Posted on 07/27/2012 3:46:14 PM PDT by george76
Charges of cover-ups, data manipulation, and junk science; noncompliance with congressional requests and mandates; putting a chokehold on energy: Interior scandals stack up.
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Scandal-wise, congressional spotlight-wise, and perhaps soon headline-wise, is Interior Secretary Ken Salazar the new Holder?
The Interior Department has become synonymous with evading congressional requests in the investigation of how the Obama administration bent scientific reports to support its drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil spill. The department’s inspector general who was supposed to ensure oversight of that process is even being investigated herself on allegations that she tampered with a probe of the moratorium.
Sens. David Vitter (R-La.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), and John Cornyn (R-Texas) won a request for the Integrity Committee of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency to investigate Acting IG Mary Kendall. She has also been called to testify before the House Natural Resources Committee on Aug. 2.
In shades of the DOJ, the Interior Department has responded to committee requests for specific documents with blacked-out paragraphs and entire pages of redacted information
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
The Interior Department also commissioned the report for the Environmental Protection Agency that is leading to rules that may force the largest coal plant in the West — the Navajo Generating Station — to shut down as early as 2017.
Not only would the new pricey regulations — a $1.1 billion price tag for compliance — eliminate one of the most reliable energy sources in the region, but plant closure and impact on the coal mine that feeds it would put some 1,000 out of work on the already impoverished reservation.
Every now and then I get down to the end of the day And I have to stop and ask myself why I've done it. It just seems so useless to have to work so hard And nothin' ever really seems to come from it.
Tom Petty-- Political observer. Philosopher. Songwriter.
If that’s the plant near Page, AZ, it’s a monster. It would take time, but I could post photos.
BTW, I can’t imagine how any Navajo could ever again vote for a Democrat after Bubba shut off the Grand Staircase Escalante low-sulfur coal supply to that plant.
Yes - near Page.
And one of the largest revenue sources for the tribe and good paying jobs ?
The Salazar regime is corrupt as they come. Here is Dr. Paul Houser’s statement. http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/science/scientists/DrPaulHouser_toc.htm Houser was scientific integrity officer for the Klamath dam removal debacle. He causght them mis-stating and twisting scientific reports to support the proposal to remove 4 dams on the Klamath. He protested and they fired him. Now he has a whistleblower complaint.
Our County found the same issues with the Environmental Impact Report. They would take a scientist’s report and completely mis-state what it said.
Not only would the new pricey regulations — a $1.1 billion price tag for compliance — eliminate one of the most reliable energy sources in the region, but plant closure and impact on the coal mine that feeds it would put some 1,000 out of work on the already impoverished reservation.
The environmentalists and some Indians in the Four Corners region would love to shut this plant down. First, they accuse it of causing visibility problems for the entire Grand Canyon region. It no doubt contributes to them, but the plant has made modifications to reduce particulates and smog-causing emissions. Second, the mining of coal on lands claimed by both Hopi's and Navajo's has led to a decades old land dispute that though mostly settled continues to simmer in some areas. Finally, the power plant is tied up in the proposed Navajo-Hopi water rights settlement agreement. In return for extending the power plant lease which expires late this decade, the Navajo's would get additional water from the Colorado River. However, it looks like that agreement will fall apart as the Navajo tribal council has voted against the lease.
Could new EPA rule shut down West's biggest coal plant?
Navajo-Hopi water deal collapses
The plant provides power to Arizona, Nevada and California. It's also the principal provider of electricity for the Central Arizona Project, which supplies water to the Phoenix and Tucson areas. "It's one of the most reliable sources of electricity in the Southwest," said a plant spokesman. However, because the LA Dept. of Water and Power has a 21% stake in the plant, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and LA environmental organizations want the DWP to divest its interests "to save 1.86 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from its carbon burden a year, and to send a message to other power plants and operators that coal is unsustainable". Of course, they have no alternatives planned except more windmills that kill birds and solar panels that cover millions of acres of desert and a fraction of the efficiency of the power plant.
Between this and San Onofre, So Cal Edison will be in a world of “hurt.” They made out like bandits on the last “power crisis.”
What active mine was producing that coal?
The coal mine that feeds it is on Black Mesa and a dedicated railroad hauls the coal to Page, about 80 miles away.
Point being -- the generating plant, the coal mine and the railway represent a huge investment...and a major regional employer.
Ken Saladbar is every bit the corrupt scumbag the rest of the regime is.
I can’t post what I’d like to say about him, among others.
That doesn't matter to the enviro-nazis who want to shut down anything coal, especially power plants.
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