Navajo Generating Station from the south. Photo by Wolfgang Moroder. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Vernon Masayesva, the founder of the Black Mesa Trust and a member of the Hopi Tribe, questions a settlement that allows a coal-fired power plant to keep operating:
The decision by President Obama to delay carbon standard for reservations plants (Daily Sun, June 2014) will benefit owners of Navajo Generating Station to the detriment of Hopi people who want to shut down the NGS as a coal-fired station. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Navajo Tribe, and Gila River Indian Community along with Salt River Project, Arizona Public Service and Tucson electric have reached an agreement to shut one NGS unit down and to operate two remaining units up to 2044 using coal from Black Mesa on the Hopi and Navajo reservations, and water for Lake Powell. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calls the settlement “creative.” Shutting one unit down will meet EPA’s objective of reducing nitrogen oxide to a certain level. NGS is central to water delivery to Arizona Indian tribes who have settled their water claims with the federal government.Get the Story:
Vernon Masayesva: Keep NGS on strict timeline (The Arizona Daily Sun 7/13) Federal Register Notice:
Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement and Notice of Public Scoping Meetings for the Navajo Generating Station-Kayenta Mine Complex Project, Arizona (May 16, 2014)
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