NM facility to undergo tough environmental scrutiny as Feds eye power plant, mine

A federal agency announced Wednesday it will begin an environmental analysis of Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine that is sure to bring heightened regulatory scrutiny of the facilities west of Farmington. The U.S. Department of Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement intends to prepare an environmental impact statement, the agency said in a Federal Register notice published Wednesday. The EIS is a major federal study that could take years to complete. It will analyze several related impacts of the mine and power plant. Environmental groups, including the San Juan Citizens Alliance based in Durango, Colo., had pushed for the study. The EIS will analyze potential impacts on air quality and climate change, water quality, public health, cultural and historic resources, visual aspects, threatened and endangered species and other areas...more