Federal rules aimed at improving the view at national parks could also raise costs at a coal-fired power plant that delivers cheap energy to the city of Los Angeles.
According to the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, most of the time the view across the Grand Canyon isn’t as stunning as it could be. That’s because pollution makes the view an estimated 30 percent hazier.
Emissions from power plants in the area around the national park are thought to be causing the low-lying smog.
The EPA has since proposed to limit pollution from three power plants in Arizona, and soon it expects to set similar limits for the Navajo Generating Station on the lands of that federally-recognized tribe. Coal fires Navajo; Lake Powell cools it.
The L.A. Department of Water and Power has a 21 percent stake in the generating station, and federal reports suggest that consumers of that coal-fired power would bear the cost of cleaner air in Arizona.
A representative for the Navajo nation has said the costs of new pollution controls could shutter the power plant in about five years. The DWP has said it hopes to get out of Navajo two years before that.