| Desert Rock protests refusal of air permit |
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June 17, 2009 - The Durango Herald - Joe Hanel DENVER - Backers of the proposed Desert Rock power plant have asked a federal appeals board to reinstate the plant's air-pollution permit, which the Environmental Protection Agency took back in April. Meanwhile, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter pressed his argument against the New Mexico power plant to the White House's senior environmental official this week at a meeting in Park City, Utah. Desert Rock took its case to the EPA's Environmental Appeals Board last Thursday, calling the permit revocation "unprecedented." "The board's decision in this case will reflect on the integrity of EPA as an institution and its respect for basic notions of fairness and due process," wrote Jeffrey Holmstead, lawyer for Desert Rock. The Desert Rock Energy Project is run by the Navajo Nation and New York-based Sithe Global. It would put a coal power plant on Navajo land near Shiprock, the same region as the existing Four Corners Power Plant and San Juan Generating Station. By some measures, the two existing plants are some of the nation's dirtiest. |