NM Rep. Begaye Declares Tax Subsidy for Desert Rock Power Plant Dead

Dooda! That's what the NM House Energy and Natural Resources Committee said this past Wednesday with its vote to once again table HB 178. The bill would grant Sithe Global Power $85 million in tax breaks for its filthy, coal-fired Desert Rock power plant planned for the Farmington area, on Navajo land. Dooda means 'no' in the Dine language, and as used in the name one of the citizen groups -- Dooda Desert Rock Committee -- that has been working long and hard against both the power plant and this giveaway of our taxpayer dollars to the company aiming to build it.

Here's a detailed report of what happened from Friday's Gallup Independent.

The Senate version of the bill, SB 431, is still alive and referred to the Senate Finance Committee. However, without significant amendment to place more stringent environmental controls on the power plant, it would have little chance of passage in the House if it made it through the Senate. As the Gallup Independent article reports:

"It's not going anywhere," said Rep. Ray Begaye, D-Shiprock. "This is dead."

... A similar bill in the Senate might have a better chance there, Begaye said, but wouldn't make it through the House without some amendments the Senate would never accept.

"This has got zero chance of getting through this session," Begaye said.

Still, given that things can change abruptly and unexpectedly in the last two weeks of the legislative session, activists are urging those opposed to the tax giveaway to contact members of the Senate Finance and remain vigliant.

According to a press release from Conservation Voters New Mexico, which has also been fighting the bill, the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee (HENRC) voted 7-6 along party lines with 7 Democrats voting to table the bill. The Legislators serving on the HENRC committee who voted to table include Chairman James Roger Madalena (D-Jemez Pueblo), Rep. Jim Trujillo (D-Santa Fe), Rep. Miguel Garcia (D-Albuquerque), Rep. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe), Rep. Antonio Lujan (D-Las Cruces), Rep. Joni Gutierrez (D-Mesilla), and Rep. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces).

“I especially wish to commend Chairman Madalena and Rep. Gutierrez for taking a courageous and visionary stand for protecting New Mexico’s air, land, water and public health,” stated Sandy Buffett, Executive Director of Conservation Voters New Mexico. 

The plant, if built, would emit 10 million tons annually of greenhouse gas emissions and would contribute hundreds of pounds of mercury annually to a region already considered a mercury hotspot.

Some basic facts about Desert Rock:

• Total carbon dioxide emissions in the state will increase 16%, with 10 million tons emitted annually from this plant;
• The greenhouse gas emissions from this plant will cancel out the Governor’s numerical targets for curbing global warming;
• On February 5, 2007, hundreds of citizens of New Mexico, including over 50 Navajo activists and elders, gathered at the New Mexico State Legislature to protest the proposed Desert Rock power plant;
• Sithe seeks to build the plant to export electricity to Nevada and Arizona. However, the plant would not meet California’s new clean energy import standard, precluding the plant from being able to sell to the largest power market in the west.

Beyond the tax subsidy issue, opposition against allowing the construction of the plant itself continues. As reported in Colorado's The Durango Herald:

Desert Rock faces determined opposition from local Navajo residents living in the plant's prospective shadow. Busloads of Navajos have trekked twice to Santa Fe to express their dismay about the project, despite the project's support by the official government of the Navajo Nation.

Beyond its eternal quest for taxpayer handouts, Desert Rock faces immediate hurdles in securing the necessary permits. The Environmental Protection Agency is still grappling with the critical technical opposition raised to the draft air quality permit last year, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs keeps delaying release of the project's environmental impact statement. Meanwhile, opposition continues to grow both within the Navajo reservation and in communities throughout the Four Corners.

To stay current on the fight against the power plant or learn more about how you can help, visit:

• Desert-Rock-Blog
• NM Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy
• Conservation Voters New Mexico
• Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter
• San Juan Citizens Alliance