Mankind decides the fate of our planet, so we better choose wisely when it comes to the choices that involve the health of our planet and the creatures that lie inside of it. Building the Navajo Generating Station has been a huge step forward for civilization, but its successes have overshadowed the major problems it has created for our planet’s well-being. The environmental destruction caused by this power plant is hard to miss, between the amount of pollution it gives off, as well as the amount of water it takes from an already depleted Colorado River. On top of the environmental problems, the generating station has proven to be a danger to the local Navajo Tribe’s health. The Navajo Generating Station must convert to more green ways of producing
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The power plant takes trillions of gallons of water from the Colorado River and pumps it hundreds of miles to cities in southern Arizona. The Colorado River is an important part to ecosystems that lie along the river, so it is crucial that we preserve the river. Over 10 major dams have been built along the Colorado River. The Navajo Generating Station is similar to a dam because of the amount of water it uses. The problem with these dams is that they lose alarming amounts of water due to evaporation. Arizona is a dry and hot state, so when water gets pooled together in a dam, it is prone to evaporation. The Hoover Dam alone loses 283 billion gallons of water due to evaporation each year. We can’t just ignore problems like this one because it will eventually come back to haunt …show more content…
They did not ask for outsiders to infiltrate their sacred lands to build a giant and obnoxious generating station. Since the creation of the Navajo Generating Station, the Native Americans have noticed a large spike in their health problems. ProPublica states, “EPA records include tribal complaints of a doubling in cancer rates in the Navajo Nation since the generating station began operating, as well as worsening asthma.” (ProPublica Web Article) This plant is one of the most polluting of its kind in the country, so it must produce large amounts of toxic wastes that need proper disposal. Proper disposal doesn’t always occur, especially in areas where most people live in poverty because they do not have as big of a voice as wealthier people do. ProPublica then goes on to say that, “The nonprofit environmental organization Clean Air Task Force estimated emissions from the Navajo plant alone were responsible for 12 premature deaths in 2012.” (ProPublica Web Article) Even though epidemiologists could not pinpoint the premature deaths to the Navajo Generating Station, it is pretty evident that it was the cause of these premature deaths. The factory was built only 40 years ago, so it is hard to believe that all of these spikes in the health problems facing the Indians is just a coincidence. Richard Schleyer, an environmental engineer from the Public
The power plant takes trillions of gallons of water from the Colorado River and pumps it hundreds of miles to cities in southern Arizona. The Colorado River is an important part to ecosystems that lie along the river, so it is crucial that we preserve the river. Over 10 major dams have been built along the Colorado River. The Navajo Generating Station is similar to a dam because of the amount of water it uses. The problem with these dams is that they lose alarming amounts of water due to evaporation. Arizona is a dry and hot state, so when water gets pooled together in a dam, it is prone to evaporation. The Hoover Dam alone loses 283 billion gallons of water due to evaporation each year. We can’t just ignore problems like this one because it will eventually come back to haunt …show more content…
They did not ask for outsiders to infiltrate their sacred lands to build a giant and obnoxious generating station. Since the creation of the Navajo Generating Station, the Native Americans have noticed a large spike in their health problems. ProPublica states, “EPA records include tribal complaints of a doubling in cancer rates in the Navajo Nation since the generating station began operating, as well as worsening asthma.” (ProPublica Web Article) This plant is one of the most polluting of its kind in the country, so it must produce large amounts of toxic wastes that need proper disposal. Proper disposal doesn’t always occur, especially in areas where most people live in poverty because they do not have as big of a voice as wealthier people do. ProPublica then goes on to say that, “The nonprofit environmental organization Clean Air Task Force estimated emissions from the Navajo plant alone were responsible for 12 premature deaths in 2012.” (ProPublica Web Article) Even though epidemiologists could not pinpoint the premature deaths to the Navajo Generating Station, it is pretty evident that it was the cause of these premature deaths. The factory was built only 40 years ago, so it is hard to believe that all of these spikes in the health problems facing the Indians is just a coincidence. Richard Schleyer, an environmental engineer from the Public