Jun. 1--SHIPROCK, N.M. -- Four Corners power plants and coal mines on the Navajo Nation are some of the dirtiest power plants in the U.S. and among the nation's top 50 power plants for mercury emissions, reports show.

"Mercury from power plants is harming our children," said Dr. John Fogarty. "New evidence from the Centers for Disease Control indicates that 30,000 women in New Mexico may have elevated levels of mercury in their blood."

Fogarty has served as a family physician on the Navajo Nation for six years and, as a faculty member at the University of New Mexico's Masters of Public Health program, teaches courses on human rights and health care.

Fogarty joins Navajos pressing for health studies correlating their diseases to existing power plants and coal mines. They say the long-overdue studies should be completed before knowingly exposing Navajo communities to more air pollutants from new coal-fired power plants, such as the Navajo Nation's proposed Desert Rock power plant in San Juan County.

"Children, developing fetuses and pregnant women are at particular risk, as mercury affects the developing brain and nervous system. We know that mercury causes children to have birth defects, reduced intelligence and learning disabilities," Fogarty told Indian Country Today.

Navajos point out that few studies have taken into consideration the combined health risks of the toxins released by power plants, coal mines, uranium tailings, and oil and gas discharges and river dumping in the Four Corners area.

Navajos in the Four Corners area -- where the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah meet -- have a high death rate from pulmonary disease and cancer from working without protection in U.S. uranium mines during the Cold War.

Oil and gas companies on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and Utah are often cited and fined by the Environmental Protection Agency for excessive toxic dumping.

The EPA also cited the city of Farmington for dumping excessive amounts of aluminum, chlorine and other harmful substances into the San Juan River, which flows through the Navajo Nation beginning near Shiprock, N.M. The EPA settlement in 2003 included a $5.5 million cost to the city for new waste facilities.

Enei Begaye, Navajo, is water campaigner for the national action coalition Indigenous Environmental Network and among those pointing out that the Navajo Nation's air, land and water are already being poisoned by corporate polluters.

Begaye said Navajo community members have consistently said they are opposed to yet another power plant in their back yards and that they are not being heard.

"Coal-fired power plants, no matter what the technology, are among the worst polluters of our land, air and water: not to mention the large amounts of water that are needed simply to run the plant," Begaye told ICT.

"If our tribes are serious about building a secure financial future, investing in renewable energy is the way we should be moving. If we are serious about protecting our future generations we should be aggressively safeguarding our lands and waters.

"This Desert Rock power plant is yet another step towards turning the Four Corners area into a cheap energy battery for the large cities of the Southwest, while the land, water, air and the Navajo people suffer," Begaye said.

Fogarty confirmed that Navajos living around existing power plants and coal mines, on and around the Navajo Nation and concentrated in a 50-mile radius of the border town of Farmington, N.M., are suffering from the emissions.

"We know that emissions from power plants are associated with an increase in premature death and higher mortality rates. People living around coal plants experience more asthma attacks, respiratory problems, heart attacks and strokes.

"Based on my clinical experience working in Navajo communities, the Navajo people have higher rates of pulmonary disease than the general population in America. Navajo people definitely have much higher rates of lung cancer, but also appear to have increased rates of pulmonary fibrosis [scarring of the lungs]."

Four Corners power plants currently emit 35,100 tons of sulfur dioxide and 45,200 tons of nitrogen oxide each year. On the Navajo Nation, San Juan Generating Station ejects 14,500 tons of sulfur dioxide and 25,500 tons of nitrogen oxide in the air each year. And the proposed Desert Rock would put out 3,400 tons of the two substances each.

The EPA released a complete report of chemical toxins for the year 2000, showing Four Corners power plants, and the coalmines, which feed those, topped the list in New Mexico's dirtiest power plants.

Visit http://www.powermarketers.com/index.shtml for excellent coverage on your energy news front.