State: New ozone info affects Desert Rock permit

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is being asked to accept new evidence that shows the permitting process for the proposed Desert Rock power plant did not take into account ozone pollution levels that are already above federal air quality standards.

New Mexico Attorney General Gary King filed a motion Tuesday with EPA’s Appeals Board, stating that October ozone levels pushed San Juan County, the region in which Desert Rock would be built, into nonattainment status of acceptable federal ozone levels.

King said the board can properly consider the new ozone information in the case because the exceedance that pushed the area into nonattainment did not occur until Oct. 18. The state raised the issue to the extent possible by repeatedly warning EPA at various times throughout the permitting process that the area was on the brink of non-attainment, he said.

“On top of that news, the National Park Service has submitted new information to EPA Region IX showing that ozone impacts from the oil and gas industry are significantly higher than the impacts Region IX had assumed in its Desert Rock ozone analysis.”

The current assessment of ozone impacts from oil and gas development was provided to EPA by the Park Service on Oct. 3 and could not have been reasonably ascertained at an earlier stage in the permitting process, King said.

“The board cannot fully and fairly evaluate the ozone issues raised in the Desert Rock petitions without taking this significant new ozone information into account,” King said, and asked that the permit be remanded to EPA to address the questions and that the public comment period be reopened.

Frank Maisano, media liaison for Sithe Global Power, partner with the Navajo Nation’s Diné Power Authority in the Desert Rock project, said there are three things wrong with the state’s motion.

“One, this is a delaying tactic again, which they’ve tried before and which they’ll try again, I’m sure. Really, the delays only hurt the Navajo Nation. You’ve got the Navajo Nation who is trying to get some economic development, get some tax revenue, create some jobs, and this undercuts that.

“At the same time it undercuts the economic opportunities for the Navajo, it seems like New Mexico is blaming Desert Rock for their problems with oil and gas and other industrial emissions — and Desert Rock isn’t even built yet. Frankly, Desert Rock isn’t going to add any emissions.”

Maisano said that because of the mitigation agreement, where they will go in and pay to do projects at other industrial facilities, they’re actually going to reduce regional haze pollutants by 10 percent. “You can’t make it worse if you’re reducing pollutants in the air,” he said.

“It’s disappointing that the attorney general and the governor and environmental groups continue to undercut the Navajo Nation’s authority to decide what they want to do.”

Contrary to EPA’s conclusion that the area could absorb what it estimated to be Desert Rock’s 4 parts per billion contribution to ozone levels and remain “well below” the air quality standard, King said, “we now know as a matter of fact that the area is already in non-attainment. This means that Desert Rock’s emissions will ‘cause or contribute’ to air pollution in excess of any national ambient air quality standard.”

The state said the October data compels New Mexico to redesignate the air quality control region encompassing the proposed Desert Rock site as non-attainment for ozone. New Mexico asserted in a previous filing that EPA had relied on “inherently deficient modeling” and could not reconcile the projected background ozone levels with actual data.

EPA relied on information in a 2004 modeling report and concluded that even with substantial oil and gas development in the area, it was projected to remain well below the 8-hour ozone standard. The state said the new information should be considered because it raises substantial new questions about key determinations underlying the region’s ozone analysis.

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