FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2007

Contact: Elouise Brown, Dooda’ Desert Rock Committee President
505-947-6159
thebrownmachine@hotmail.com

The Water Saga of Desert Rock Energy Project

The Desert Rock Energy Project (Desert Rock), the proposed 1,500 megawatt coal-fired power plant planned for the Navajo Nation in Northwest New Mexico, would be the third major coal-fired facility within a 15-mile radius in the San Juan River Basin. The project would accelerate environmental degradation in the Four Corners, a National Sacrifice Area notorious for runaway energy development and lax governmental oversight.

Yesterday, Layne Corporation of Denver, Colorado, a water well drilling contractor for Sithe Global LLC (Sithe), Desert Rock Energy Company, and Dine Power Authority vacated the area of the proposed Desert Rock Energy Facility in Ram Springs, NM. A categorical exclusion issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the promoters of the planned mine-mouth coal-fired power plant had intended for drill tests to be completed in 45 days, but activity at the drill site actually dragged on for 300 days. Water drilling tests conducted for Desert Rock have not conclusively determined how drilling in the Morrison Aquifer would interact with groundwater sources used by local tribal members for domestic use, including drinking water.

In response to the corporation’s exploratory work, Navajo Elders of Dooda’ (NO) Desert Rock [“DDR”] established a resistance camp at Ram Springs on December 12, 2006. Since then, the Elders have been day-to-day eye witnesses to the damage done in the drilling process, and the overall shoddy workmanship at the site. During the nine month intrusion, the vicinity of the site has been overrun and abused. Vegetation has been destroyed, as heavy equipment has operated outside the designated area, and the land has been fouled with a grayish, muddy sludge.

“These are open wounds in our Mother Earth! Who knows how much damage has been done,” said Elouise Brown, president of DDR. “We can only hope that our water and lands have not been badly contaminated and that they clean up after themselves and reclaim the grounds.”

Project promoters keep offering the public assurances that construction of their Desert Rock Energy Facility will start as planned in March of 2008, but the project has been hamstrung by the failure of Sithe to acquire or receive necessary permits, environmental issues (including those raised by the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Fish & Wildlife Service), and the lack of a proven, available water source and secured water rights threaten to derail the entire project.

“We are being treated like unwelcome guests in our own home,” said Elder, Pauline Gilmore, vice president of DDR. “Why do our leaders continue to disrespect our ancestral lands?”