Led by the Grand Canyon Trust, environmentalists had pushed for a 90 percent reduction in sulfur emissions. The plant’s owners, including the federal Bureau of Reclamation, thought zero percent sounded about right. EPA was about to side with the environmentalists but, under pressure from the White House, recommended a 70 percent cut this February. But neither side was happy. That’s when EPA Assistant Administrator William Rosenberg got both parties together. The trust proposed allowing the Navajo’s owners to average sulfur emissions over a year, rather than monthly. This strategy would let the plant get by without costly backup scrubbers but still cut emissions more than 90 percent for $90 million–$18 million less than EPA’s proposed 70 percent cut would have. The owners were convinced. President Bush called the accord “a milestone in our implementation of the Clean Air Act and in our efforts to protect one of America’s crown-jewel national parks.” He will visit the canyon next month to celebrate the accord.
The canyon faces one more threat. For years the Glen Canyon Dam has released wildly fluctuating amounts of water into the Colorado River to meet peak power demands. The surging current-which sometimes raises the river by 13 feet–has eroded the Grand Canyon’s beaches, destroyed habitats of its fauna and flora, and begun to eat away at about 300 of the 400 Indian archeological sites and sacred places. Last week Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan announced that he would order the flow stabilized. That should have little impact on electricity supply–utilities can buy power from the grid–but will limit destruction downstream. To make the policy stick, the Senate is weighing a bill that requires Glen Canyon to be operated in a way that protects downstream sites. The House passed the measure un June, and Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, a sponsor of the bill, thinks its chances are excellent. “When it passes,” says Ed Norton of the Grand Canyon Trust, “the idea that power has primacy will be dead meat forever.” And the water that carved the Grand Canyon eons ago will no longer destroy it.
