Paul Ostapuk is Vice President of the Old Spanish Trail Association, a past president of the Glen Canyon Natural History Association, and employed by the Salt River Project as a Environmental Manager at the Navajo Generating Station. He has a B.S. degree in Atmospheric Science and Environmental Science from Northern Arizona University with 30 years of field experience in air quality and environmental issues.

Balancing energy needs with protection of natural resources poses unique challenges on the Colorado Plateau. Large renewable energy and transmission projects in the West are creating a new set of NIMBY issues. Is the public being told the truth regarding the available wind resource in northern Arizona and how easily can renewable power be integrated into the power grid? The transition away from fossil fuels will create winners and losers. How can we avoid a head-on collision between the need for replacement energy projects and the protection of historic trails, visual resources, and other environmental considerations?

Rob Peterson is currently the Chemical Supervisor at the Navajo Generating Station and has worked there for 31 years. He has a B.S. Degree in Chemistry from Arizona State University and specializes in all aspects of water chemistry. He holds the highest level of certification from ADEQ in water treatment operations and distribution with regards to drinking water production. Rob is currently the chair of an international group of power plant chemists organized as the ASME Research Committee on Power Plant and Environmental Chemistry. He has authored and presented over 25 technical papers at power industry meetings and technical conferences. The subjects of his papers include Crystallization, Zero Liquid Discharge, Power Plant Cycle Chemistry, and Turbine Corrosion Damage.

Rob is an avid outdoorsman and photographer who enjoys studying geology, the night sky and the overall ecosystem. He has rowed a raft through the Grand Canyon three times, hiked the Inca Trail, and spent weeks at a time backpacking and camping in Zion NP, Glen Canyon NRA and other areas on the Colorado Plateau.

Mark Nutt is the lead of the Waste Management Systems Analysis group at Argonne National Laboratory. He has over 15 years of experience in the nuclear industry covering several aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle, gained while working at a nuclear utility, a national laboratory, and as a consultant. Dr. Nutt is experienced in applying risk-based methods to assess the safety of radioactive waste management concepts and understands both domestic and international regulatory frameworks. He is an active participant on the U.S. DOE's Fuel Cycle Technology Program and is serving as the co-chair of the Waste Management Working Group under the joint U.S. - Japan bilateral agreement on nuclear cooperation. Mark spent over nine years living in the Southwest, supporting U.S. DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management in several areas, in particular in the development of the post-closure safety case for the Yucca Mountain Repository. He has a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from Iowa State University.

Wahleah Johns is a member of the Navajo (Dine) tribe and the community of Forest Lake, which is one of several communities atop Black Mesa, Arizona. Wahleah's work with the Black Mesa Water Coalition and Navajo Green Economy Coalition has led to groundbreaking legislative victories for groundwater protection, green jobs and environmental justice.  As vice chair of the Navajo Green Economy Commission, she is developing green economic opportunities in clean energy and traditional economic practices.

Irv Kranzler, a current resident of Greenehaven, Arizona who grew up in Montana, has spent his life in the rocks. After graduating as a Geological Engineer from the Colorado School of Mines in 1954, Irv spent the next ten years traveling around the greater western United States for Shell Oil. In 1963, he struck out on his own as an Independent Geology Consultant and Explorer.

Andy Bessler is the Southwest Tribal Partnership representative for the Sierra Club based in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Born and raised in Colorado, Andy has lived in Flagstaff for the past 10 years. He is a graduate from Northern Arizona University with a MA in applied cultural anthropology with a focus on cultural concepts of boundaries. Before starting work for the Sierra Club in 1999, Andy's work connecting environmental conservation and cultural diversity included sea turtle protection in Central Mexico with the University de Guadalajara and sustainable agriculture in West Africa with Hausa villagers.

His work with the Sierra Club has included three significant environmental/cultural campaigns for the protection of important Native American sacred lands by the shutdown of several mining operations in Arizona and New Mexico. These campaigns included the shutdown of the White Vulcan Pumice Mine to protect the San Francisco Peaks, the Fence Lake Coal Mine to protect Zuni Salt Lake and the Black Mesa Coal Mine to protect Black Mesa.

As the Tribal Partnership Representative for the Sierra Club, Andy continues to explore the important connections with tribal partners for environmental protection and healthy

Tom Retson is a co-founder of Transition Power Development, Blue Castle Holdings and EnergyPath Corporation. Blue Castle Holdings (BCH) is a Utah-based company developing promising new nuclear plant sites in the Western U.S. BCH’s business model is to select, acquire, enhance, and license a plant site which is well suited for the deployment of new nuclear power generation, and sell portions of equity in the licensed sites to electric utilities. EnergyPath is an energy market consulting firm which serves clients worldwide on technology development, project management, business analysis, and strategic decision support.

As the Chief Operations Officer for BCH, Tom leads nuclear site development, licensing, and nuclear plant technology evaluation activities. As EnergyPath President, Tom guided the formation and growth of this unique energy market consulting firm which is broadly renowned for core competencies within the global nuclear power and energy industries. In this role he has led global market analysis and business strategy development efforts for a number of nuclear plant, fuel technology, reactor services, and nuclear instrumentation firms.