Document ID: EPA-R09-OAR-2011-0130-0100
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2012-10-12T04:00Z

Meeting with Moapa Band of Paiute Indians on the Reid Gardner Power Plant proposed BART Rule
                                Washington D.C.
                                April 17, 2012

Participants (sign in sheet attached)
William Anderson, Chairman, Moapa Band of Paiute Indians
Daniel Galpern, Western Environmental Law Center
Bill Corcoran, Sierra Club
EPA Attendees:  Gina McCarthy, OAR; Janet McCabe, OAR; Steve Page, OAQPS; Greg Greene, OAQPS; Deborah Jordan, Region 9 Air Division; Colleen McKaughan, Region 9 Air Division; Jeff Besougloff, OITA/AIEO; Darrel Harmon, OAR; 
Comments:
Mr. Haplern began by discussing how the Reid Gardner Generating Station (RGGS) is located one-half mile from individual homes on the reservation.  When the wind blows, sometimes as hard as 60 miles per hour, ashes from the ash pond blow directly into the community and affect the health and welfare of tribal members living there.  He asked EPA to adopt a stronger BART rule in order to change how the Public Utilities Commission looks at this plant. Mr. Halpern stated that RGGS is planning an expansion of both the ash pits and waste water ponds on the site to increase the available storage.
Chairman Anderson talked about health effects on the Tribe of 300 individuals occurring 24 hours a day 7 days a week compared to exposures suffered by workers equipped with personal protective equipment on the site for only 8 hours a day five days a week.  He talked about how fly ash covers the reservation and citizens during high winds causing health problems including an unusually high proportion of thyroid problems present among tribal members.  Chairman Anderson discussed that the reservation's residential area is roughly 1,000 acres out of the overall size of 74,000 acres.  He is concerned that the plant gets warning of surprise compliance inspections because they visibly clean up prior to inspectors arriving at the RGGS.  The oldest boiler at the RGGS is from 1965.

Mr. Halpern invited EPA leadership to visit the site to see how the RGGS endangers the way of life for the Tribe.  To demonstrate their dedication to lowering impacts, the Tribe is negotiating installation of a large solar power facility that NV Energy declined to participate with. He stated that they are meeting requirements to use alternative power using hydro-electric facilities elsewhere in the state.

Chairman Anderson talked about the reservation being established in 1875 by treaty, and how the Tribe had resided in this place for generations before that date.  He noted that the RGGS has shut down on occasion without creating a shortage of power in the state, and that the RGGS is being used less as natural gas facilities operate more economically compared to coal fired facilities.  

Chairman Anderson noted that the Public Utility Commission hearing on the BART Rule is coming up.

Colleen McKaughan provided details that the hearing will be in Overton NV on May 3, 2012 at the Overton High School.

Chairman Anderson noted that the high school is 25 miles away, and noting that the PUC is supposed to be at the closest location to the RGGS, and that the Tribe has a facility on the reservation with adequate equipment, requested that the hearing be held on the reservation. 

Mr. Corcoran stated that the power plant is not necessary to the NV grid, and that the decision to require SNCR is too narrowly focused on Regional Haze increment changes resulting from the emissions, and doesn't address other issues including Environmental Justice and cultural impacts.  He asked that EPA reiterated the Chairman's request to move the PUC hearing to the Tribal auditorium.  He also disagreed with the statement in the Rule publication that there are no tribal implications with this Rule.  He noted that the PUC asked for analysis, and NV Energy estimated that the impact on rates from shutting down RGGS would equal twenty seven cents per month for each ratepayer.  He also noted that the RGGS believes that they are already MATS compliant due to their use of baghouses to control emissions.

Ms. McCarthy thanked the visitors for providing this information and said she would look into their concerns with Region 9.