Every breath we take in AZ

[saidsimplesimon]

My comment would also fit the categories of Science and the Environment. This is from my simple layman's understanding of the coal industry and the environmental impact. My first priority remains, "Save the Planet". Join the scientists at the Peoples Climate March tomorrow if you can.

Sooner or later, we will have to recognise that the Earth has rights, too, to live without pollution. What mankind must know is that human beings cannot live without Mother Earth, but the planet can live without humans. Evo Morales

Union of Concerned Scientists main website
http://www.ucsusa.org/

http://www.ucsusa.org/center-for-science-and-democracy/empowering-citizens-and-scientists/how-join-peoples-climate-march

Peoples Climate March in Washington, DC on 4/29, details and blogs at website

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-06-24/the-vanity-costs-of-burning-coal-in-arizona/

THE VANITY COSTS OF BURNING COAL IN ARIZONA
By Nancy LaPlaca, originally published by Energy & Policy Institute
June 24, 2014
…..
When it comes to clean energy, Arizona is on par with Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and the entire Southeastern U.S. Arizona is far, far behind California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho – even coal-dominated Wyoming has a larger percentage of clean energy.

I want to make it clear that Arizona burns much of its coal to make electricity for air conditioning. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, coal-fired power is the largest single source of heat-trapping CO2, as well as a host of other toxics including mercury. Burning coal to make electricity for air conditioning is not a long-term solution, as it creates far more heat than cooling over time. Burning coal for electricity essentially makes Arizona — and the planet — uninhabitable.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Existing_coal_plants_in_Arizona

Arizona has 16 operating coal-fired power units at six locations totaling 5,681 megawatts (MW).
Abitibi Snowflake Power Plant
Apache Generating Station
Cholla Generating Station
Coronado Generating Station
H. Wilson Sundt Generating Station

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Arizona_and_coal

Arizona produces approximately 12 million tons of coal per year, all of which is extracted from the Black Mesa field in the northeastern part of the state, an area subject to Indian land leases. In 1992, tribal royalties from coal sales were $33 million. Black Mesa coal is burned at the Mohave Generating Station owned by Southern California Edison in southeastern Nevada, and is delivered via the nation's only long distance slurry pipeline.[1]

In addition to burning its own coal, Arizona imports coal from New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah.[1] Coal-fired power plants produce approximately 23 percent of the electricity generated in Arizona. Arizona's average retail price of electricity is 8.24 cents per kilowatt hour, the 21st highest rate in the nation[2] In 2003, Arizona emitted 89 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, ranking it 24th in the nation overall.[3]

http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/energy/2016/09/29/srps-northern-arizona-coal-plant-one-biggest-carbon-emitters-country/88583302/

SRP's northern Arizona coal plant one of the biggest carbon emitters in the country
Ryan Randazzo , The Republic | azcentral.com 6:06 a.m. MT Sept. 29, 2016
An electric train delivers 240 cars of coal to the Navajo Generating Station each day, dumping the black fuel into a pile roughly twice the size of the Walmart shopping center in nearby Page.

Each day the plant burns 24,000 tons of that coal, and in doing so, creates nearly double that amount of carbon dioxide pollution, making it the third-largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the country.
Over the years, upgrades have reduced the amount of other pollutants released by the plant's three generators. But the only way to reduce carbon emissions, which gain atomic mass on release, is to reduce how often the plant runs.
…….
Top carbon emitters
The EPA's 2014 list of largest carbon-emitting facilities includes several coal-fired power plants either in Arizona or that are partially owned by Arizona utilities.
No. 3: Navajo Generating Station, co-owned by SRP, APS, Bureau of Reclamation, TEP and NV Energy.
No. 31: San Juan Generating Station in New Mexico, where TEP is one of multiple owners. It plans to close a portion of its share.
No. 47: pringerville Generating Station, owned by TEP, SRP and Tri-State Generation.
No. 55: Craig Station in Colorado, where SRP is one of five owners. A plan released Sept. 1 would close one of its three units.
No. 78: Four Corners Power Plant in New Mexico, partially owned by APS, PNM Resources Inc., SRP, El Paso Electric and TEP. Partially closed in 2013.
No. 84: Cholla Power Plant, partially owned by APS and Tri-State. One unit closed last year and others are slated to switch to natural gas.

[Mosby]

1. Navajo Generating Station

When coal-fired power plant closes, this mine will die. So will a lifeline for one Native American tribe

The coal from Black Mesa, a mountainous area straddling Navajo and Hopi land in the northeast corner of Arizona, is loaded into an oversize dump truck, crushed and placed on a conveyor belt arcing over hilltops into silos 17 miles away. Then, an electric train hauls the load 80 miles across the scenic high desert outside Monument Valley to the largest coal burner in the West.

The Navajo Generating Station consumes 240 rail cars of Kayenta’s coal every day, making enough electricity to power more than a half million homes at once.

Some of it lights up the Las Vegas Strip. Some goes to Phoenix and Tucson. Still more of the coal power runs pumps along the Central Arizona Project canal, pushing Colorado River water nearly 3,000 feet uphill across the state, enabling cheap water for agriculture, grass lawns and pools.

Together, the mine and the power plant employ 750 workers, nearly all Native Americans living on the two reservations, where unemployment approaches 50 percent. The operations support communities from Tuba City, a small enclave 60 miles west of the mine, with a grocery store, banks and a few hotels, to the non-reservation city of Page on the shore of Lake Powell and the Navajo town of Kayenta, with about 5,000 people.

But because there are cheaper alternatives for making electricity, the power plant’s owners voted to close it in two years.

If the generating station closes, the mine loses its only customer. It, too, will close.

Both tribes will lose jobs and income from the plant and mine. But the Navajo Nation, with about 170,000 members on the reservation, draws revenue from multiple sources. The 15,000-member Hopi tribe has little else but the crops and livestock they cultivate in the surrounding canyons.

After spending years on expensive negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency to keep the coal plant open, four of the five owners — Salt River Project, Arizona Public Service Co., Tucson Electric Power and NV Energy — decided in early February to give up the fight.

This time, the issue is not carbon emissions or haze at the Grand Canyon. It is economics. The utilities can get cheaper power from natural-gas-powered plants, saving each owner millions of dollars per year.

The fifth owner, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, uses its share to power the pumps on the canal and pay off debt from its construction. The agency wants to keep the facilities open but can't foot the bill for the entire plant.
Navajo Generating Station

Combined, the mine and coal plant generate billions in economic benefit that spreads statewide. When they close, the Navajo's $173 million budget will shrink by about $40 million from lost coal royalties and lease payments from the power plant.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/energy/2017/02/23/arizona-kayenta-coal-mine-hopi-navajo-tribes-power-plant/98144914/

[saidsimplesimon]

2. Thanks Mosby

I understand the potential for loss of revenue. What are the costs for health care related to the current coal production and pollution?