EPA action benefits Arizona communities and golf facilities

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  issued a final regional haze rule under the Clean Air Act that provides for an emission-reduction plan for the Navajo Generating Station located in Page, AZ.  The decision ensures the long term viability of the generating station that provides stable and reliable power supplies to the Central Arizona Project (CAP) which supplies water to the majority of Arizona’s population.  

A technical work group (TWG) made up of representatives from the Central Arizona Project, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Gila River Indian Community, the Navajo Nation, Salt River Project, the U.S. Department of the Interior and Western Resource Advocates worked on an alternative plan that addressed the complex situation at the plant.  

The alternative plan allows CAP to continue to deliver affordable and renewable supplies of water while preparing for future cost increases in a deliberate manner.  The Cactus & Pine GCSA led by the efforts of board member Rory Van Poucke, Class A superintendent and general manager at Apache Sun Golf Club in Queen Creek, AZ. supported the alternative plan presented by the TWG.  “I attended several meetings with the EPA and CAP and we had numerous GCSAA superintendents who wrote letters of support to the EPA on behalf of the alternative plan,” said Van Poucke, who will run for the GCSAA board of directors in 2015.  “It was an important decision and will allow CAP to keep water delivery costs down which will benefit the golf facilities throughout Arizona.”  “Without this decision, we would have been looking at immediate water increases that would have further diminished the golf industries economic return.”

For more information on the decision, visit the Central Arizona Projects website at http://www.cap-az.com/index.php/public/navajo-generating-station/twg-bart-proposal.