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Southwest Colorado and Northwest New Mexico possess a rich array of resources. Situated in the Four Corners, the region is home to nearly 500,000 people, a treasure trove of public lands protected for their natural, cultural and scenic values, a wide range of wildlife including many threatened and endangered species, and vibrant and diverse economies. All of these communities rely on clean air for their health – human, economic and environmental.
In addition to being home to some of the most iconic landscapes of the Southwestern United States - Mesa Verde National Park, Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, the 14,000-foot peaks of the San Juan Mountains - as well as a cultural and economic diversity that is unique to the region, the Four Corners is home to a vast fossil fuels complex, anchored by two of the country’s oldest and most polluting coal-fired power plants located 15 miles apart: Four Corners Power Plant and San Juan Generating Station.
The San Juan Generating Station is a coal-fired power plant that generates 1,848 megawatts of electricity each year. The plant, which consists of four coal-fired boilers, is located in northwestern New Mexico just outside of Farmington, and is situated less than 15 miles from the Four Corners Power Plant, a 2,080-megawatt facility.
The two power plants are New Mexico’s top two sources of air pollution. Every year, the facilities’ air pollution contributes to 33 premature deaths, 600 asthma attacks, 31 asthma-related emergency room visits, and other health impacts, at an estimated cost of more than $254 million.
Right now, we have been given a unique and unprecedented opportunity to address these costs and impacts, through two rulemaking processes initiated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Because the facilities are governed by two regions of the EPA: San Juan Generating Station is in Region 6’s jurisdiction and Four Corners Power Plant is governed by Region 9, the rulemaking processes are separate, though inextricably linked. Engaging in both of these opportunities to clean up the region’s air in order to protect public health and nurture flourishing economies is important for all the area’s residents and decision-makers.
On January 5, 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a proposal to require PNM to retrofit the San Juan Generating Station with up-to-date air pollution controls. The plan would target emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, sulfuric acid, and ammonia, all haze forming gases that also contribute to the plant’s negative health impacts.
This clean-up proposal comes on the heels of a similarly strong rule proposed by the EPA’s Region 9 for the Four Corners Power Plant. That rule would require the facility to install technologies that reduce its nitrogen oxide emissions by 80 percent by 2015, and significantly reduce other harmful pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions from the facility as well.
Cleaning up San Juan Generating Station and its similarly pollution neighbor, the Four Corners Power Plant, will be of great benefit to the region’s public health and economies. The facilities are a stone’s through from a number of Class I airsheds, including Mesa Verde National Park and the Weminunche Wilderness, made priorities for the important public lands that they contain.
To ensure that the two EPA regions produce the strongest possible rules for these two facilities, in these parallel but separate processes, citizen engagement is essential, as is the support of our local, regional and national elected officials. There will be opportunities for public education and public comment throughout these rulemaking processes.
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