Houston-based Sithe Global Power and
the tribe's Diné Power Authority plan to build
a 1,500 megawatt power plant that could power up to
1.5 million homes in cities across the Southwest.
The Desert Rock Energy Project would
bring in about $50 million a year in taxes and royalty
payments for the tribe, making it the largest economic
development project to be undertaken by the Navajos.
The EPA released a draft clean-air permit
for Desert Rock this week, saying its requirements would
limit emissions from the plant to levels that protect
public health and the environment.
"The EPA's proposed permit will
require the best pollution controls available for a
pulverized coal-burning power plant," said Deborah
Jordan, the agency's air-programs director for the Pacific
Southwest region.
The EPA plans to hold informational
meetings in September in the Four Corners region and
will return in October for a public hearing. People
have until Oct. 27 to comment on the permit.
The proposed permit is based on analyzing
the best technology available to limit the release of
pollutants like sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and
fine particulates.
Some Navajos who live in the remote
area of northwest New Mexico where the plant would be
built have held demonstrations and are collecting petition
signatures to send to Navajo leaders and New Mexico
Gov. Bill Richardson.
They say existing coal-burning plants
already pump toxins into the air, and any more pollution
would compromise air quality, resulting in environmental
concerns and health problems.
"Despite the efforts to reduce
power plant emissions within the past few years, San
Juan County simply cannot afford to bring emissions
levels back up by implementing Desert Rock. The rising
costs of health care and the health risks associated
with power plants is detrimental to public health and
only deteriorates the environment even further,"
two Navajo opponents, Sarah Jane White and Anna Frazier,
wrote in a recent editorial.
Sithe officials say in addition to helping
the Navajos develop Desert Rock as a revenue source,
they are committed to protecting the environment.
Frank Maisano, a spokesman for the energy
company, said Desert Rock will be one of the nation's
cleanest coal-burning plants with an array of scrubbers
and other technology focused on plucking mercury and
other potentially harmful pollutants from the plant's
emissions.
"This draft permit really puts
some meat on the bones of what we say we will do on
the environmental issues," Maisano said.
Gerardo Rios, chief of the EPA's Region
9 air-division-permit office, said Thursday that the
draft permit calls for Desert Rock to limit its sulfur-dioxide
and nitrogen-dioxide emissions to an average of 0.060
pounds per million British thermal units.
With those limits, he called Desert
Rock "one of the tightest" coal-fired plants.
Desert Rock's permit, which details
the pollution-control systems to be used at the plant,
has even caught the attention of other energy producers
around the country.
Rios said some companies are making
changes to their proposals in an effort to keep up with
what looks to be a new level of performance for coal-fired
plants.
ON THE WEB
Desert Rock Energy Project: www.desertrockenergy.com
Environmental Protection Agency: www.epa.gov