New Mexico questions Desert Rock fish impact

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — New Mexico Environment Department has requested a meeting with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to discuss the impacts of emissions from the proposed Desert Rock power plant on threatened and endangered species.

NMED Secretary Ron Curry sent a letter March 30 to the service’s New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office Supervisor Wally Murphy requesting a meeting to discuss the biological assessment for the plant.

“The assessment indicates 13 chemicals of potential concern, including high levels of mercury and selenium, will be emitted from the proposed Desert Rock facility and will impact the San Juan River and the Rio Grande,” Curry stated in the letter.

“New Mexico already suffers from the highest emissions of mercury in the nation and San Juan County has the highest mercury emissions in the state. We must do everything possible to protect our rivers, streams, fish and wildlife from impacts from the proposed facility.”

The assessment, prepared for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Navajo Area Office, and the service by contractor Ecosphere Environmental Services, also indicates these pollutants potentially could jeopardize the Colorado Pikeminnow and Razorback Sucker. Both are on the endangered species list.

George Hardeen, communications director for the Navajo Nation Office of the President/Vice President, blasted Curry for his lack of consultation with Navajo.

“It’s farcical that just weeks after Governor Richardson signed the New Mexico State-Tribal Consultation Act that Secretary Curry still ignores the Navajo Nation regarding the most important project it has ever undertaken.

“His insistence to issue press statements and consult with others except for the Navajo Nation about Desert Rock now disrespects the New Mexico Legislature, Governor Richardson, to say nothing of the Navajo Nation Council and the Navajo Nation president. But it says a lot about the New Mexico Environment Department’s utter failure to complete the tribal consultation it began with the Navajo Nation regarding Desert Rock.

“To paraphrase Samuel Mayer, Secretary Curry’s handshake is not worth the paper it’s printed on,” Hardeen said.

Copies of Ecosphere’s December 2008 assessment can be obtained from the bureau or the service. The San Juan River is considered one of the best trout fishing streams in the country but like most streams and lakes in the region, it is under mercury advisories for fish consumption.

Naturally occurring mercury in the region, coupled with mercury emissions from power plants in San Juan County already cause adverse effects in the region and Desert Rock will only make worse the risk to public health, endangered and non-endangered aquatic species, according to the state.

“The Navajo people didn’t put mercury into the San Juan River. The Navajo people didn’t harm the fish. The Navajo people didn’t create global warming or change the climate around the world. But the Navajo people are being held responsible for all that by the state Environment Department that has allowed the river to become so polluted on Secretary Curry’s watch,” Hardeen said.

Mercury is a toxic pollutant that can cause death, reduced reproduction, impaired growth, and behavioral abnormalities in fish at relatively low levels. Wildlife and birds feeding on mercury contaminated fish also suffer adverse affects. In humans, methylmercury can cause brain and kidney damage.

The Endangered Species Act requires that the service has an opportunity to review and make recommendations on a biological assessment prior to a permit being issued. The previous administration’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to complete that process before issuing the Desert Rock air quality permit.

The U.S. Environmental Appeals Board is in the process of reviewing the Desert Rock permit. The board will decide whether to approve or remand the permit to EPA Region 9.