Felicia Fonseca

Associated Press

This Aug. 19, 2019 image shows the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station near Page, AZ

Coal Plant on Navajo Nation Ends Production

It's the latest closure in a shift away from coal and toward renewable energy and cheaper power.

In this April 4, 2013, file photo, a truck carrying 250 tons of coal hauls the fuel to the surface of the Spring Creek mine near Decker, Mont. The Navajo Nation will not financially back bonds a tribal energy company needs for a trio of newly acquired coal mines off the reservation, the tribal president said Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019, explaining that it's too risky and his administration wants the company to move away from coal. The Navajo Transitional Energy Co. recently bought Montana's largest coal mine and two mines in Wyoming at auction after Cloud Peak Energy declared bankruptcy.

Tribe Won't Back Energy Company's New Mines

The Navajo Nation wants its energy company to move away from coal.

In this Aug. 20, 2019, image, Navajo Generating Station employee and former mayor Lyle Dimbatt answers questions about the planned closure of the coal-fired power plant near Page, Ariz. The power plant will close before the year ends, upending the lives of hundreds of mostly Native American workers who mined coal, loaded it and played a part in producing electricity that powered the American Southwest.

Coal Plant on Tribal Land to Close

Its owners are turning to cheaper power produced by natural gas as they and other coal-fired plants in the U.S. face growing pressure over contributing to climate change.

Trump Won't Impose Uranium Quotas

The decision is unusual for Trump, who has pointed to national security concerns in calling for restrictions in trade negotiations.

In this Sept. 4, 2011, file photo, smoke rises from the stacks of the main plant facility at the Navajo Generating Station, as seen from Lake Powell in Page, Ariz. The owners of one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the West say negotiations with a tribe to take over the plant have hit an impasse. A Navajo Nation energy company has been talking with owners of the Navajo Generating Station to buy the plant that's scheduled to shut down in December.

Coal Plant Owners at Impasse

It is one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the West.

Companies Bail on Navajo Coal Plant

The challenges were too great.

This April, 2006 file photo shows the Four Corners Power Plant in Waterflow, N.M., near the San Juan River in northwestern New Mexico. Unions that represent Navajo workers say contractors at a northwestern New Mexico power plant are violating tribal labor laws. The tribe enacted the Navajo Preference in Employment Act in 1985, requiring the hiring of qualified Navajos over other applicants, to keep Navajos working on the reservation where jobs are scarce.

Plant Contractors May Be Violating Labor Laws

Workers at the coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant are installing equipment to cut down on haze-causing nitrogen oxide emissions.

In this Sept. 4, 2011 file photo, smoke rises from the stacks of the main plant facility at the Navajo Generating Station, as seen from Lake Powell in Page, Ariz. The coal-fired power plant in far northern Arizona that was built to deliver water to the state's desert region is set to retire in 2019 unless a new owner can be found.

Coal Company Tries to Save Plant

The company says it's making progress in the search for new owners.