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Public Meetings Scheduled This Week in Colorado, New Mexico, Tribal Communities; Future of San Juan Coal Mine, Generating Station on the Table Albuquerque, NM – A series of meetings scheduled this week will give the public an unprecedented opportunity to weigh in on the future of New Mexico’s San Juan coal mine and shine a bright spotlight on the need to transition from coal to clean energy in the Four Corners region. “This is an unparalleled moment in New Mexico, an opportunity to chart a path away from fossil fuels toward more sustainable and prosperous economies and truly clean energy,” said Jeremy Nichols, Climate and Energy Program Director for WildEarth Guardians. “Now is our chance to put an end to the environmental and health disaster that is the San Juan coal mine and San Juan Generating Station and open the door for a brighter future.” The meetings are being held as the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and Enforcement kicks off a comprehensive environmental review of operations at the San Juan coal mine, which fuels the San Juan Generating Station west of Farmington, New Mexico. The review was triggered after a successful lawsuit filed by WildEarth Guardians busted the agency for approving more coal mining without providing any public notice or review. The schedule of meetings this week is as follows:
The review of the San Juan coal mine comes as the owner of San Juan Generating Station, Public Service Company of New Mexico, or PNM, declared shuttering the coal plant by 2022 “could provide long-term benefits to customers.” The announcement came as analysts from Goldman Sachs determined the long-term decline in coal demand is “irreversible.” The San Juan Generating station is already scheduled to shutter two of its four existing boilers by the end of 2017. Other coal-fired power plants in the Four Corners region, including the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona and Four Corners Power Plant, which is located just 10 miles south of the San Juan Generating Station, are also poised to shutter in the coming years. Although the Trump Administration has attempted to rollback environmental and health safeguards in order to give a boost to the coal industry, market forces continue to bring the industry down. Most recently, Trump’s Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, lifted a moratorium on leasing coal from western public lands. The move comes as there are no proposed coal leases on public lands in New Mexico and as industry interest in leasing is at an all-time low. “Trump’s politics won’t save the dying coal industry,” said Shannon Hughes, WildEarth Guardians Climate Guardian. “It’s time to face the facts that our federal government needs to develop plans that truly help workers transition, ensure meaningful clean up of these coal messes, and support communities, particularly Tribal communities, as they develop new and more prosperous economies.” WildEarth Guardians and others intend to push the Office of Surface Mining to reject ongoing mining at the San Juan coal mine and to instead develop a plan for “Just Transition.” The public meetings this week will provide the first forum for the public to engage and push for the Trump Administration to acknowledge the reality of coal’s decline and the need to advance transition. “This review of the San Juan coal mine presents an incredible opportunity for the public to weigh in and ensure the Trump Administration puts its money where its mouth is,” said Hughes. “If workers and jobs matter, then this process has to be about transition.” In addition to the public meetings this week, the Office of Surface Mining is accepting public comments on its review until May 2, 2017. More information is available on the Office’s website here >> |
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