San Juan County passes ordinance requiring demolition of San Juan Generating Station
Despite opposition from the San Juan Generating Station’s majority owner, a new ordinance in San Juan County will require the power plant to be demolished once it is permanently closed.
The San Juan County Commission unanimously passed an ordinance requiring the demolition and remediation of the coal-fired power plants upon closure following comments from various plant owners during the commission meeting on Tuesday. This comes after the Public Service Company of New Mexico proposed retiring the plant in place, which means the structure would remain standing until a later date.
The ordinance does not require all of the infrastructure to be demolished after the power plant closes next summer. Some of the infrastructure at the site, such as the water conveyance system, could be put to other use. The ordinance specifically highlights future use of the water conveyance system for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project.
While there are two coal-fired power plants in San Juan County, this ordinance only affects the San Juan Generating Station. The Four Corners Power Plant is located on Navajo Nation land within San Juan County. Navajo Nation requires coal-fired power plants to be demolished and the sites to be remediated upon closure, as happened when the Navajo Generating Station near Page, Arizona, closed in 2019.
Read more: https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2021/11/11/san-juan-county-passes-ordinance-requiring-demolition-of-san-juan-generating-station/