-1- PETITION T O THE UNITED ST ATES DEPARTM

ENT OF THE IN TERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

PETITION ASKING THE DEPARTM ENT OF THE INTERIOR FORMALLY TO CERTIFY TO THE U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY THAT VI SIBI LI TY IMP AIRM ENT IN GR AND CAN YON NAT IONA L PAR K IS R EAS ONA BLY ATTRIBUTAB LE TO NI TROGEN OXIDES AND PARTICULATE MATTER EMI SSIONS FROM THE NAVAJO GENERATING STATI ON IN PAGE, ARI

ZONA. 

### Respec tfully S ubmit

ted by:

NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION, SIERRA CLUB, GRAND CANYON TRUST, SAN JUAN C ITIZENS ALL IANCE. TO NIZHONI ANI DINÉ CARE May 5, 2009 The National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, Grand Cany on Trust, San Juan Citizens A

lliance, To Nizhoni A

ni and Diné CARE (Pe

titioners ), in acc ordance

with 5 U.S.C. § 55 3(e), he

reby petition the Depar

tment of the In

terior f ormally to certif y to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that impairment of visibility in Grand Cany on National Park is reasonably a

ttributable to emissions of oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter from the Navajo G enerat

ing Stati on. I

n 1986 the

Department of the

Inte rior ce rtified t hat impair

ment in Grand Ca nyon Nationa

l Park wa s reasonably

attributa ble to emis sions fro m the Nava jo Genera ting Stat ion. Sulfur

dioxide scr

ubbers w ere insta

lled at the power pl ant as a consequence. This petition asks DOI to supplement its 1986 certification based on subsequent informat ion that shows emissi ons of nitr ogen oxid es and pa rticulat e matter from the N avajo Generating Station are also contributing to visibility impairment in the Park. I. Background. Pollution from the massive Navajo Generating Station (Navajo or NGS) ha s plagued the Grand Canyon since

coal was first fed to its boilers over thirty years a go. Navajo, located approxima

tely 12 miles fr

om the ea stern ed

ge of G rand Can yon National Park, is the larg est-2-

coal-fired power plant on the Colorado Plateau, and the e ighth largest in the country . On an annual basis, Navajo discharges into the air of the Southwest over 34,000 tons of nitrogen oxides (NO x ), 1,900 tons of par ticulate matter (PM), 3,690

tons of sul fur dioxide

(SO 2 ), and 20 million tons of carbon dioxide. EPA emissions database at http://ca mddataa ndmaps.e pa.gov /gdm/ind ex.cfm. Na

vajo cons ists of thr

ee 750 me gawat

t units which became operational between 1974 a nd 1976. The Salt River Project is the operating agent for Navajo which is jointly owned by the Salt River Project, the B ureau of Reclamation, the Los Angeles De

partment of Water and Power, the Arizona Public Service Company, the Nevada Power Company , and Tucson Electric Power Company . Existing pollution control equipment at Navajo includes electrostatic precipitators for PM removal (installed in the 1970s), a nd SO 2 scrubbers (installed in the 1990s). SRP plans to install low-NO x burners at all three NGS units between 2009 and 2011. SRP estimates that after installation of low-NO x burners in April of 2011 NO x emissions f rom NGS wil l drop fr

om 34,000 tons to appr

oximately 22,000 tons per yea

r – with an associated increase in carbon monoxide emissions of over 36,000 tons per yea

r. EPA Statement of Basis, Low-NO x Burner Project, p. 6, October 2008. In 19 77, Cong

ress ame nded the C lean Air

Act to provide nati onal par ks and wild

erness areas with the highest degre e of protection from air pollution. The Grand Cany on National Park’s resulting “Class I” status meant, among other things, that existing visibility impairment in the Park would have to be eliminated. On November 30, 1979, the Department of the I nterior classified Grand Cany on National Park as a Class I airshe d where visibility is an important value. 44 F ed.Reg. 69,122 (November 30, 1979); 40 C.F.R. § 81.403. On November 14, 1985, the Depar tment of the Interior certified to EPA the e xistence of visibility impairment in the Grand Cany on Nation Park, and all other Class I are as within its jurisdiction in the lower 48 States. Attachment 1. On March 24, 1986, the DOI se nt a letter to EPA which supplemented its earlier certification of visibility impairme

nt in the Pa

rk, and id entified the Nava jo Gener ating Sta tion as a probable-3-

source of impairment. Attachment 2. On September 5, 1989, EPA issued a proposed rule preliminarily attributing several episodes of wintertime visibility impairment in the Grand Cany on National Park to sulfur dioxide emis sions fro m Navajo. 54 Fed.R eg. 369 48. Ther

eafter , on Febr

uary 8, 1991, EP A proposed a Fede ral I mplementa

tion Plan (FIP)

that req uired SRP me et an SO 2 limit at Navajo of 0.3 lb/mmbtu on a 30-day rolling a verage by unit, phased-in by unit in 1995, 1997 and 1999. 56 Fed.Reg. 5173. As a result of an ag reement between SRP, the National Park Service, and

severa l environ mental g roups, on October 3, 1991 EPA

revised its propos ed rule t

o requir e SRP to limit SO 2 emissions t

o 0.1 lb/mmb tu on a pla

nt-wide, rolling

annual ba sis to redu

ce visibil ity impacts in the Park. 56 Fed.Reg. 50172. The scrubbers necessary to meet this limit would be phased-in, by unit, in 1997, 1998 and 1999. EPA’s Oc tober 3, 1 991 FI P was uphe ld in 1993 by

the Ninth C ircuit Cou

rt of Appe als in Central Arizona Water Conservation District v. EPA , 990 F.2d 1531 (9 th Cir. 1993). The Ninth Circuit ruled that a finding of reasonably attributable visibility impairment does not require EPA to establish “a precise relationship betwee n a [pollution] source’s emissions and all or a specific fraction of the visibility impairment,” nor is EPA limited to the use of visual observations to find a given source is responsible for visibility impairment. Id . at 1541. By 1999, SRP an

d the othe r Navajo owners had comple

ted the in stallation of SO 2 scrubbe rs at the p ower pla

nt. According to

the National Park Se

rvice a nd other r esearc hers, since scrubbers were installed at Navajo c oncentrations of particulate sulfur have dropped approxima

tely 30 perce nt during the winte r at the G rand Can yon . Journal of

Air and Wa ste Management, November 2005. Unfortun ately , the sig

nifican t reduct ion in SO 2 emissions from NGS has not eliminated NGS’s impact on the Grand Cany on. To this day, pollution discharge d from the NGS continues to obscure priceless views from both within and outside of the Park. Navajo’s present-day

impact on visibility in the Park is directly attributable to emissions-4-

of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter. This is demonstrated by modeling performed by

the National Park Service and SRP, by photog raphic evidence, and by

eye-w itness accounts. As part of its review of Salt River Project’s November, 2007 Be st Available Control Technology

(BART) analy sis for regional haze, the National Park Service pe rformed its own modeling to estimat

e the impa

ct of Nav ajo’s cu rrent e missions on n

atural or backg

round lev els of visibility in the Grand Cany on National Park. That modeling showed that NO x and PM emissions from Navajo alone were causing “ gross exceedences” of the Park Ser vice’s perception criteria in the Park over natura l conditions. As set forth in the Park Service’s June 18, 2008, comments to EPA: NGS presents another unique situation due to its high NO x and PM10 emissions so close to a Class I area . . . F or example, when NPS ran a Level 1 VI SCREEN analysis, our re sults (Please see Appendix B.1. for additional details.) showed gross exceedances of the perc eption criteria in Grand Cany on National Park. Attachment 3. According to the Park Service’ s first level analysis, the pa rticulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and sulfate emissions from Navajo exceed the Class I visibility screening criteria for plume color (Delta E) within the Gra nd Canyon by

over twenty times. Id ., Appendix B .2. The sa

me emissions were

found to r

educe the visual p ercept

ion of con

trast within the Park by over two orde rs of magnitude. Id . Particularly notewor thy is the Park Service’s finding that SRP’s planned reductions in NO x emissions at Navajo (from 12,661 lb./hr. to 6,570 lb/hr. over the next three yea rs) are plainly

insufficient to address Navajo’s reasonably

attributable plume impact on the Park. Id ., Appendix A.2. Salt River Project’ s regional haze CA LPUF F modelin

g, submit ted to EPA i

n 2009, al so demonstr ates tha t Navajo i s “causi

ng” visi bility impairme

nt in the Gr

and Cany on (in add

ition to other Cla ss I a

reas). Accord

ing to EPA ’s reg ional haze regula tions, “A s ingle so

urce tha t is responsi ble for a 1.0 deciv iew cha nge or more shou

ld be cons idered t

o ‘‘cau se’’ visi

bility impairme nt.” 40 C.F .R. Part 51 , Subpart P , Appendi x Y—Guideli

nes for B ART Determinations Under the Regional Haze Rule, Section I II A. 1. As set forth in SRP’s modeling, the impact of Navajo’s current emissions on visibility in the Grand Canyon N ational-5-

Park on at least eight days in a year is at least 2.5 deciviews – or two and half times greate r than EPA’s causation threshold. Revised BART Analysis for the Navajo Generating Station, January 2009, p. 3-6. Attachment 4. Photographic evidence and ey e-witness accounts corroborate the Park Ser vice’s and SRP’s modeli

ng. Tha t Navajo d

ischarg es visible

pollution d

irectly from its sta

cks into th e air of northern Arizona is conclusively shown by the attache d September 9, 2007 picture. Attachment 5. In the second picture , taken on November 18, 2006 from House Rock Valley looking n ortheas t, one ca

n see tha t visibility

in the Mar

ble Cany on section of the Pa

rk is signific antly

impacted by a brown ha

ze of pollu

tion that or

iginate s from the

stacks of Navajo in the background. Id . The third picture, taken from Cape Roy al on October 23, 2008, shows similar vis ibility

impairme

nt. The vie

w from Ca

pe Roy al to Cape

Solitude a

nd the Little Colorado River Canyon immediately beyond are

degraded by

a brownish-red lay

ered haze from Navajo. Id

. It is well established that nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and PM em issions fr om Navajo

create an unnatural, reddish brown plume that is visible from many vistas in northern Arizona. Navajo emits approximately 34,000 tons per y ear of NO 2 , the lar

gest sin gle sour ce of thi s pollutant for over 100 miles. According to the Park Service’ s 1999 “Introduction to Visibility ,” written by William Malm, “white light will tend to look reddish or brownish in color af ter passing through a nitrogen dioxide haze.” Id ., p. 10. Long-time residents in the ar ea are very familiar with the “brown cloud” from Navajo that is a blight on the la ndscape. According to Roger Clark, Gra nd Canyon Trust’s Air and E nergy Program Director, “I've be en visiting, hiking, and rafting the Gra nd Canyon since the 1950s. Na vajo Generating Station doe sn’t emit a s much sulf ur dioxide a s it used to, but its othe r pollutan ts continue to obscure visibility throughout the Gr and Canyon re gion. Its y ellow-brown plume still stains the sky in many directions. I

t is a rar e day when I can’t se e its sign

ature bl ight fr

om Point I

mperial, Desert View, and other prominent Grand Cany on vistas.”-6-

II. Petition. Pursuant t

o 5 U.S.C. § 5 53(e) a

nd 40 C.F. R. § 51.302 (c)(2) , Petitione rs forma lly petition the Department of the Inter ior to certify that impairme nt of visibility in Grand Cany on National Park is re asonably

attributa ble to emis sions of oxid

es of nitr ogen a nd partic ulate matter from the Navajo Generating Station. 5 U.S.C. § 55 3(e) sta

tes, “[e]a ch age ncy shall gi ve an inte rested p erson the

right to petition for the issuance, amendment, or repeal of a r ule.” 5 U.S.C. § 551(4) defines the term “rule” as including, “the whole or a pa rt of an agency

statement of general or particular applicability and future

effect designed to implement, interpret, or pre scribe law or policy . . .” In 1977, Congress amende d the Clean Air Act to, among other things, decla re: as a national goal the prevention of any future, and the remedy

ing of any existing, impairment of visibility in mandatory class I Feder

al areas which impairment results from manmade air pollution. 42 U.S.C. § 7 491(a)( 1). As pa rt of its ob ligation

to meet thi s goal, E

PA was re quired to promulg ate reg

ulations that includ

ed a req uiremen t that: each major stationary

source which is in existence on August 7, 1977, but which has not been in operation for more than fifteen y ears as of such date, and which . . . emits any air pollutant which may reasonably

be anticipated to cause or contribu te to any impairme

nt of visibi lity

in any [mandator

y Cla ss I] a

rea, sha ll procure , install, a

nd opera te, as expe ditiously

as practicable ( and maint ain thereafter) the best available re trofit technology

. . . for controlling emissions from such source for the purpose of eliminating or reducing any

such impairme nt. 42 U.S.C. § 7491(b)(2)(A). Pursuant t

o the reg ulations promulga

ted by EPA to remedy

existing visibility impairme nt, the Fe deral Land Mana ger of any mandator

y Cla ss I a

rea may certify to the stat

e (or EPA when the visibility prog ram is implemented through a federal implementation plan as in Arizona) that it is reasonable to attribute visibility impairment to a single, or small group of air pollution sources. Accordingly , 40 C.F.R. § 51.302(c)(1) provides that “[t]he affected Feder al La nd Manag er may

certify to the State , at any

time, that

there exists reasonably attributable impairment of visibility in any mandatory Class I

Federal area.” The

term-7-

“reasonably

attributa ble visibil ity i

mpairmen

t” is defi ned as “v isibility impairme

nt that is caused by the

emission of air pollutants from one, or a small number of sources.” 40 C.F.R. § 51.301. The term “v

isibility impairme

nt” is def ined as “ any

humanly perceptible cha

nge in visibility (light extinction, visual range, contra st, coloration) from that which would have existed under natural conditions.” Id

. When presented with evidence of visibility impairment in a national park, the Park Service’s Organic Act establishes a n affirmative duty on the

part of the Park Service to take action. According to 16 U.S.C. § 1, The service thus established shall promote and regulate the use of the Federal areas known as national parks, monuments, and reserva tions hereinafter specified by suc

h means and measures as conform to the fundamenta l purposes of the said parks, monuments, and reservations, which purpose is to conserve the scenery

and the na

tural an d historic objects a nd the wild

life ther ein and to provide f or the en joy ment of the

same in su

ch manne r and by such mea ns as will leave th em unimpa

ired for the enjoy ment of fu

ture ge nerations. (Emphasis added.) The Park Service has acknowledg ed this obligation. According to the NPS’s Management Policy

at Section 4.7.1: The Nati onal Park

Service has a re sponsibilit

y to protect air qual ity u

nder both the 1916 Organic Act and the Clean Air Ac t (CAA). Accordingly , the Service will seek to perpetuate the best possible air quality in parks to (1) preserve natural resourc es and sy

stems; (2) preser ve cultur al resou rces; a nd (3) sus tain visitor enjoyment, human health, and sce nic vistas. Vegetation, visibility, wate r quality, wildlife, historic and prehistoric struc tures and objects, cultural landsca pes, and most other

elements of a par k environ ment are sensitive to air pollution and are referred to as “air qua lity-related va

lues.” The Servic e will activel y promo te and pursue

measur es to prot ect the se values fr om the adverse impacts of air pollution. In cases of doubt as to the impacts of existing or potential air pollution on park resources, the Service will err on the side of pr otecti ng air qualit y and relat ed values for future gene rations

. (Emphasis added.) The Secretary

of the Interior also has a

n affirmative duty unde

r Park System Resource s Protection Act to “u

ndertak e all nec essary

actions” to curb a ir pollution from an

y so urce tha t is injuring the Grand Cany

on National Park. As set forth in the Park Sy stem Resources Protection-8-

Act at 16 U.S.C. § 19jj-2(b)(1), The Secretary

shall undertake all necessary actions to prevent or minimize the destruction, loss of, or injury to park sy stem resources, or to minimize the im mi ne nt ri sk of

su ch de st ru ct io n, lo ss , o r i nj ur y. As demons trated a

bove, the Department of the

Inte rior, thr ough its Pa

rk Servic e, should certify to EPA the e

xistence o f visibility

impairme

nt in Gran

d Cany on National Park that is reasonably

attributable to NO x and PM emissions from the Navajo Generating Station. The Department of the Inter

ior has an affirmative duty to make this certification due to the overwhelming evidence of Nava jo’s air pollution impacts on the Park, and the Department’s legal o bligation to “unde

rtake a ll neces sary

actions” to secur e the “be st possible

air qual ity”

in the Park.I. Conclusion. It is uncontested that thousands of tons of visibility impairing NOx and PM are discharged from the smoke stacks of the Navajo Generating Station every year. Because of Navajo's proximity to the Grand Canyon, and the local meteorology, some of this pollution inevitably enters the Grand Canyon National Park, marring the beauty of this national treasure. Now is the time for the Department of the Interior to take another step in reducing emissions from Navajo to benefit this and all future generations. DATED: May 5,2009

FOR PETITIONERS7

Reed Zah Attorney at Law 9 1 0 Keamey Street Larank, IVY 82070

Cl&n Air Counsel MPCA 706 Walnut Street, Suite 200 Mnoxville, $N 37902 865-329-2424 Stacey Hamburg Conservation Program Coordinator Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter 3 18 W Birch Ave #8 Flagstaff7 M 86001 928-774-65 14 Roger Clark Air and Energy Program Director Grand Canyon Trust 2601 

### N. Fort Valley Road Flagstaff, hzona $600 1 928-774-7488-10- Mark Pearson Executive Director San Juan Citizens Alliance PO Box 2461 Durango, CO 81302 970-259-3583 Nicole Horseherder Co-Director To Nizhoni Ani P.O. Box 657 Kykotsmovi, AZ 86039 928-380-2687 Anna Fraizer Coordinator Diné CARE HCR-63 Box 263 Winslow, AZ 86047 928-380-7697

Attachme nts: 1. November 14, 1985, Department of the I nterior certification of impairment. 2. March 24, 1986, Department of the I nterior supplemental certification of impairment. 3. Park Service’s June 18, 2008, comments to EPA. 4. Revised BART Analy sis for the Navajo Generating Station, January 2009, p. 3-6. 5. Pictures showing impairment to Grand Cany on caused by N avajo plume.CER'ITLFTCAT'E OF SERVICE 1 certify that on this "' day of May, 2009, I caused to be sent via overnight courier a copy of the foreegoing pelition to the addressees below:

Secretary Ice11 Salazar Richard Hayslip Departlnent of the Intnior Associate General Manager 1849 C Street, N. W. Salt River Project Wasl~ington DC 20240 152 1 N. Project Drive Tempe, AZ 85281-1298 Patrick J. Cuii11i11g11a111 Acting Director Arizona Depal-trueni of' Environmen la1 Qua1 ity 11 10 W. Washingtul~ St. Pl~oenix, AZ 55007 Lisa Jacltsoi~, Ad111i i? i ~i~~tgiUnited States Eiiviresnnacul31 PI-otcctiur~ Agency Ariel Rios Buildir~g 2 000 Pell~~sylvania Avciiue. N 

## .w. Washington, DC 20460 Laura Y osl-l i i Acting Regional Adln~i nistrator U.S. EPA Region 9 75 Hawthon~e Street Sail Francisco, CA, 94 1 05 Stephen B. Etsitty. Executive Director Navajo Nation En\:iron~.i?ciit a l Protecl.ion Agaicy P.O. Box 339 Window Rock, Ar-ii~oraa 865 i 5 The Hopi Tribe P.O. Box 123 TSylcotsmovi, Arizona 8603 9

Reed Zars