Asking for a comprehensive, regionally oriented §102 environmental impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. §§4321 et seq., rather than individual statements on separate decisions by departmental agencies, conservationists and Indian groups filed two suits seeking to halt further government approval needed by a consortium of public utilities for their plans to expand and develop an extensive power generating complex in the Four Corners area of the American Southwest. Jicarilla Apache Tribe of Indians v. Morton, 1 ELR Dig. [184] (D.D.C., filed June 2, 1971), and National Wildlife Federation v. Morton, 1 ELR Dig. [185] (D.D.C., filed June 2, 1971). Plaintiffs also asked for nullification of federal approval of leases, contracts, rights-of-way, etc. made prior to the date of the complaint and an adversary-type public hearing on the draft regional environmental impact statement that must be filed prior to the final statement. These suits grew out of requests directed to the Interior Department by a coalition of conservation groups seeking a moratorium on federal actions related to the coal-fired power plant development. The only firm response was appointment of a Department task force to study the present situation, long-term power needs and the environmental impact of future development of power sources. The Interior Department indicated that there would be no moratorium and no environmental impact study as defined by NEPA.

Six thermal-electric plants and their related facilities including transmission lines are involved in this controversy. The Four Corners plant, on the Navajo Indian Reservation near Mesa Verde National Park, has been in operation since 1963. The Mohave plant, in Clark County, Nevada, on the Colorado River, has been operating since 1970 with coal strip-mined from Navajo and Hopi Indian lands on the Black Mesa in northeastern Arizona. Three other plants are under construction: the Navajo plant near Page, Arizona, the San Juan plant near Farmington, New Mexico, and the Huntington Canyon plant near Huntington, Utah. The largest of the six plants, Kaiparowits, large enough to serve a city the size of New York, is planned for one of two sites, both of which are within the boundaries of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Cooling water for all of these plants is or will be withdrawn from the Colorado River and its tributaries.