REFERENCE TITLE: Navajo generating station; emissions standards

State of Arizona House of Representatives Forty-ninth Legislature Second Regular Session 2010

HCR 2015

Introduced by Representative Tobin

 

A CONCURRENT resolution

 

supporting navajo generating station emissions standards that balance clean air needs with state and tribal water, employment and economic needs.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 

Whereas, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering imposing stringent new emission controls on the Navajo generating station (NGS) that could have serious consequences for the citizens and Indian tribes of this state; and

Whereas, the NGS is a critical source of employment and revenue for members of the Navajo Nation and, through the Kayenta coal mine that supplies coal for NGS, for members of the Hopi Tribe as well; and

Whereas, as essentially the sole source of power for the Central Arizona Project (CAP), the NGS is critical to CAP operations in pumping diverted water from the Colorado River and Lake Havasu to municipal, rural and tribal users in Arizona; and

Whereas, power from NGS that is not needed for CAP pumping is sold to help repay the costs of constructing CAP and to fund the costs of Indian water rights settlements in Arizona; and

Whereas, coal mining operations contribute $30 million in annual state and federal taxes, employ more than 400 Arizonans, mostly members of the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe, and contribute $92 million each year in wages, benefits, royalties, business transactions and scholarships; and

Whereas, implementation of the EPA’s new emissions standards could result in greatly increased costs for CAP water customers due to installation of expensive emissions control technology; and

Whereas, the enormous costs to implement new emissions controls and the uncertainty of future regulation could cause NGS participants to close the plant, resulting in a loss of jobs and revenue that would devastate the Navajo and Hopi tribal communities; and

Whereas, in determining emissions control levels for NGS, the EPA should consider not only visibility improvement in the immediate area but also the importance of NGS to the cost-effective delivery of essential water in this state and to the economic well-being of the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe.

Therefore

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring:

That the Members of the Legislature support emissions standards for the Navajo generating station that balance the need for clean air with state and tribal water, economic and employment needs.