Related articles:

Power-plant protest drives wedge between Navajo execs

Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps Health Care
Dependable Health Services
Physical Therapists Health Care
CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE
DIRECTOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator

The leader of the nation's largest American Indian reservation says a proposed $3 billion coal-fired power plant that would be built on tribal land in northwestern New Mexico is desperately needed.

Many of the Navajo Nation's residents live without electricity and running water and jobs are scarce. But President Joe Shirley Jr. believes the Desert Rock Energy Project would be one way to help the situation.

He points to the hundreds of jobs that Desert Rock would bring. Then there are the millions of dollars in anticipated tax revenues and royalty payments for the tribe.

"My people are struggling," he said Tuesday. "... I will continue to work on this to try to help my people. I have a heart for my people."

But not all Navajos are excited about the prospect of a third coal-fired power plant in their backyard.

Some Navajos have been camped at the site of the proposed plant for the past week, demanding that officials show them permits required to begin survey work for an environmental-impact statement. The work was halted when the group blocked access to the site.

Elouise Brown, a member of the Dooda Desert Rock Committee, triggered the blockade Dec. 12 when she chased down a worker who tried to reach the remote site. After tearing up her car's muffler on the dirt road, she pulled in front of the man's truck and stopped him.

Brown recalled the incident in a short video posted this week on the Web site YouTube.

"I guess I would say that's how much I love my land," Brown said in the video, her voice cracking with emotion. "I parked in front of him and wouldn't let him go any further."

Like other critics, Brown contends that even if the plant is built the Navajos who are without electricity won't benefit. She said she's also concerned about the impacts of pollution in the Four Corners region.

"We're determined to stay here until we get what we want," she said.

Navajo Vice President Frank Dayish Jr. visited with protesters last week, and Shirley traveled to the site Monday to meet with them again. He told the group that the project remains the desire of the majority of Navajo people.

The interest of the tribe's top two leaders shows the importance of the project to the Navajo Nation, said Frank Maisano, a spokesman for Houston-based Sithe Global Power, which is partnering with the tribe's Dine Power Authority plan to build the 1,500-megawatt plant.

Sithe and authority officials have said the plant will be one of the cleanest, with its high-tech pollution-control systems.

Maisano argued that Sithe and the authority are within their rights to begin surveying the site to prepare the environmental-impact statement. He pointed to more than two dozen pages of permits and correspondence that company officials shared with protesters during Monday's meeting.

He said other environmental groups have been pushing Sithe and the authority to finish the impact statement so that another public comment period can begin. But he said the protest has delayed the process.

Sithe and the authority must have the impact statement and a finalized air permit from the Environmental Protection Agency before construction can began.