Desert Rock Energy Project seen as solution to growing energy needs
Navajo Nation residents struggle to fight project

Supporters of a controversial coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Nation say the need for electricity is becoming too much for existing plants. But some Navajos and other opponents of the proposed $3 billion Desert Rock Energy Project argue they shouldn't have to sacrifice their health or environment to provide power for cities thousands of miles away.

Both sides spoke July 19 at a public hearing on a draft environmental impact statement for the plant, a joint venture between Houston-based Sithe Global Power and the tribe's Dine Power Authority.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) released the draft document in May in support of the project. It reviewed three alternatives—the proposed 1,500-megawatt plant, a scaled-down version, and no plant at all—and the impacts each would have on the tribe and the region's environment.
According to the document, a smaller plant would disturb fewer acres, but the BIA contends it would be less efficient and use more resources per kilowatt of electricity produced. No plant would mean a loss of more than $50 million in tax, lease, and royalty payments to the Navajo Nation as well as potential jobs.

"It's our people who are going to suffer by building these power plants," Nadine Padilla, an opponent, said at a news conference before the hearing. "Our Navajo people are the ones who get cancer," she said. "We're the ones who have to have all the health problems, and we're going to be the ones who have all the pollution. And for what? For Phoenix and Las Vegas to have electricity?"

Padilla also noted that many Navajos who live within miles of two existing plants in San Juan County are without power. "Building the Desert Rock power plant makes no sense culturally, environmentally, or economically," she said. "There are much better alternatives, ones that don't require killing our own people and our own environment."

Rising temperatures pose danger to Inuit
Traditional lifestyle seen as solution to changing conditions

Rising temperatures in eastern Canada are making it difficult for the Inuit population to travel and hunt by way of snowmobile, and many residents are turning to the traditional dogsled to get around.

A recent study on climate change in the Arctic region stresses that warming temperatures are forcing the Inuit to rethink how they travel. “For the last ten years or so we’ve had winters that are more mild, so ice forms later in autumn and winter,” Martin Tremblay, a geographic researcher who led the study, said.

Many of Tremblay’s findings are based on interviews with experienced Inuit hunters and elders as well as more scientific data. Tremblay added that many experienced hunters have learned how to recognize meteorological conditions and are noticing that the weather is becoming more and more unpredictable.

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