FARMINGTON, N.M. - Aug 1

 

The Rio Grande chapter of the Sierra Club has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to force it to implement emission controls at the coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant.

"The Four Corners Power Plant is one of the dirtiest in the nation and there is no good reason why the facility shouldn't use modern pollution controls," said Doug Fraiser, chairman of the chapter's air quality department.

The 10-page lawsuit, filed July 26 in federal court in Albuquerque, contends the EPA failed to require the Navajo Nation to complete a final implementation plan to reduce emissions at the plant south of Fruitland. Such plans outline how plant operators would reduce emissions.

The lawsuit was under review, and federal officials cannot comment on it, said Wendy Chavez, an EPA spokeswoman.

Steve Etcitty, executive director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, was in budget hearings and not immediately available for comment.

The Sierra Club alleges the 2,040-megawatt plant exceeds standards for nitrogen oxide and other emissions.

The plant released the most nitrogen oxide emissions of all coal-fired power plants nationwide, some 40,742 tons a year, according to court documents. It also releases about 590 pounds of mercury into the air, the documents say.

Implementation plans establish a tribe's individual standards, said Colleen McKaughan, associate director of the EPA's air division in Tucson, Ariz. Tribes, in recognition of their sovereignty, are allowed to opt out of specific federal Clean Air Act regulations, she said.

"It allows them to make decisions that are best for their tribe and grants a lot of flexibility for themselves," she said. "Our job is to help them implement it."

Most tribal agencies do not adhere to the entire Clean Air Act, McKaughan said.

"It's usually a hardship to implement an entire program without the time to develop the resources needed to develop a program," she said.

Arizona Public Service Co. owns three units at the power plant, while the two others are owned in varying percentages by Southern California Edison, Arizona Public Service, Public Service Company of New Mexico, Salt River Project, Tucson Electric Power and El Paso Electric.

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Information from: The Daily Times, http://www.daily-times.com