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At the Navajo County Board of Supervisors meeting on April 23, Vice Chairman Jason Whiting appealed to the board to approve a letter encouraging the Arizona Corporate Commission to mandate that biomass be part of the energy portfolio in Arizona.
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The letter began: “Since the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski fire burned over half a million acres on the Mogollon Rim and destroyed almost 400 homes and structures, Navajo County has remained at the epicenter of the risk of complete communities’ destruction in catastrophic landscape scale fire in Northern Arizona.”
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The letter also gives credence to the operation of the sole bioelectricity generation plant in Arizona, Novo BioPower located outside of Snowflake, stating, “Thanks to the operation of the sole bioelectricity generation plant in Arizona, over the last five years the White Mountain industry has completed the restoration treatment of 50,378 acres of ponderosa pine forests and watershed in the White Mountains. Over 1.3 million green tons of small diameter logs were processed to fund forest restoration and over one million green tons of biomass hazardous fuel was removed and processed to generate electricity.”
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The letter went on to state, “This supported 190 jobs, resulting in over three million hours of high wage labor that earned over $61 million in direct salary and contributed over $221 million to the local rural economy as of this writing.”
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Whiting said, “If we wait to pay for the cost after the fact, after a fire, it will be 10 times more expensive than the initial removal. Make no mistake, Arizona will pay for this one way or another.”
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At the heart of the matter is a request for revision to the Renewable Energy Standard and Tarrif (REST) that was approved by the ACC in 2006 requiring that regulated electric utilities generate 15 percent of their energy from renewable resources by 2025.
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The revision being requested is a 60MW carve-out for biomass energy that would encourage the clear market path for the disposal of up to 1.5 million green tons of restoration biomass annually, potentially resulting in the biomass conversion at the Cholla Power Plant in Joseph City as well as requiring regulated utilities to procure bioelectricity over the next 20 years from the existing plant in Snowflake.
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As Whiting also noted, “If we increase the amount of fires needed to burn that biomass, it would not be acceptable to the residents that live here. Many cities and towns are looking to put together a letter of support to encourage the commission to revise REST. This letter is a way to show that we also stand united and request respectfully that they consider the revision.”
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The board voted unanimously to approve the letter.
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Emergency Management Director Catrina Jenkins gave an update on the fire season outlook for this year. “Last year the entire state was in one level of drought or another, but this year only 18 percent of the state is currently in drought. The winter precipitation has brought us well below what we were last year.”
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While the outlook is positive Jenkins encouraged everyone to be vigilant, realizing that 50 percent of the fires in the area are human caused while 50 percent are from lightning. “Human caused fires are required to be put out,” continued Jenkins. “And we need our residents and visitors to be our partners in helping to prevent wildfires. We need to be aware of the wildfire potential, which is year-round.”
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In other business, the board:
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* Approved the proclamation declaring April 23, as National Telecommunicator’s Day in Navajo County.
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* Approved the proclamation declaring May 5-11 as Correctional Officers Week in Navajo County.
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* Recognized the Show Low cheer team for winning the Arizona State Cheer and Pom Tournament in Division Three.
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* Heard a presentation to the Navajo County Safety Committee for being recognized by the Industrial Commission of Arizona for the steps taken to make the workplace safe.
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* Approved a memorandum of agreement between Navajo County Public Health Services District, by and through its Arizona Healthy Zone SNAP-ED program, and Kayenta Unified School District to clearly identify roles and responsibilities related to the collaboration to increase fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity levels and address food safety.
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* Approved the repeal of the 2017 Outdoor Fire Ordinance and the adoption of the 2019 Outdoor Fire Ordinance.
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* Tabled the repeal of the 2017 Navajo County Fireworks Ordinance and the adoption of the 2019 Navajo County Fireworks Ordinance.
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* Approved the granting of R1-43 zoning to be extended in perpetuity on parcels APN 208-03-002A and 208-03-002B.
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* Approved the granting of APN 212-34-001A Special Development (SD) zoning to be extended to perpetuity.
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* Approved the adoption of a resolution approving a special use permit to allow the construction of a self-mini storage unit facility on parcel APN 409-20-015S in the Show Low area.
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* Approved a resolution amending the Master Development Plan for parcel Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN) 212-07-003G in the Wagon Wheel area to go from 27 residential units to five residential units.
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* Approved a contract with Atkins in the amount of $49,023 to produce plans and specifications for the next phase of channel improvements within the Sky Hi Subdivision to further mitigate flooding in the area.
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* Heard a presentation of the quarterly report for White Mountain Lakes Recreation Improvement District and approved their sick leave policy.
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* Approved amendment to contract for supply and delivery of culverts and bands with Pacific Ponderosa Company to extend the contract for one additional year through March 24, 2020.
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* Approved an amendment to the cost sharing agreement for statewide voter registration database to be extended for a three-month period through Sept. 30, 2019. The county’s share of all costs associated with the database is $7,310 for Fiscal Years 2018 and 2019.
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* Approved the public roadway and utility right-of-way agreement for a portion of Burton Road, correcting the existing condition of crossing private lands beholden to Eldon and Deleth Perkins.
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* Approved two back tax land parcels, APN 105-63-392 and 105-64-295, sold over the counter in the amount of $1,111.
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* Approved the donation of approximately 40 unused detention beds to the Bread of Life Mission in Holbrook.
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* Approved tax exemptions filed as a request for redemption of waiver for 14 residents.
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* Approved a memorandum of agreement between the Navajo County Community College District and the Northeastern Arizona Local Workforce Development board for shared employees; namely, cross train adult education learning assistants to also perform as Arizona@work Northeastern Arizona Workforce Specialists.
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* Approved a special event liquor license and extension of premises for American Legion Post 86 for May 25-26 for a fundraising event and membership drive at 2068 Lumber Valley Road in Overgaard.
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* Approved a contract for professional services by Alicia Deets to provide social media management at a rate of $15 per hour.
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* Approved a letter of invitation for the United States Air Force to conduct limited military training within Navajo County to simulate a downed fighter pilot in two sessions: the first from April 25-May 25 and the second from Aug. 1-30.
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