, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Shiprock Chapter House.
• July 23, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Nenahnezad Chapter House.
• July 24, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Burnham Chapter House.
• July 24, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Veterans Memorial Center, Sanostee, N.M.
• July 25, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Navajo Nation Museum, Window Rock.

The closing date for comments is Aug. 20.