Southern California Edison, majority owner of the Mohave Generating Station, closed the 1,580 megawatt coal-fired power plant on December 31, 2005 after failing to reach agreements with Navajo and Hopi leaders on coal and water leases and failing to install pollution controls as required by a federal consent decree signed in 1999 with the Grand Canyon Trust, Sierra Club, and National Parks and Conservation Association.

A group called the “Just Transition Coalition” filed a motion with the California Public Utilities Commission on January 11 to recover windfall revenues for Hopi and Navajo people from Edison’s annual sale of sulfur allowances, worth approximately $40 million. The Grand Canyon Trust is a member of the coalition and is urging that the funds be invested in clean energy alternatives and sustainable economic development. The major points of the motion are:

         SCE’s unilateral decision to close Mohave Generating Station on December 31, 2005, requires the         

         Commission to immediately consider and grant the Just Transition Coalition’s motion for a “Just       

         Transition” to address and resolve the economic consequences and impact of that closure on the Hopi

         and Navajo people.

• After 35 years of running Mohave at great cost to the Navajo and Hopi, it is now unreasonable to permit SCE to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in new, unearned revenues from the sale of sulfur allowances as the result of SCE’s decision to close Mohave. 

• SCE has not invested one cent in pollution controls or paid a penny in fines potentially amounting to billions of dollars for nearly continuous violations of the Clean Air Act.

• The Just Transition Plan Motion requests a change in SCE’s Energy Resource Recovery Account (ERRA) directly tied to plant closure that will serve to redistribute the value of the sulfur allowances to the Navajo and Hopi people in partial restitution for economic losses that they have incurred while SCE has benefited from inexpensive electricity generated by Mohave. 

• Therefore, the Coalition respectfully moves the Commission to grant the following relief on an expedited basis, with interim approval no later than February 16, 2006:

• To address and resolve the Coalition’s motion immediately in a separate Mohave Just Transition Phase of I.05-05-024 pursuant to the schedule for that phase proposed in this motion.

• To authorize SCE to modify its ERRA tariff to create a new and separate Mohave Sulfur Credit Sub-Account and direct SCE to separately track as a “credit” entry in that sub-account sales of SCE’s sulfur allowances created by Mohave’s closure effective December 31, 2005.   

• To direct SCE to secure funds resulting from the sales “credited” to this new sub-account in an escrow account and to distribute those funds to the Hopi and the Navajo upon receipt by SCE of annual investment plans adopted by a majority of Navajo Chapters in the Black Mesa Region and by a majority of all Hopi Villages that reflect priority conditions for the use of those funds, as described in the Motion. 

• To direct SCE to record such distributions as debit entries to the Mohave Sulfur Credit Sub-Account.

• To permit the Mohave Sulfur Credit Sub-Account to continue in effect until at least 2026 when Mohave will otherwise stop operating due to the loss of the plant’s rights to use Colorado River water for generating electricity. 

To view a copy of the Just Transition Coalition motion please click here.

To view a copy of the New York Times article on the Mohave closure click here.

To view a copy of the Los Angeles Times "Just Transition" story please click here.

To view a copy of High Country News article on Mohave please click here.

To view a copy of the Indian Country Today "Just Transition" story please click here.

(Note: The above links are Microsoft Word documents).