ALBUQUERQUE — Critics of a coal-fired power plant planned for northwestern New Mexico say they're not waiting until Inauguration Day to share their concerns about the Desert Rock Energy Project with President-elect Barack Obama and congressional leaders.

The grass-roots organization Dooda Desert Rock has signed on to a letter calling for Obama to consider the communities impacted by coal mining and coal-fired power plants when selecting appointees for key posts.

"Coal industry abuse has cost many of us our homes, our health, our loved ones and sometimes our entire community, often because of the systemic lack of enforcement of federal regulatory agencies," reads the letter, which was signed this week by more than 50 groups from around the country.

Elouise Brown, president of Dooda Desert Rock, said she signed on because she's hopeful a new administration in Washington will mean changes in coal policy and the end of plans to build Desert Rock.

Brown also is sending letters to Rep. Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who was chosen last week to head the House's Energy and Commerce panel, and Rep. Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who is among those being considered to lead the Interior Department.

"They don't really know what's going on out here," said Brown, a member of the Navajo Nation. "If we at least give them a heads up about what's going on out here and what we would like to see, that will at least help guide them."

Dooda Desert Rock is among several groups, including the state of New Mexico, that have been fighting Desert Rock — which would be the third coal-fired plant in the Four Corners region.

The Navajo Nation's Diné Power Authority and Houston-based Sithe Global Power have partnered to build the 1,500-megawatt plant on tribal land south of Farmington. The plant would be capable of producing electricity for more than 1 million homes in cities across the Southwest.

Developers say Desert Rock would be outfitted with state-of-the-art pollution control systems, making it one of the cleanest coal-burning plants in the country.

But the debate over curbing greenhouse gases and questions about the authority of federal regulators to limit certain pollutants have slowed Desert Rock's progress.

The Environmental Protection Agency's appeals board is reviewing the plant's air permit, and an environmental impact statement would have to be approved before construction could begin.

In the letter to Obama, Dooda Desert Rock and the other groups said it's essential that appointees for Interior secretary, EPA administrator and director of the Office of Surface Mining be leaders who fairly enforce laws relating to mining and health.

"When the laws are enforced, people and their land have hope that they will be protected. When laws are violated, disasters can and do occur," the letter states.

The groups also say that communities where coal is mined, burned or disposed of have made sacrifices to provide energy but remain among the poorest in the United States.

Desert Rock supporters, including Navajo tribal leaders, argue that the power plant would spur economic development in the region.

The plant is expected to generate some $50 million in annual revenue for the Navajos and create about 400 permanent jobs.

"The economic crisis across the country is a macrocosm of what the Navajo Nation has lived with for 30 to 50 years," said George Hardeen, a spokesman for Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. He pointed out the unemployment rate on the reservation has consistently hovered around 50 percent.

Shirley has testified before Congress and met with Waxman about the benefits he believes the plant would have for his people, and Hardeen said Shirley also plans to send his own letter to Obama after the inauguration.

Hardeen described the Navajo economy as "extremely frail" and in need of economic infrastructure like Desert Rock.

"Desert Rock is more important now than it has ever been," he said.




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