Navajo Power Plant (Back to Air Quality and Energy Index)
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Steam
plumes rise from the two stacks with the wet
scrubbers.
The third scrubber came on line
soon after
this photo was taken.
© by Micheal Collier |
In 1991, the Grand Canyon Trust negotiated to reduce Navajo Generating Station's sulfur dioxide emissions by more than 60,000 tons annually. The effort, undertaken by a coalition of environmental groups led by Ed Norton, the Trust's president, was the culmination of a battle between environmentalists and the EPA, the White House, and owners of Navajo. For years, groups fought to enforce provisions of the Clean Air Act aimed at protecting visibility in our national parks and wilderness areas. Ultimately, the battle focused on the impact of Navajo's contribution to the degraded visibility at the Grand Canyon, which led to the agreement to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions from the plant by 90 per cent.
"I do not think it abuses the word to call this agreement truly historic," said Ed Norton when the agreement was announced. "If EPA adopts the recommendation, it will be the first time that the agency has acted solely to protect visibility and the paramount aesthetic values of a national park," he added.
But getting the Administration to support the agreement did not come without some hardball advocacy. In July, with the Bush administration waffling, Ed Norton sent a fax to the White House consisting of two press releases. One announced a far-reaching agreement between environmental groups and owners of the Navajo Generating station to protect the clear air at the Grand Canyon. The other release was titled "Bush administration torpedoes negotiations to protect Grand Canyon air quality". The press release stated that the Administration took the hard work of the environmental negotiators and tossed it in the wastebasket. It ends with, "so much for our environmental president".
Norton laughed off the suggestion that the faxes were blackmail. "You can't blackmail the White House," he said. "We were prepared to make it clear to the public what happened and who was behind it if they rejected this deal."
President Bush publicly announced the agreement at Grand Canyon National Park, a few weeks prior to his losing the election to Bill Clinton. Navajo’s owners completed installing $400 million in pollution controls in 1999. Non-GCT Links
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