Stop Desert Rock

What's New

Sithe Global Power is proposing a 1500 megawatt coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Reservation, already home to two of the dirtiest power plants in the country. The plant would emit over 12 million tons of carbon dioxide, ozone, mercury and other pollutants into the air each year and wipe out major gains being made to reduce New Mexico’s global warming emissions.

So far, the proposed Desert Rock coal-fired power plant has not received approval or permits required for construction to begin. In March of 2008, the project proponents sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the Air Quality Permit. On June 5, 2008 a consent decree was entered where EPA agreed to make a decision on the Air Quality Permit by July 31, 2008. Governor Richardson and Attorney General Gary King have strongly criticized this decision.

How You Can Help

Please call New Mexico Attorney General Gary King (1-800-678-1508) and Governor Richardson (505-476-2200) and thank them for speaking out against Desert Rock. Urge them to do whatever is in their power to stop this coal plant.

Brief Summary

Scientists agree that global warming is real, that it’s already affecting the planet we live on and that we need to reduce our global warming emissions by at least 80% by 2050 if we’re to avoid the worst consequences of a warming planet. The scientific community agrees that the evidence is “unequivocal” and we need to quickly and dramatically reduce our emissions.

Carbon dioxide, which is produced by coal-fired power plants, is a major contributor to global warming. The state of New Mexico has taken significant steps to reduce the state’s emissions including the formation of the New Mexico Climate Change Advisory Group (CCAG), work to create a Western regional greenhouse gas reduction program and expansion of the renewable energy portfolio standard. Given this, it is absolutely imperative that we halt and reduce emissions in the Four Corners region.

Although portrayed as a “clean, state of the art coal-fired power plant,” Desert Rock is projected to emit over 12.7 million tons per year of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The proposed Desert Rock facility would effectively wipe out all positive actions that New Mexico is taking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Desert Rock Energy Project, proposed by Sithe Global Power, LLC, for the Navajo Nation in Burnham, New Mexico poses significant risks for the health of the local community, undermines global warming reductions being made elsewhere in the state and does little to create economic opportunity or increased electrification of the Navajo Nation. In a world faced by the threat of global warming, building another coal-fired power plant is an environmentally and economically disastrous investment.

The Navajo Reservation is already home to two of the dirtiest power plants in the country. The plant would emit over 12 million tons of carbon dioxide, ozone, mercury and other pollutants into the air each year and wipe out major gains being made to reduce New Mexico’s global warming emissions.

In 2007, the New Mexico State Legislature rejected a bill that would have provided an $85 million tax break for the proposed Desert Rock plant.

Completed in the summer of 2007, the Desert Rock Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) public hearings demonstrated the vast opposition to the plant. A year later, the project has still have received the permits it needs for the project to proceed.

In January 2008, project supporters submitted a notice to sue if the EPA did not make a decision on the permits. In June 2008 a consent degree was issued by the United States District Court in Texas for EPA to make a decision on the Desert Rock PSD permit by July 31, 2008. Since then, Governor Richardson and the New Mexico Attorney General have strongly criticized the decision, which would force a hasty decision and fail to address the serious concerns raised about the plant.