River Hill Fails in PA

Contacts:
Randy Francisco, Sierra Club, Pennsylvania, 412-802-6161
Anna Frazier, Coordinator, Diné CARE, 928-380-7697
Rob Disney, Sierra Club, Las Vegas, 702-518-0188

COAL PLANT FAILS IN PENNSYLVANIA COAL COUNTRY

Health Risks and Controversy Remain At Sites in NM And NV

KARTHAUS (PA) – An international energy developer financed by the giant equity firm, the Blackstone Group, has abandoned plans for a proposed 300 megawatt waste-coal power plant in rural Pennsylvania.

Sithe Global, which is also behind the proposed Toquop coal plant in Nevada and the Desert Rock plant on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico, announced on Tuesday they were canceling the $600 million River Hill plant near Karthaus, Pennsylvania due to financing difficulties.

Progress on Sithe’s other two coal projects has also stalled as a result of permitting and financing difficulties, along with intense opposition from local communities that have alleged the potential harm to their air, water and health far outweighs any economic benefits, and that the company should instead be investing in innovative clean energy sources.

“We have suspected for a long time that the River Hill project was very tenuous at best,” said Randy Francisco, of the Sierra Club in Pennsylvania. “It says a lot about the viability of these dirty coal plant proposals when they can’t get taxpayer bailouts and they can’t make them pencil out even with the backing from a company the size of Blackstone.”

Anna Frazier, coordinator for Dine’ CARE said that the Desert Rock plant is also on equally shaky ground after losing their air permit from the EPA, their permit for the transmission right-of-way needed to get the power to southwest markets, and also being denied their request for $450 million in federal stimulus dollars, all in just 2009.

“The Navajo communities of Northwest New Mexico have always been opposed to Sithe Global’s proposed Desert Rock plant so we are encouraged by the cancellation of the River Hill project,” said Frazier. “In an area that is already under siege from the pollution from fossil fuels development, Desert Rock has been a six-year black hole that has wasted millions of dollars that could have been used to bring clean-energy projects to our region.”

Sithe’s proposed Toquop plant near Mesquite, Nevada, originally proposed as a natural gas-fired plant, has been on the drawing board for years but still does not have a pollution permit, an approved BLM environmental study, and last year lost the rights to water it needs for plant operations.

“We’ve been trying to persuade Sithe for years to focus on developing Nevada’s vast solar and wind resources instead of outdated and dirty coal,” said Mesquite Mayor Susan Holecheck. “Hopefully, Sithe’s decision to abandon the Pennsylvania plant is a signal that we can soon put the nail in Toquop’s coffin, too, and get it out of the way for clean-energy jobs and economic development in Nevada.”

The Blackstone Group and Sithe Global are trying to develop three large, dirty coal-fired power plants in the United States. These include the Desert Rock Energy Project, the ToquopEnergy Project, and the River Hills Energy Project.

These three plants would produce over 2,500 megawatts of electricity for 50 years and, combined, would emit over 20 million tons of climate change-causing carbon dioxide every year, or over 1 billion tons of CO2 in the plants’ lifetimes. In addition, these plants would produce millions of tons of toxic pollutants in the form of airborne emissions and spent coal ash, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury, selenium and a variety of heavy metals, while also displacing real opportunities for clean, renewable energy and the jobs that come with them.

Local opposition to these plants from Nevada, Utah, the Four Corners region, and Pennsylvania is organized and very vocal. In addition to calls for these plants to be stopped, locals are also asking Blackstone to invest their dollars in clean renewable energy, not dirty coal. But we need your help. Here’s how you can take action.

WHO ARE BLACKSTONE AND SITHE GLOBAL?

The Blackstone Group is one of Wall Street’s largest private equity and investment firms with assets listed under management worth nearly $95 billion at the end of 2008. They currently own approximately 130 companies with interests ranging from health care to telecommunications to real estate to energy. They are heavily invested in fossil fuels development including coal, tar sands, and petroleum refineries.

Sithe Global is a major private energy developer that constructs, and operates large-scale power plants both domestically and internationally. Their portfolio of projects totals nearly 7,000 megawatts of power projects, with a total capital investment potential of over $15 billion. Most of Sithe’s projects are coal-fired, natural gas-fired or hydroelectric power plants, but also include waste coal, one wind farm, and a palm oil venture.

In 2005 Blackstone purchased an 80% ownership in Sithe Global from its previous owner, Reservoir Capital, which retained a 20% ownership.

It is clear that Blackstone and Sithe Global are out of touch with national energy markets. Worse, they’re out of touch with the communities which will be harmed by these coal plants. These communities want clean energy and a clean future with long-term jobs for their children and grandchildren. What they don’t want are dirty coal plants and coal-waste facilities, and investors don’t want bad investments surrounded by uncertainty.

WHO IS STEVEN SCHWARZMAN?

Blackstone’s CEO Steven Schwarzman is worth an estimated $2.5 billion and, in addition to his 35-room Park Avenue suite, owns houses in Saint-Tropez, Jamaica, East Hampton, and Palm Beach. His five properties plus renovations are estimated to have cost over $125 million. Schwarzman is said to have the biggest living room in New York City. He made headlines in 2007 when he celebrated his 60^th birthday with a $3 million party on Park Avenue that included many celebrities and high-profile financial industry members. A brief biography of Steven Schwarzman can be found at http://blackstone.com/team/bios/Schwarzman.html.

Comparisons between Blackstone and local communities

Mesquite, Nevada

The per capita income in Mesquite, Nevada, was $20,191 in 1999. The median family income was $42,941 in the same year. Mesquite’s population in 2000 was 9,389.¹

Navajo Nation

The per capita income on the Navajo Nation was $6,217 and the medium family income was $11,885 in 2000, well below the poverty line. The population of the reservation in 2000 was 173,987. According to the Indian Country Extension website, Navajos generate an estimated $40.5 million in the informal economy.²

Blackstone Group

Blackstone has $94.56 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2008.³

Stephen Schwarzman: Chairman, CEO, and co-founder of the Blackstone Group

• Schwarzman’s net worth is estimated at $2.5 billion.⁴
• Although Schwarzman’s salary is $350,000, in 2008 his total compensation, including stock awards and other compensation, was almost $1.4 billion.⁵
• In 2007, Schwarzman celebrated his birthday with a $3 million party in New York that included celebrities and high-profile financial industry members as guests, Rod Stewart providing entertainment, and Patti LaBelle singing “Happy Birthday.”⁶
• Schwarzman lives in a 35-room co-op in Manhattan, which he purchased for $37 million. He also owns houses in Saint-Tropez, Jamaica, East Hampton, and Palm Beach. His five properties plus renovations are estimated to have cost over $125 million.⁷