Environmentalists attempt to slow new power plant development in U.S./Mexico border region

摘要

The 2003 court case Border Power Plant Working Group v. DOE, et al., between U.S. environmentalists and the Department of Energy (DOE) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has brought to a head the concern among some U.S. residents that the increasing number of merchant power plants planned for the Mexican side of the U.S./Mexico border could contribute to increased air pollutants and misuse of finite water resources in the border region. However, data also show that California will require additional energy to meet growing demand as soon as 2006. Most recently, the conflict has caused the temporary closure of an export turbine at one of the two power plants involved in the case. One factor in the push to develop power generation on the Mexican side of the border was California's electricity crisis of 2000-2001. With support from the Bush administration, plans have been drawn up to build 22 plants between Mexicali and Ciudad Juarez, with six in Baja California alone. However, these plans have not been established without opposition. As Bill Powers of the Border Power Plant Working Group (BPPWG) explained, "If there had just been one plant, then we would never have gotten involved—when we got involved, there were 22 plants slated for the border region."