Navajo Generating Station
Growing up, my family has made it a tradition to go camping at Lake Powell each year. Each time we go there is an obvious change in water levels and every day that we are there we can see the smoke billowing out from the Navajo Generating Station. Since 1969, the Navajo Generating Station has provided power for Arizona, Nevada, and California. It currently brings in 15 tons of coal each minute to be crushed into a powder, put into the furnaces to heat tubes of steam, and to eventually convert heat into electricity. The plant is responsible for 29 percent of Arizona's emissions from generating power and could also be responsible for Lake Powell's and the Colorado River's dropping water levels as it pumps trillions of gallons of water out of the river into the factory.
Arizona has now been in a drought for 15 years and it is obvious that the water being taken from the river is having a dramatic effect. Lake Powell at full capacity is 3,700 feet above sea level. Lake Powell's water level is currently 3,574 feet above sea level. The Castle Rock Cut widely used by boaters had become impassable due to drought and dropping water levels. Just last year the cut had to be deepened another 30 feet to allow for boats to go through. If the Navajo Generating Station continues to greedily take the water out of the area, how much longer until there's none left to take?
According to a report made by Environment America, the Navajo Generating Station is the eighth dirtiest plant in the nation due to its large carbon dioxide emissions. The station burns an average of 15 tons of coal every minute each day, all day. As acid rain has began to fall in areas of the country it is obvious that the stations emissions are having devastating effects on the environment but again and again demands for the plant to be cleaned up are pushed off by its owners. If the Navajo Generating Station is not forced to reduce its threat to the environment by reducing its emissions and decreasing its water consumption, then it will only be a matter of time before the plant changes the entire composition of the land with no ability to reverse the damage.
Works Cited: Lustgarten, Abrahm. "End of the Miracle Machines". ProPublica. 16 June 2015. Web.
