Central Arizona Project (CAP) is the largest source of renewable water in Arizona. It's also the biggest user of electricity in the state. Last year, CAP used 2.8 million megawatt hours to deliver more than 500 billion gallons of Colorado River water to a service area that includes more than 80% of the state's population.

Why so much power? Because between Lake Havasu and the end of the CAP system south of Tucson, Colorado River water flows 336 miles and ends its journey 2,800 feet higher than when it started. Almost all of the power CAP uses to move this water comes from the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station near Lake Powell.

Because the Navajo plant is near a dozen or so National Parks, monuments and wilderness areas, controlling emissions released from the plant into the air has been a priority for CAP and the power plant owners for decades. In the 1990s, the plant owners invested more than $400 million in scrubbers that take out sulfur dioxide (SO₂), a gas that can cause acid rain.

In 2008, installation began on Low-NOx burners to reduce emissions of smog-forming Nitrogen Oxides (NOx). The job will be finished in 2011 at a cost of approximately $46 million. The U.S. EPA is in the process of setting rules to control NOx at coal-burning power plants like Navajo to protect visibility in the region. The EPA is looking at the Low-NOx burners. They are also considering a very different NOx control system known as Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR).

An SCR system could cost up to $1 billion, at least 15-20 times more than the burners. Recent research shows the difference in visibility won't be perceptible to the human eye. The high cost of SCR could lead to an energy rate nearly 20% higher than the current rate - and much higher if the equipment cannot be financed over a 20-year period. This will affect anyone who gets water from CAP. In fact, the higher energy costs will hit almost everyone in the state.

Worse, in the face of other uncertainties facing the Navajo Plant, including regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, the cost of installing SCR could make the plant too expensive to operate and force it to close down. This would be an economic disaster for the people of the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribes, and CAP would have to buy higher cost power elsewhere resulting in a doubling or tripling of energy and water rates.

CAP, cities, legislators and many others have written to the EPA asking them to allow the Navajo Generating Station to use the Low-NOx burners to control nitrogen oxides and evaluate their performance for the next 10-15 years. This will give CAP time to find and link up to other sources of energy.

For more info email cap@cap-az.com or visit www.CAPSmartEnergy.com.

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