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Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Group Files Appeal on Permit for Desert Rock Plant


Associated Press
      Another environmental group has appealed an air permit for the planned coal-fired Desert Rock power plant on the Navajo Nation in northwestern New Mexico.
    The Center for Biological Diversity on Tuesday appealed the Environmental Protection Agency's permit, contending the EPA failed to consider its effect on threatened and endangered species. The center, in its appeal to the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board in Washington, D.C., said the Endangered Species Act requires such an analysis.
    Dine Power Authority and Houston-based Sithe Global Power are partners in the 1,500-megawatt plant southwest of Farmington. The air permit issued July 31 was considered a major hurdle, although an environmental impact statement also must be approved before construction can begin.
    Amy Atwood, senior attorney for the center, said the EPA is trying to do "an end run around their consultation obligation" by insisting the Bureau of Indian Affairs is handling the requirements under the Endangered Species Act.
    The EPA is required to consider the consequences of the plant on the Colorado pikeminnow, the razorback sucker and other endangered species, said Atwood, who is based in Portland, Ore.
    "Their refusal to do so is a patent violation of the Endangered Species Act," she said.
    But Frank Maisano, a spokesman for Desert Rock, said the Endangered Species Act has nothing to do with the air permit.
    "It will be an important part of the BIA's EIS (environmental impact statement)," he said.
    Last month, other environmental organizations and Navajo groups who have been fighting the plant appealed the permit, alleging the EPA failed to complete required analyses of the project. They asked that the permit be withdrawn and that the EPA be required to complete the analyses.
    That petition by the Sierra Club, Dine CARE, San Juan Citizens Alliance, Grand Canyon Trust, WildEarth Guardians, Environmental Defense Fund and Natural Resources Defense Council contends those analyses would lead to the denial of the permit or significant changes to it.

Copyright ©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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