Arturo Sandoval
When most people think about haze they think about cities. Unfortunately, air pollution travels to many of our national parks and wilderness areas as well. In fact, one in three national parks across the country now suffer from air pollution levels that exceed health standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
In the Southwest, haze hangs over New Mexico’s Pecos Wilderness and many other parks and wilderness areas. The haze not only spoils pristine views, but also makes the air unhealthy for visitors, plants and wildlife. Fortunately, we have an immediate opportunity to rectify this situation by ensuring that the biggest park polluters, coal-fired power plants, are finally made to clean up.
Locally, the majority of this preventable pollution spews from the burning of coal at Four Corners Power Plant in Fruitland, N.M., San Juan Generating Station in Waterflow, N.M. and the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) in Page, Ariz.
In fact, the Four Corners Power Plant is the largest single source of air pollution in New Mexico. Every year this plant alone burns enough coal to fill over ten Empire State Buildings. The thousands of tons of hazardous pollutants pouring out of the plant produce an unnatural haze that impairs park visitors’ ability to see long distances and stunning scenic views.
Keeping tourism flourishing and preserving jobs
Haze pollution containing ozone formed from coal plants is also harmful to our health, causing respiratory illness, heart disease and strokes. In addition, sulfur dioxide and toxic mercury released into the air from Four Corners, San Juan and NGS harms wildlife, native trees and lakes across New Mexico.
A combination of poor visibility, unhealthy air, contaminated waters, impaired wildlife and fish that are unsafe for human consumption are the last things visitors are looking for when coming to our national parks. All these negative impacts also hit us in our hogans, our pueblos, our villages and our towns and cities across New Mexico.
If we want to keep our vital tourism industry flourishing and preserve jobs and the strength of New Mexico’s economy, we must clean up outdated power plants and invest in energy efficiency and clean energy sources instead of putting public health and our national parks at risk.
EPA is taking over plan for reducing haze pollution
There are numerous cost-effective technologies that can help outdated coal plants like Four Corners, San Juan and NGS reduce their impact on our national parks and lungs. For example, in July 2010, the state of New Mexico determined that San Juan must install the best available retrofit technology that would specifically reduce nitrogen oxides (one of the three major haze causing pollutants) by 90 percent or more.
This and other tools are readily at our disposal. The only question is whether the political will exists to get the job done.
In mid-August, after submitting a state plan worth supporting, New Mexico handed over its responsibility for a plan to reduce haze pollution at the San Juan Plant to the EPA. This means that in less than three months, the EPA must propose a federal implementation plan for San Juan (with a final plan due by May 2011), and have a final plan in place for Four Corners and the Navajo Plant within six months, since they are located on Navajo land.
Public outcry needed to push EPA
While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has authority to impose reasonably strong federal plans for states, and to implement strong federal plans on tribal lands, don’t expect Uncle Sam to ride to the rescue. EPA is already decades behind achieving clean air goals set by Congress in 1977, and is unlikely – without significant public outcry – to create a timely and more effective haze cleanup plan for New Mexico, or to impose robust plans on plants under its own jurisdiction.
Right now we have a choice: We can let Four Corners, San Juan, Navajo Generating Station and other coal-fired power plants destroy our health, our communities and our wilderness areas, or we can demand that EPA comply with the law so that we can all breathe easier. By supporting New Mexico’s original decision to clean up nitrogen oxides and demanding that other pollutants and other dirty coal plants be cleaned up, we would be assured that our trips to the mountains are good for our health and that we could see spectacular wilderness and our treasured landscapes from miles away.
If we ensure that San Juan modernize and reduce pollution, and require the same of the Navajo Generating Station and Four Corners Power Plant today, our children and grandchildren will have the opportunity we owe them to enjoy a future that includes healthy lungs, fresh air, sacred landscapes and magnificent views in the Four Corners region.
Albuquerque-based Arturo Sandoval, president and founder of VOCES, Inc., grew up in Española and was instilled with a deep reverence for New Mexico’s enchanted landscapes. He has 40 years experience in media, public relations, fund development and organizational development, and has worked as an award-winning print journalist, television news anchor and news photographer. Mr. Sandoval can be reached at vocesinc@aol.com.