Take Action: Protect Yellowstone and the Greater Rockies

Protect Yellowstone and the Greater Rockies

Tell the Bush administration to reject the Desert Rock Energy Project.

Harrilene Yazzie, NEPA Coordinator

Dear Ms. Yazzie,

(Edit Letter Below)

I am writing to express my strong opposition to the proposed Desert Rock Energy Project. The project would allow another dirty coal-fired power plant to pollute the air in four states, as well as surrounding land and water, and contribute to global warming.  Instead, the Bush administration should be advancing proposals for sustainable and renewable sources of energy that will help put our nation on the path to a clean energy future.

The Four Corners area is already home to two large coal-fired power plants that are among the top ten producers of global warming pollution in the West. Nevertheless, the draft environmental impact statement for the Desert Rock project did not sufficiently analyze the cumulative impacts of the plan, including global warming. The study also did not fully assess the project's effects on water quality and quantity from increased coal mining, dumping of coal combustion waste or the release of high levels of selenium. Nor did it explore the use of the best available technologies, like carbon sequestration, to minimize global warming emissions or alternatives that would maximize the use of clean, sustainable energy sources.

Mercury from the existing two power plants in the Four Corners region is showing up in virtually all of the major water bodies in the area and the Desert Rock Energy Project would increase the flow of this dangerous contaminant into the environment. The plant would also release soot and soot-forming pollutants -- which can cause asthma attacks, heart disease and other health problems -- and increase ozone in a region where there are already thousands of existing sources of air pollution, including coal plants, refineries and natural gas compressors.  
 
Furthermore, Native American communities in New Mexico, which are already exposed to hazards from nearby industrial facilities, would bear a disproportionate amount of the plant's negative environmental impacts without benefiting from its electricity output. Most of the power would be exported to Las Vegas and Phoenix.

I agree that the Navajo Nation needs and deserves economic development, but this project appears to carry with it serious risks for local communities and the environment and uses precious tax credits to create a relatively small number of jobs. I urge the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Navajo Nation to withdraw the current proposal for the Desert Rock Energy Project. Instead, they should create new jobs and strengthen the regional economy through environmentally sound initiatives that promote energy efficiency and renewable energy use.

Sincerely,

[Your name]
[Your address]

Sincerely,

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