Tribes seek further EPA protection from pollution

• Native American reservations are addressed under the Clean Power Plan supplement.
• The Navajo Nation would aim to reduce its carbon emission rate by about 6 percent.
• Some members of the tribes said Wednesday that the proposal doesn't go far enough.

Members of the Navajo Nation and other regional tribes called Wednesday for more aggressive curbing of pollution from power plants on their land, though some leaders say the supplement to the Clean Power Plan is a good start.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency held a public hearing in Phoenix for a proposal that would affect Native American reservations and U.S. territories. The supplement adds to the June 2014 Clean Power Plan proposal, which sets specific goals for each state to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 2030.

Arizona's proposed goal is one of the highest at a 52 percent reduction in its carbon intensity. The Navajo Nation would strive for a roughly 6 percent reduction focused on the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station in Arizona and Four Corners Power Plant in New Mexico.

The South Point Energy Center on the Fort Mojave Reservation in Arizona and the Bonanza Power Plant on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah are also targeted in the supplement.

More than 50 people spoke at Wednesday's hearing, many of them members of northern Arizona, Utah and New Mexico tribes. They addressed the panel in English and indigenous languages about hazy skies, trouble breathing and health problems from pollution.

Some called for higher emission-reduction goals, emphasizing that the jobs supplied, cheap energy produced and water provided by the plants come with health and environmental costs for indigenous people.

"How will our communities and future generations benefit?" asked Colleen Cooley, a member of the Navajo Nation. "We deserve the same protection as the rest of the country."

Power plants on the Navajo Reservation are owned and operated in part by Salt River Project and the Arizona Public Service Co.

Both recently approved plans reducing emissions to comply with EPA haze restrictions. The EPA expects those changes will satisfy the Navajo emission-reduction target.

Representatives from APS and SRP said they are largely in agreement with the proposal but asked the EPA to reconsider the baseline year for emission data. Nancy Nesky, speaking for APS, added that many of the efficiency gains suggested by the EPA have already been implemented at the Four Corners plant.

No specific measures are detailed by the EPA in the proposal. Unlike states, tribes are not obligated to establish plans for their area, though the EPA could step in if necessary, said William Niebling, senior adviser for congressional and international affairs with the Office of Air and Radiation.

The EPA is also soliciting comment on how to let states and tribes collaborate on their emission-reduction plans.

The proposal is a good start after years of working with the EPA to include Native American perspectives in its rules, said Stephen Etsitty, executive director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency. The tribe is working to develop renewable-energy technology, he said, but using coal can be done wisely.