Groups applaud denial of subsidies

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK— Conservation and Navajo grassroots groups are praising lawmakers for allowing a bill to die that would have provided an $85 million tax break to Sithe Global Power for the Desert Rock Energy Project, a Sithe-Dine Power Authority coal-fired energy project.

Sierra Club's Carol Oldham said that by allowing the New Mexico legislative session to end without taking any action on the proposed subsidy, "lawmakers sent a powerful message. They saw this measure for what it was: a thinly veiled scheme to line the pockets of wealthy and influential out-of-state interests at the expense of New Mexico's clean air and water and its residents' health."

Hank Dixon, a spokesman for the Navajo group Dooda Desert Rock, said, "We look forward to working collaboratively with the Navajo Nation to promote renewable energy to bring clean, non-polluting jobs to our people."

While representatives of Sithe and members of the Navajo Nation's Shirley-Shelly Administration lobbied in Santa Fe for the tax subsidy proposed in Senate Bill 431, the Navajo Nation Electric Facility Tax Credits Bill, groups opposed to the plant banned together to stop it.

Those include: Dooda Desert Rock, Sierra Club, Conservation Voters New Mexico, Dine Care, NM Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy, San Juan Citizens Alliance, New Energy Economy, Environment New Mexico, New Mexico Conference of Churches, Interfaith Alliance for Environmental Stewardship, Climate Change Action Project, the League of Young Voters, and SAGE Council.

Changing climate
The groups said New Mexico's leaders have recognized the importance of addressing climate change and developing clean energy.

Through a 2005 executive order from Gov. Bill Richardson, the state has set aggressive targets for reducing global warming emissions: to 2000 levels by 2012, 10 percent below 2000 levels by 2020, and 75 percent below 2000 levels by 2050.

New Mexico this month joined Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington in a Western regional initiative to curtail global warming pollution. The Legislature also passed a number of bills promoting efforts to expand clean energy sources.

"We applaud the New Mexico Legislature, and especially the legislators from the Navajo Nation who stood up against subsidizing a new polluting coal plant," said Sandy Buffett, executive director of Conservation Voters New Mexico. "We will continue to work closely with our Navajo colleagues to pursue clean energy economic development, such as concentrating solar and wind, for the Four Corners."

Vangee Nez, a member of the Doo'da group, said, "We've had a great victory here. The door has been opened and now the Navajo people can work as a unified nation to find common ground on sustainable economic development.

"This was a healthy debate that brought some important issues to the forefront for all Native peoples, and this is just the beginning. We cannot deny our sovereign duty to protect the land for short-term gains, instead we must take our place as stewards of Dine-tah," she said.

'We will return'
Sithe media liaison Frank Maisano, reacting to press statements from opposition forces, said, "These claims are further evidence that the opponents of Desert Rock and allied outside environmental groups have no interest in helping the Navajo Nation.

"Their 'victory' regarding a modest efforts to address double taxation issues is further evidence they really aren't interested in helping the Navajo Nation promote responsible, long-term economic development."

Maisano said it is unfortunate that the Desert Rock tax plan was not part of the Legislature's final action. "It is a missed opportunity to improve economic development and environmental stewardship. It is a missed opportunity for cooperation and partnership between unions, Navajos, and those who see the region's desperate power and economic development needs.

"This issue was overtaken in the Legislature by positions and biases completely unrelated to merits and benefits of Desert Rock. Opponents have been less than honest about the advanced technologies the projectwill employ and current status of federal efforts to regulate carbon emissions.

"We will be ready to return next year with more evidence in hand of our commitment to developing a project that not only provides important economic opportunities and benefits, but also addresses theregion's environmental and power growth needs," he said.

Many people worked very hard to underscore the importance of the Desert Rock project to economic development, and "to detail the outstanding environmental stewardship of the project."

"We also want to offer a special thanks to President (Joe) Shirley for his steadfast commitment to the project," Maisano said. "Many people worked very hard to highlight the vast resources of coal available to the Nation that are clean and secure, that must be used to provide a positive future for the Navajo Nation."

More to come
Denise Fort, a University of New Mexico environmental law professor, said, "Now that legislators have taken the wise step of prohibiting Sithe and its parent company, private New York investment firm The Blackstone Group, from exploiting taxpayers to build their power plant, it's time to focus on keeping the polluting plant from being built.

"At a time when New Mexico is taking a leadership role on clean energy and decreasing global warming pollution, it doesn't make any sense to build a facility that essentially would erase that progress," she said.

Coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of global warming pollution, responsible for about 40 percent of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions. If built, Desert Rock would pump out an estimated 10.5 million metric tons of global warming pollution every year, a 34 percent increase over the state's entire 2003 emissions, the groups said.

Maisano, however, argues that the final air quality permit, "will be the toughest limits ever," and should be ready soon, as well as the Desert Rock Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which will kick off another round of public hearings.

"Discussions are progressing with San Juan County on a fair tax plan for the county and its schools. As well, discussions with power offtakers continue and perhaps agreements will be closer as we approach the start of construction," he said.

"In addition, in light of this year's legislative session action, our tax experts will return to the drawing board to review all our options regarding the project's tax burdens so it can offer competitively priced power."

In an area with two existing plants and thousands of cases of cancer and asthma, the health links associated with another polluting plant are undeniable, according to the opposition. "Doo'da supporters have reasoned that this form of job creation is against the people's best interest and the values of the Navajo people," according to Dixon.

Alfred Bennett, also a member of the Doo'da Coalition, said, "We have been led to believe that we have to choose between economic development and our cultural identity. But in this challenge we have the opportunity to provide solutions to a changing world that honors our people and traditions."

Maisano said Desert Rock is a project that uses the Navajo coal resource in an environmentally responsible way. "It will be the cleanest coal power plant ever built in the United States, setting an example for all the projects in the region."

Recent polling shows that New Mexicans support efforts to cut global warming emissions. In a February survey of 400 voters conducted by the firm Research and Polling Inc., 69 percent said they think the problem warrants action, and 61 percent believed that "the state needs to do more to reduce the emissions that cause global warming," the groups said.