Edison to Shut Down Polluting Coal Plant
By Miguel Bustillo Times Staff Writer 12.30.05
A massive coal-fired power plant that has provided Southern California
Edison with 7% of its electricity — but emits vast quantities of air pollution
that have clouded views of the Grand Canyon — will close at year’s end to comply
with a court ordered deadline, the utility confirmed Thursday.
The Mohave Generating Station near Laughlin, Nev., was required to upgrade
its pollution controls or close by Jan. 1 under a consent decree won in 1999
by environmental groups. The groups had alleged the plant repeatedly violated
the Clean Air Act. Read more
Mohave Power Plant in Nevada to Close as Expected
12.30.05
LOS ANGELES – Southern California Edison, a subsidiary of Edison
International, on Thursday filed a notice with the California Public
Utilities Commission that said it would shut the 1,580-megawatt coal-fired
Mohave power plant in Laughlin, Nevada.
The move was widely expected. Southern California Edison signed a consent
decree with environmental groups in 1999 that the 34-year-old plant would
shut by the end of 2005 unless substantial anti-pollution upgrades were
made. Those upgrades were not made. Read more
Black Mesa mine in northern Arizona is likely to close as a result of the Dec. 31 closure of Southern California Edison’s Mohave Generating Station.
Peabody’s Western Coal Co. informed more than 120 employees at Black Mesa in
October that they would be laid off Dec. 16, according to a report in the
Arizona Journal. Most of the affected employees are members of the Navajo or
Hopi nations and had higher salaries than the per capita income for the Navajo
nation. Read more
Nevada power plant to close after dispute
The Associated Press 12.30.05
LAUGHLIN, Nev. — A large coal-fired power plant at the center of a dispute
several years ago will close at the end of the year rather than violate a
court-ordered deadline to install an estimated $1.1 billion in pollution-control
measures.
Southern California Edison said Thursday the Mohave Generating Station near
Laughlin would close. The plant has provided the utility with 7 percent of
its electricity, but the company said its 13 million customers would not be
immediately affected because of other power sources. Read more
What now? Hatááli leader looks to future beyond coal
By Jason Begay Navajo Times 12.29.05
LUKACHUKAI, Ariz. – The coalmines on the Navajo Nation should have never
been opened. Instead, the Navajo people could have implemented other, more
original types of economic development not so dependent on foreign businesses.
This is how the head of the Navajo medicine men’s association sees it.
“They will have a real negative impact on the earth system,” said Anthony
Lee Sr., president of the 300-member Diné Hatááli Association, which
represents the reservation’s traditional medicine practitioners. “From a
medicine man’s perspective, we have to ask, why did it open in the first place?” Read more
Impact of mine shutdown to be spread among many communities
By Bill Donovan Special to the (LA)Times 12.29.05
WINDOW ROCK – Leaders in communities bordering the Navajo Reservation say
they do not expect closure of the Black Mesa Mine to have a major impact on
their economies.
Officials in several towns said this week that the projected decline in
sales will be spread through so many communities that it will blunt the burden
experienced by any one place. Read more
Peabody critics present alternative
By Cindy Yurth
Special to the Times 12.29.05
HOTEVILLA, Ariz. – While the new Hopi leadership wrangles to pare down the
tribal budget in the wake of the imminent Black Mesa Mine closure, it isn’t
all gloom and doom on the mesas this month.
“We should be dancing in the streets,” said Vernon Masayesva, executive
director of the Black Mesa Trust, one of several local environmental groups that
have long opposed surface mining on Black Mesa and use of underground water
in the accompanying coal slurry pipeline. Read more
Mine closing to hit Hopi budget hardest
By Cindy Yurth Special to the Times 12.22.05
Ivan Sidney Sr. and Todd Honyaema Sr. have their work cut out for them.
As the newly elected Hopi tribal chairman and vice chairman, respectively,
one of their first acts will be presenting a budget that will probably be
missing between $3 and $6 million in revenues, thanks to the pending closure of
the Black Mesa Mine.
Mine revenues provide 65 percent of Hopi’s annual budget, according to
figures provided by Peabody Western Coal Co., the mine operator. The mines provide
about 21 percent of the Navajo government budget. Read more
