The U.S. Environment Protection Agency has withdrawn a permit it gave to the Arizona Public Service Company for discharge from the Four Corners Power Plant.
The Farmington Daily Times reported Monday that the federal agency pulled the permit back after several environmental groups appealed its decision to grant its approval.
The Clean Water Act requires that a special permit be issued for the discharging of pollutants into navigable water. The one the EPA had earlier issued allowed the coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant to empty water from a man-made cooling pond named Morgan Lake into a wash that flows into the Chaco River.
Withdrawing the permit will allow the EPA to examine the advocacy groups' concerns.