Navajo Generating Station from the south" by This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The Environmental Protection Agency will consult tribes about carbon dioxide emissions on their reservations.

The Navajo Nation is home to two coal-fired power plants -- the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona and the Four Corners Power Plant in New Mexico. The Ute Tribe of Utah hosts the Bonanza Power Plant and the Fort Mojave Tribe hosts the South Point Energy Center in Arizona.

The EPA will ask the tribes whether they want to develop their own standards affecting emissions. If they decline, the agency will take the lead.

“There’s a different federal-tribal relationship than there are with states, so we wanted to take that into account,” spokesperson Liz Purchia told the Associated Press.

The EPA is developing a Climate Action Plan to address carbon standards nationwide. The goal is to reduce pollution from existing power plants.

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Carbon standards for reservation plants delayed (AP 6/3)