By Andy Bessler

From the Rio Grande Sierran, Jan./Feb. 2008.

There are many tools required to stop a massive coal-fired power plant, like effective lobbying, strong legal arguments, and solid grassroots organizing.

Prayer is also a strong tool that Navajo organizers used as they called upon higher powers to inspire the struggle to stop the proposed 1500-megawatt coal-fired Desert Rock Power Plant. From November 8 to 11, Dooda Desert Rock organizers set up a powerful prayer gathering at their camp in Burnham, New Mexico, for traditional Navajo prayers aimed at stopping the plant and bringing a clean energy future to the Navajo Nations and the Four Corners region. Over 100 people attended along with several Navajo Nation officials and traditional local leaders.

Elouise Brown shows Sonny Weahkee how to butcher a goat! We just wished it was as easy to kill a power plant as it was this goat! (Photo by Andy Bessler)

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Within sight and sound of a churning coal dragline in its dusty shroud at the nearby Navajo Mine, the camp was complete with a kitchen, camping area, sweat lodges, and sacred fire that burned during the gathering. Prayers were shared by Navajo medicine men as well as nearby residents concerned about the proposed coal fired-plant and expansions of nearby coal mining. For two nights straight, prayers were sung. Donations of sheep and goats and other foods came to the camp from all directions.

As the photo of Sonny Weahkee of Sage Council shows, butchering takes some help. I think the photo, although graphic, shows that like fighting a power plant, you need each other to help get the job done! Elouise Brown and her family fed the attendees with the help of volunteers to cook and keep the camp clean for all. Several sweat lodges helped attendees clear the minds and bodies of the nearby coal mining. A huge Ahe’hee to Dooda Desert Rock and Elouise Brown for their leadership and strong prayers!

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During one night of the event, Shonto Begay, a Navajo artist from Arizona, held up a bright flashlight to point to some stars, and we realized what we were breathing. Like someone had just dusted off a giant couch pillow, the beam of light showed the air filled with a high density of particulates most likely from the nearby coal mine. While the grit on my teeth was bad for a few days, folks nearby live with this daily and report many relatives fighting cancer battles of their own. Local residents live with a huge struggle to avoid more air pollution from the Desert Rock coal-fired power plant.

Finally, a huge thanks to everyone from the Northern New Mexico Group and Rio Grande Chapter who helped in the effort. Several Sierra Club folks came from Arizona and Colorado as well. The Sierra Club’s Tribal Partnership Program helped out with food and prayers that a clean energy future is on the way. Thanks to all in their efforts to stop the Desert Rock Power Plant and find a clean energy path for all of us!

For more information on Desert Rock, visit www.dooda-desert-rock.net. Or contact Andy Bessler of Sierra Club’s Environmental Partnership Program (928/774-6103, andy.bessler@ sierraclub.org).

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• Talking Points, 1/20/07, (pdf. 39Kb). Analysis of the plant's pollution potential.

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Desert Rock is a proposed coal-fired power plant proposed near Burnham Trading Post about 30 miles southwest of Farmington, NM, east of US highway 491. It is a joint project of the Navajo Nation's Dine Power Authority and Sithe Global Power, LLC, of Houston, TX. The plant is expected to produce up to 1,500 megawatts of electricity.

Opposition among the Navajo to Desert Rock is being led by a group called Dooda ("No") Desert Rock (DDR). They have been conducting a vigil at the site since December. Their website is www.desert-rock-blog.com. Elouise Brown, DDR president, can be reached at 505-947-6159 or by email at thebrownmachine@hotmail.com.

For more information from Sithe's point of view, including maps and documents, see the Sithe Desert Rock Energy Project website.

Information on Desert Rock or related power plant issues can also be obtained from Andy Bessler, 928/774-6103, andybessler@sierraclub.org, or Dan Lorimier.

Other relevant websites are those of the Navajo Nation and Dine Citizens against Ruining Our Environment (Dine C.A.R.E)

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• Funding. The Navajo Nation has agreed to a 67% reduction in taxes. Bills were introduced during the 2007 session of the New Mexico Legislature to allow the project to avoid $85 million in state taxes over 29 years. These bills were defeated.
• Pollution. CO2 emissions will end up in our air: 10 million metric tons per year. Mercury emissions will end up in our water: 114 lbs per year. Pollutants from Desert Rock will push the Four Corners area over Federal EPA standards. The accuracy of Sithe’s figures for pollutants from Desert Rock has been seriously questioned by experts.
    The Governor’s Executive Order calls for a reduction of 10.5 million metric tons per year by 2012. The Governor’s Climate Change Advisory Group recommended a reduction of 15.9 million metric tons per year by 2012. CO2 emissions from Desert Rock would equal 58% of the Climate Change Advisory Group reductions for 2012. and would roughly equal (and cancel) all the gains from the Governor’s Executive Order. So most of the Governor's plan for greenhouse emissions reduction would be undone by the Desert Rock Plant.
• Alternatives. Efficiency in homes, businesses, and government buildings would eliminate the need for this plant and others like it throughout the West.
    Gasification of coal is better on all counts than the proposed plant, and it has the potential to sequester CO2. It would cost only 10% more.
    Concentrated solar plants can now produce electricity for 4½-5 cents per kilowatt hour, the same range as new coal plants, and they produce no CO2 and no other pollutants.

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