Resisters hit police blockade
Protest at inaugural peaceful

Desert Rock resisters staged a peaceful protest outside the Navajo Nation Fairgrounds during last Tuesday's presedential inaugural and came face-to-face with a wall of Navajo Nation Police. [Photo courtesy of Carlan Tapp]

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — In a throwback to the genesis of the civil rights movement of the late 1950s, members of Dooda Desert Rock Committee staged a peaceful demonstration at last week's presidential inaugural.

As in the case of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., resisters based their protest on nonviolence and civil disobedience.

In 1957, King cautioned followers, "We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline."

Navajo elders have encouraged younger protesters to do likewise.

Resisters opposed to the Desert Rock Energy Facility marched near the entrance of the Window Rock fairgrounds last Tuesday before being forcibly blocked by Navajo Nation law enforcement officers.

The group said a helicopter from the New Mexico National Guard appeared on the site. Protesters said they believed the action signaled that Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. apparently would be flown out if they provoked a riot.

However, the elders insisted, "This is a peaceful vigil. We are showing him our opposition, not trying to fight him."

After the group was denied access to the fairgrounds, resisters demonstrated in mid-town Window Rock.

Eloise Brown, president of the Dooda committee, said she believed their march was a success.

"We got our point across, and we know that we have public support in this issue. People know that we are not backing down from our opposition," Brown said.

Members are opposed to the proposed 1,500 megawatt coal-fired plant to be built by Sithe Global Power LLC in partnership with the Navajo Nation's Din Power Authority.

Brown said, "This is an issue that affects everyone. Public health, burial sites, sacred sites, air, water, you name it. It's all in jeopardy."

She and fellow marchers wore gas masks in Window Rock, "symbolizing both the terrible respiratory effects of power plants such as the proposed Desert Rock facility, and to symbolize the way in which (our) voices have been suppressed by our Navajo Nation government, including President Shirley," the group said.

The resisters began their "protest vigil" Dec. 12 on a BHP Billiton access road to the proposed Desert Rock site. It continues to this day.

"We must stand up and say something!" said Hank Dixon of the Dooda committee.

The resisters have gained a wide range of support from other Navajo citizens, who thanked them for standing up and making the issue public, as well as support on a national and international level, according to Brown.

At the front of Tuesday's protest group were Navajo elders whose leadership skills and passion to protect the land has kept the community members proactive in opposing the project, according to Brown.

"We are strong because of our elders," she said. "They are the main ones who are telling us what's at stake and what we need to do. We tell them to 'Go home, get some rest,' but they don't want to.

"That shows how important this land is to them and we continue the fight because of them and for the future generations," she said.

The following evening after the inaugural, DPA's Steven Begay and Sithe's Nathan Plegans took to the KTNN Radio airwaves to explain the benefits of the Desert Rock Project.

The environmental performance of the plant is a priority, Begay said, adding that U.S. EPA said Desert Rock's environmental performance standards are the most stringent in the country and set a new level of performance for coal-fired plants.

"Desert Rock uses proven emission control technology to significantly reduce air emissions like smoke-forming particulates, mercury and other greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, improving air quality and reducing global warming," he said.

The 1,500 megawatt facility will have supercritical boilers with an efficiency of more than 41 percent, and also will incorporate a dry-cooling system, reducing water consumption to 4,500 acre feet.

The use of supercritical high-efficiency boilers will produce 10 to 20 percent less emissions, including greenhouse gas emissions or carbon dioxide on a pounds-per-megawatt-hour basis before any emissions control is applied, Begay said.

The plant also will employ selective catalytic reduction, low nitrogen-oxide burners, and wet flue gas desulfurization to control emissions.

"The result of applying these technologies makes Desert Rock Project one of the cleanest coal-fired projects in the United States, generating 90 percent less SO2, particulate matter, and nitrogen oxide emissions compared to existing plants," Begay said.

Plegans said coal for the Sithe energy project will come from the expansion of the existing BHP Mine. "Desert Rock Energy Company is working on an agreement from BHP to supply coal to the plant," he said.

The energy company will hire a general contractor to build the plant.

"They will be responsible for hiring all the subcontractors and all the employees and such to do with the project," Plegans said.

While the energy company is searching for a general contractor, they're also working on developing contracts for the sale of the electricity from the plant.

"These contracts will provide for basically a flat rate sale of electricity to various utilities, like Public Service of New Mexico, APS or SRP, and hopefully we'll also work with NTUA on electricity sales," Plegans said.

"What this does is this provides a fixed rate of sales to these utilities so that even though electricity may be selling for $500 a megawatt in Phoenix, or $1,000 a megawatt in Albuquerque, here at the plant we will only sell at a fixed rate. We won't see those large returns like that," he said.

Once the general contractor is hired and the contracts for electricity sales in place, then Sithe will move toward financial closing.

"Basically, that's where we go to the bank and borrow the money to build the plant," Plegans said.

"Once we get the general contractor, we'll know how much the plant costs. Once we get the contracts, we'll know how much sales we're going to have, and that will determine how much money they're going to give us."

He estimated plant construction at four to five years. "That's two generations of potential employment for folks here on the Navajo Nation," Plegans said.

"We're looking at the plant operating for 30 to 50 years. If it still works well after 50 years, we hope it keeps working."