By Andy Bessler

From Rio Grande Sierran, Nov./Dec. 2007

Earlier in 2007, the Sierra Club and others filed suit against EPA demanding they follow through on their promised cleanup of air emissions from the Four Corners Power Plant. Despite voluntary efforts by the managing owner, Arizona Public Service, emissions must be reduced in the San Juan Basin. Our case is now in court with great representation by Matt Kenna of the Western Environmental Law Center.

EPA recently requested a delay in creating a Final Implementation Plan (FIP) that would create the highest standard for reducing harmful air emissions by this 2000-plus-megawatt dirty coal plant. The FIP process is held up while EPA tries to figure out how to handle the FIP in the coming years. Stay tuned and check out our website for court updates!

From Rio Grande Chapter Press Release, Dec. 13, 2006

Farmington, NM—The Sierra Club won a commitment today from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to finalize a pollution control plan for the Four Corners power plant near Farmington, NM.

The Sierra Club’s Rio Grande (NM) Chapter filed suit in Federal Court this past July to force the EPA to develop enforceable pollution limits at the Four Corners plant. Today, the Sierra Club agreed to settle the suit when the EPA committed to issue pollution limits for the Four Corners plant by April 30, 2007. The agreement was lodged today in Federal District Court in Albuquerque, and will become effective upon approval by the Court.

“Our children will breathe easier now that the EPA has finally committed to doing its job,” said John Buchser, chair of the Sierra Club’s Northern Group.

The Four Corners plant is one of the nation’s largest, generating 2400 megawatts of electricity, but also one of the dirtiest in the country. (See About Four Corners Power Plant at right.)

“This is another example of the Sierra Club’s work to improve the air people breathe in the Southwest,” said Susan Martin, chair of the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter in New Mexico. “Because of the size of the Four Corners plant, and the extraordinary levels of pollution it produces, this settlement, followed by enforcement of the Clean Air Act, will make a big difference to all of our citizens and generations to come.”

Assuming it is approved by the Court, the Four Corners agreement is just one on a list of victories for clean air for the Sierra Club in the Southwest. Last year the Sierra Club’s Rio Grande Chapter settled a lawsuit against PNM’s San Juan power plant, also near Farmington, which resulted in the company committing to a major clean up of emissions from that plant.

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The Four Corners Power Plant is located on the Navajo Nation reservation south of Fruitland, NM. Arizona Public Service Co. owns three of the coal-fired plant's generating units and ownership of the other two is split unequally among Southern California Edison, Arizona Public Service, Public Service Company of New Mexico, Salt River Project, Tucson Electric Power and El Paso Electric.

It was built between 1960 and 1971 and generates 2400 megawatts of electricity. It has been one of the dirtiest plants in the country, emitting over 15 million tons of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, particulates and carbon dioxide annually, along with 590 pounds of toxic mercury. Its nitrogen oxide emissions have exceeded all other power plants in the United States.

Emissions at the plant have gone unregulated since it was built because of past disagreements over whether New Mexico, the Navajo Nation or the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should have jurisdiction over it. It has been the only power plant in the US operating without a pollution permit.

The EPA took responsibility in 1999 to regulate the plant but never finalized a pollution control plan To correct this situation, the Rio Grande Chapter sued the EPA in July, 2006, to force it to act.

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