skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Day two of David Pecker testimony wraps in NY Trump trial; Supreme Court hears arguments on Idaho's near-total abortion ban; ND sees a flurry of campaigning among Native candidates; and NH lags behind other states in restricting firearms at polling sites.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The Senate moves forward with a foreign aid package. A North Carolina judge overturns an aged law penalizing released felons. And child protection groups call a Texas immigration policy traumatic for kids.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Wyoming needs more educators who can teach kids trade skills, a proposal to open 40-thousand acres of an Ohio forest to fracking has environmental advocates alarmed and rural communities lure bicyclists with state-of-the-art bike trail systems.

Lawsuit Alleges EPA Foot-Dragging on Power Plant Clean-Up

play audio
Play

Tuesday, March 20, 2012   

PHOENIX - Skies over several National Parks will be clearer and people in the Four Corners region will be healthier if a federal lawsuit filed Monday is successful. The National Parks Conservation Association and the Navajo environmental group Diné CARE are suing the EPA to speed up the retrofitting of two huge coal-fired power plants with the best-available pollution-control technology.

Kevin Dahl, Arizona program manager for the NPCA, says the lawsuit targets the Navajo Generating Station near Page and the Four Corners Plant in northwest New Mexico.

"The Clean Air Act does require the Environmental Protection Agency to do this. There's no clear specificity on timing, but it's way overdue, so we're asking that they do it within a reasonable time frame."

The lawsuit says the two power plants continue to harm the health of millions of people who visit and live in the Four Corners area, while producing haze that obscures the views at numerous National Parks and wilderness areas.

Both of the power plants are located on the Navajo Nation, where Diné CARE volunteer Lori Goodman says emissions are having a dramatic negative effect on the health of residents.

"Shiprock Indian Hospital: their number one admittance for emergency room visits is for respiratory problems. And asthma has just gone through the roof."

Part of the power produced by the Navajo Generating Station runs the pumps for the Central Arizona Project, which provides water to residents of Phoenix and Tucson. Goodman says it's a simple matter of fairness that the EPA should act quickly to protect the health of the Navajo people.

"The people that live right around Navajo Generating Station don't even have electricity or running water, and the sure thing that they're getting is bad health."

Kevin Dahl says reducing pollution that degrades the priceless views in the Four Corners region will not only improve public health, but will also benefit the local tourism economy.

"When you go to the Grand Canyon, you expect to see a magnificent sight. Or go to Bryce Canyon and see the views there, or go to Petrified Forest and get the experience of the huge open spaces of the West. When it's diminished by the air pollution from the Navajo power plant, that's a huge impact."

Since both plants are low-cost power producers, Dahl says the cost of installing the "best available" retrofit technology can be absorbed while keeping electric prices in line with other power plants.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Creedon Newell practices teaching construction skills in Wyoming's new career and technical educator bridge course, designed to encourage trades students and professionals to pursue a career in CTE teaching. (Photo by Rob Hill)

Social Issues

play sound

By Lane Wendell Fischer for the Shasta Scout via The Daily Yonder.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service for the Public News …


Environment

play sound

By Naoki Nitta for Civil Eats.Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public Ne…

Social Issues

play sound

Concerns about potential voter intimidation have spurred several states to consider banning firearms at polling sites but so far, New Hampshire is …


Though Connecticut's benefits cliff persists, there are other programs helping people maintain benefits of some kind when their income pushes them over the limit. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Today, groups working with lower-income families in Connecticut are raising awareness about the state's "benefits cliff" with a day of action…

Social Issues

play sound

Texas Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick has released 57 "interim charges," the topics he wants Senate committees to study in preparation for the 89th …

It is estimated the Wild Springs Solar Project in New Underwood, South Dakota, will offset 190,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

The construction of more solar farms in the U.S. has been contentious but a new survey shows their size makes a difference in whether solar projects …

Social Issues

play sound

Minnesota's largest school district is at the center of a budget controversy tied to the recent wave of school board candidates fighting diversity pro…

play sound

Minnesota lawmakers are considering a measure which would force employers to properly classify certain trade union workers and others as employees rat…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021