Navajo power plant likely to close, despite Trump's promises to save coal
Last edited Wed Jun 28, 2017, 07:35 PM - Edit history (2)
Navajo President Russell Begaye says he feels Trump has failed.
“The Trump administration has not lifted a finger for us, and I don’t believe that he will,” Begaye said.
The coal-fired power plant outside of Page, Arizona, is one of the biggest in the country, and an economic backbone of the Navajo reservation.
In February, its operators announced they wanted to close the plant in 2019, a quarter-century earlier than expected.
But its closure will hit the surrounding communities hard.
In addition to payments that help fund the Navajo central government and more than 100 local entities, the power plant and coal mine are key employers in northern Arizona.
Roughly 725 people work at the generating station and nearby Kayenta mine, more than 90 percent of them Native American.
“The whole region is heavily dependent on this one source of revenue,” Begaye said. “It’s going to be devastating.”
It’s a region ill-equipped to absorb the economic blow. More than 1 in 3 people on the Navajo reservation live below the federal poverty line.
Unemployment is high, and high-paying jobs are hard to find.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-06-28/navajo-power-plant-likely-close-despite-trumps-promises-save-coal
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