Posted on 05/26/2006 12:51:35 PM PDT by CedarDave
Navajo Nation officials and the vice president of a Houston-based energy company have signed lease agreements that would allow a 1,500-megawatt power plant to be built on tribal land in northwestern New Mexico.
Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr., Sithe Global Power executive vice president Dirk Straussfeld and Steven Begay, general manager for the tribe's Dine Power Authority, inked the documents during a ceremony Thursday.
The coal-fired Desert Rock Power Plant, when complete, would produce enough electricity to power up to 1.5 million homes. It's expected to provide more than 1,000 jobs during construction and as many as 400 permanent jobs. Desert Rock also would generate $50 million in taxes and royalties for the Navajos each year.
Navajo Vice President Frank Dayish Jr. and Begay noted that the tribe has an opportunity for ownership in the project, which has been described by Navajo officials as the largest economic development project ever undertaken by the tribe.
The Navajo Council approved the 50-year lease during a special session May 12. It covers a 590-acre site south of Shiprock, where the plant would be located, and spells out rent and tax payments due to the Navajo Nation. Despite the prospect of more jobs and revenues, some Navajos are concerned that Desert Rock would add pollution to a region where two existing coal-fired plants already put tons of emissions into the air.
Sithe officials have said Desert Rock would use about 80 percent less water than a traditional coal-fired plant and environmental controls would reduce emissions.
Sithe hopes to begin construction in 2007, but a draft air permit and an environmental impact statement must be completed before that happens. Sithe spokesman Frank Maisano said the draft air permit could be released before summer.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
If the Navajo act anything like the Iroquois in my neck of the woods, they'll squabble over the revenue generated by the plant, and different factions will start blowing up the power transmission lines and sabotaging equipment inside the plant, until the people who built it give up and walk away.
YEH! More home-grown energy!
What I suspect is they'll let the plant be built and then the tribe will start their "sovereign nation" crap and take it over completely.
From my experiences there, quite unlikely. The APS plant on that reservation is regarded as one of the best things that ever happened in the area. Even the coal is mined locally. It is one of the biggest employers of reservation residents, and the Navajo Nation tribal government has been quite stable for as long as I can remember.
Their history with APS in the same location doing the same thing says differently.
Well, I hope you're right. I wish them well.
Now we should get then to drill for oil. Them and the Eskimos.
They already are, to the tune of about 420 million barrels of oil as of 2001. Between the oil and the coal, the Navajo Nation ain't no casino tribe.
Antonello is correct. The Navajo Nation is very stable with respect to energy development. And any new power plant with clean coal technology is welcome as far as I'm concerned. Coal is the one domestic resource we are NOT in danger of running out of, and it is very much available in this area of the country.
Tribal headquarters has fought against casinos in the past but I don't recall whether the they finally gave in for some chapters. Do you know??
I agree!
My dad works for the mine.
As I understand it, Joe Shirley is pushing for a casino in Window Rock. Back in the day that I was in the area, Peter McDonald would never have stood for it.
Excellent opportunity to check how many Americans are actually working there.
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