Federal officials, tribes discuss Grand Canyon pollution Story-Date: 07:32 p.m. PST Thursday , January 8, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------ Federal officials, tribes discuss Grand Canyon pollution By Angie Wagner Associated Press Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) -- With their unemployment rates already at 45 percent, the Navajo and Hopi tribes warned federal officials Thursday that closing a Laughlin power plant would cripple the tribes. Coal for the Mohave Generating Station comes from mines on the Navajo and Hopi Indian reservations in Arizona, and the plant is the main employer for the tribes. But environmentalists and the Department of the Interior say the power plant is polluting the air over the Grand Canyon and want pollution-control measures installed. Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, Interior Department and the plant's operator, Southern California Edison, met with tribal representatives and environmentalists Thursday to discuss the pollution and possible solutions. The meeting was scheduled after two environmental groups, the Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club, announced their intention to file a citizen lawsuit against the plant owners for violating the Clean Air Act. Also, in an August 1997 letter to the EPA, the Interior Department said it believed the Laughlin power plant was contributing the Grand Canyon's air pollution problems. But while Edison admits that emissions from the plant are contributing to visibility over the Grand Canyon, the utility doesn't believe the plant is solely responsible for the problem, said Nader Mansour, manager of environmental regulation for Edison. "Those emissions do not by themselves contribute to visibility impairment," Mansour said. The plant is operated by Edison in partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Nevada Power Co. in Las Vegas and the Salt River Project based in Phoenix. The most extensive study ever done on the plant is yet to be completed. Project Mohave, authorized by Congress in 1991, is studying the impact of plant emissions on visibility over the Grand Canyon. Mansour said Edison wants to wait until the study is completed before any action is taken. The study is scheduled to be completed sometime in July. The Mohave Generating Station is the last remaining coal-fired power plant in the Southwest without pollution controls for reducing sulfur dioxide emissions, environmentalists claim. The coal for the plant on the Arizona-California border is mined by Peabody Coal Co., which sells it to the power plant, while paying royalties to the tribes and also employing Indians in the mine. Tribal royalties amount to about $20 million a year. "Any loss of this revenue would result in (a) significant increase in our already high unemployment rate," said Wayne Taylor Jr., chairman of the Hopi tribe. The Hopi and Navajo tribes both rejected gaming as a revenue, so they depend heavily on the power plant. Closing the plant would threaten their sovereignty, tribal officials said. Michelle Nuttall, an environmental specialist for Edison, suggested installing air scrubbers to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. She also suggested switching or cleaning fuel and reducing emissions from other sources as possible solutions. But Rick Moore, air quality program manager for the Grand Canyon Trust, wondered why Edison would want to pave roads and clean up the air in Las Vegas when the problem is the plant. "Why do we need to go beyond the plant?" The hearing continues on Friday. ------------------------------------------------------------