In Navajo country, a battle brews over proposed power plant

The Chuska Mountains rise from the southwest, dividing the desert plains from deep blue sky. To the east are the subtle hues of the badlands and to the north, the jagged rock formation known as Shiprock juts hundreds of feet into the air.

In every direction, there are glimpses of the beauty that makes up the country's largest American Indian reservation.

But this is also the center of a brewing battle over what would be one of the biggest economic development projects in Indian Country _ a $2.5 billion coal-fired power plant that would serve major cities in the Southwest.

Houston-based Sithe Global Power and tribal administrators want to build the plant near the tribe's Burnham Chapter. After years of work, a 50-year lease agreement that would enable the plant to be built on Navajo land is set to come before the tribal council for consideration.

The Desert Rock Energy Project in northwestern New Mexico would produce 1,500 megawatts of electricity, enough to power up to 1.5 million homes. It's expected to provide more than 1,000 jobs during construction, and as many as 400 permanent jobs once it's operational, possibly by 2010.

"It's a big project that's probably going to offer about $400 million in terms of wages _ maybe more, maybe less _ and for every job created there will be about three other jobs," Dine Power Authority General Manager Steve Begay said, referring to the trickle-down effect the tribe is hoping for.

Desert Rock also would pay $50 million each year in taxes and royalties. That's about a third of the tribe's annual budget.

Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. said in his recent State of the Navajo Nation address that projects like Desert Rock become increasingly important as federal funding for social services and other programs dwindles.

But some Navajos say more is at stake than the tribal budget.

"We're scared," said Sarah White, a member of Dooda Desert Rock Committee, a group that has been fighting the proposed plant. "We're scared for our future generations."

White and other critics are concerned that two existing power plants in the region already spew tons of emissions into the air, and any additional pollution would only make air quality worse.

Western Resource Advocates, an environmental group, says coal combustion produces substantial quantities of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and toxic metals such as mercury and arsenic.

But Sithe says Desert Rock, with its carbon injection system and scrubbers designed to cut emissions, represents the next generation of coal-fired power plants.

Frank Maisano, a spokesman for the company, said the plant is expected to add only 10 percent to the emissions already released by the two existing plants. He added that the overall impact on the region's air quality would be even less in the future as the older plants work to reduce their emissions.

"We are really going the extra mile on this project in terms of the environmental controls," he said. "This is going to be one of the most technologically advanced coal plants ever built. ... In my mind, that ought to address some of the concerns people have."

Critics argue that companies have made promises before and Navajos continue to pay the price. They point to uranium mining companies that, after nearly 40 years of operation, left Navajos with radiation sickness, contaminated tailings and abandoned mines.

With Desert Rock, they are concerned about the pollution as well as the water the plant would require.

Sithe says Desert Rock would use 4,500 acre-feet, about one-fifth that used by typical coal-fired plants. An acre-foot, about 326,000 gallons, can meet the annual water needs of one to two U.S. households.

"Water resources are like gold in the Southwest and the Four Corners region," Maisano said. "One of the big sticking points always with other power plants in the region has been water, water, water. Clearly, what we've done here is find a way to use technology that will use much less water."

Begay said Sithe plans to drill wells to the west that would supply the plant. The wells, he said, would also provide 450 acre-feet of water that the communities could use.

Critics argue that the water already belongs to the communities and that the tribe can't afford leasing water rights to outside companies during a time of drought.

Anna Frazier, an activist with Dine Citizens Against Ruining our Environment, questions why companies get to use Navajo water when she and others in the Leupp and Dilkon areas of eastern Arizona don't have running water. She added that Navajo ranchers depend on water to raise livestock.

"That's how we make our living, off our ranches, and now our water is being depleted," she said. "It's just a giveaway."

Dine CARE and other groups fear Desert Rock will be the next episode of big business using the tribal resources while poverty and unemployment rates remain high on the Navajo Nation.

Begay argues that Desert Rock revenues will help improve living conditions across the reservation by providing more money for education, health care, public safety and other needs.

"You hardly see any police out here," he said while traveling a dirt road near the proposed site. "There are no health services and a declining population at Burnham is threatening services for senior citizens."

DPA has been working around the clock to put the finishing touches on a lease agreement that would allow the plant to be built on Navajo land surrounded by the Chuska Mountains, Shiprock and the badlands.

The tribal council must approve the lease, but ultimately the Bureau of Indian Affairs would have the last say. The lease may be considered during a special council session on Friday.

White said she and other opponents plan to protest during the session.

She accuses Sithe of being interested only in the money the plant would generate.

"As long as they make the big bucks, they don't care who's going to get sick or who's going to be affected or who's going to be moved or whose water is going to be contaminated," she said. "They don't live here. They live in New York, they live in Texas, they live in other places."

Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan said delegates must be open-minded to avoid repeating history and to give the tribe the economic boost it needs.

"Navajos have always gotten revenues from the water, from the coal, from other resources, but that's all they get. If that's all we're thinking about with Desert Rock, then that's all we're going to get," he said. "We're not thinking outside the box. What else can we get?"

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On the Net:

Navajo Nation: http://www.navajo.org

Dine CARE: http://dinecare.indigenousnative.org/

Desert Rock Energy Project: http://www.desertrockenergy.com/