New Report: Four Corners Coal Plant on the Navajo Reservation Is Dirtiest in New Mexico

November 24, 2009

Las Cruces—The Four Corners coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Reservation outside of Farmington is the dirtiest power plant in New Mexico, based on carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution, ranking it as the 23rd dirtiest plant in the country for 2007, according to a new analysis of government data released today by Environment New Mexico.

“It’s time for the oldest and dirtiest power plants to clean up their act, ” said Jake Horowitz, Mountain West Field Associate with Environment New Mexico. “Coal-fired giants have dominated our electricity for decades and have been allowed to pollute without license. In order to stop global warming and reap all the benefits of clean energy, we must require old coal-fired clunkers to meet modern standards for global warming pollution. ”

Coal is the dirtiest of all fuels, but it supplies more of America’s electricity than any other source. Coal plants currently do not have to meet any global warming pollution standard, _ meaning that they are an unchecked contributor to global warming. In fact, coal plants are the nation’s single largest source of global warming pollution.

The growing impacts of global warming will impose threats to our safety and immense financial cost on our society, and most notably for New Mexico, more frequent and extreme droughts, as rainfall declines and warmer temperatures evaporate moisture in the soil more quickly. To avoid the worst effects of global warming, the science shows that the United States must cut its global warming pollution by 35 percent by 2020.

The new report from Environment New Mexico, “America’s Biggest Polluters: Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Power Plants in 2007, ” looks at carbon dioxide emissions from power plants across the country using 2007 data from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency; 2007 is the most recent year for which final data is available. The report examines both age of and pollution from power plants to document the fact that we are reliant on an energy infrastructure that is both old and polluting. The key findings include the following:

The oldest operating power plant in New Mexico is the Rio Grande plant in Dona Ana. The Rio Grande plant has been operating for 50 years, built within just two decades of the television first becoming commercially available. Many of the plants in New Mexico are decades-old. In fact, 6 of New Mexico’s 14 plants were built before 1980.

The Four Corners power plant located on the Navajo Reservation outside of Farmington, New Mexico, ranked as the 23rd dirtiest power plant in the country in 2007 based on its carbon dioxide emissions. The Four Corners plant has been in operation since May of 1963, before Lyndon B. Johnson became President, and produces the same amount of global warming pollution in a year as 2,646,452 of today’s cars.

Nationally, the report shows that America’s power is dominated by old and polluting plants, and that the oldest and dirtiest plants often go hand-in-hand. Power plants built three decades ago or more produced 73 percent of the total global warming pollution from power plants in 2007. Older power plants on average are dirtier per unit of energy than newer ones.

“America’s power is both decades-old and dangerously polluting. We’re reliant on technology that’s as old as the very first commercially available televisions. Televisions have gone from black-and-white clunkers to super high-definition flat screens, but they’re still powered by the same dirty electricity, ” Horowitz said.

“Clean energy holds the future of America—to make our nation energy independent, create millions of new jobs, and stop the worst effects of global warming. In order to realize this clean energy future, coal plants must stop polluting with impunity, ” Horowitz continued.

“I truly believe that clean energy is about jobs and ending our dependence on dirty energy, ” said Javier Ruiz, Principal of Border Solar/SS-Energy, a Solar Integrator and Electric Vehicle Infrastructure promoter out of El Paso, Texas that serves Southern New Mexico. “Why should we continue sending money overseas to countries that may be hostile to us when we can be generating our own energy here in the Southwest and putting New Mexicans back to work? We don’t need to be polluting our state with coal and depending on foreign oil when we can be powering our homes and businesses with the wind and the sun” Ruiz said.

The U. S. Senate is slated to consider legislation in the next few months to establish the first-ever federal limits on global warming pollution and standards and incentives for clean energy. In addition, EPA has proposed a rule to require coal plants and other large smokestack industries to use available technology to cut their global warming pollution when new facilities are constructed or existing facilities are significantly modified.

However, the coal industry is fighting the transition to clean energy. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a coal industry lobby group, spent at least $40 million dollars in 2008 alone – more than $100,000 a day – on lobbyists and advertising on energy. Earlier this year, they hired lobbyists who forged phony constituent letters to Congress opposing action on clean energy.

“We urge Senators Udall and Bingaman to vote for a strong clean energy bill that will cut global warming pollution and create clean energy jobs, ” Horowitz concluded.

Environment New Mexico is a state-based, citizen-funded environmental organization working for clean air, clean water, and open space.

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