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Mesa Indigenous Support
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Laughlin Nevada Times 11/03/04 By JIM MANIACI
Special to News West
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — By mid-February, an agreement might be reached to
keep the Mohave Generating Station and the Black Mesa Mine open.
The accord would be the next step after the principal parties reached
an agreement late last month on issues — which are being kept secret —
to save the mine and the generating station, located in Laughlin.
After the station’s operator, Southern California Edison, pulled the
financial plug on a key study needed to obtain a new water supply in
the southwest corner of the Navajo reservation, a high-ranking official
with the U.S. Department of the Interior assembled the principal
parties last month in Washington, D.C., during the dedication of the
National Museum of American Indians. Principals include Edison, the
Interior Department, the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation. Peabody
Energy, which operates the mine located on both reservations, is not a
principal, although it has a lot at stake. Peabody strongly supports
the mediation.
As a result, J. Steven Griles told The Associated Press Edison agreed
to pay the bill for the water study, a cost of about $2 million.
However, the utility wanted to pay for the drilling on the basis that
terms for potential water use could be reached.
Navajo Nation Attorney General Louis Denetsosie said the principals
will have four months to come to a far-reaching historic agreement once
the mediation begins. Eric Van Loon has been selected as mediator,
Denetsosie said.
“It’s an effort to try an reach consensus on how to keep the power
plant going and how to keep the mine open. But, as in all negotiations,
it may fail, “ he said, since “ ... there are a lot of tough
negotiating positions out there.”
Denetsosie said it would take about six weeks to get the hydrology
report once the test wells are drilled.
“It’s to get a notion of what the aquifer can handle, for an extended
period of time,” he said. That data will be converted into computer
models to determine the impact of the wells at a distance, the impact
on endangered species and to check on the geology of the basin,
Denetsosie said.
Edison will pay for this part.
The utility and the Hopi tribe did not immediately return telephone
calls to add their comments.
Griles’ office referred to an Associated Press interview he gave Sept.
17, saying quick agreements must be reached, although meetings up to
that point had failed to yield the crucial pacts to allow the test
drilling.
Griles said last summer he wanted to get the situation under control
but was told by Denetsosie that the principals were closed, but not
finished by then. He said Edison wanted to be comfortable in going
ahead, but needed to know what both tribes wanted. This led to the
September meeting in Washington and the key principles agreement.
Edison needs the coal for the plant, but that also requires the water.
Denetsosie said even if the project ends with the water study, it will
still be a valuable tool for the tribe since it will be “a real
in-depth study.”
Speaking for Peabody, Beth Sutton said, “Signing the agreement
certainly is a positive step, though I would say there are a number of
significant issues that need resolution.”
The initial idea is to build about 100 miles of new pipeline from the
well field through the reservations and back to the mine. The existing
worn-out pipe would either be retrofitted or replaced.
Peabody wants to increase its capacity from 4,400 acre-feet of water a
year to 6,000. One acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons. One hang-up has
been who will pay for the tribes’ portion of the new line.
Dec. 31, 2005, is the date by which Edison must have in operation a
major pollution control overhaul of the two 750-megawatt electric
generators in Laughlin.
The company projects the entire mine-pipe-plant cost to be more than $1
billion. Between the mine, the slurry pipeline that brings the
water-coal mixture to Laughlin and the power plant. Some 600
high-paying jobs are at stake.
Edison and its partners serve about 3.5 million families in
metropolitan southern California, southern Nevada and Arizona.