Kayenta Coal Mine layoffs are set to begin August 12, 2019 and will last 14 days.
Navajo County officials reported that a direct revenue loss of $1.6 Million annually in sales tax will occur in for Navajo County as a result of the closing.
In March, Peabody, America’s top coal company, said it would cease operations at the Kayenta mine on the Navajo and Hopi reservations in anticipation of the Navajo Generating Station’s (NGS) scheduled closure. All coal burned at NGS comes from the Kayenta mine.
According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA):
The March announcement represented an ominous sign for NGS, a 2,250-megawatt coal plant outside Page, Ariz. Peabody has been a driving force for keeping the plant open, spearheading efforts to find a buyer and coordinating rallies in Washington and Phoenix to generate public support for the economically distressed facility.
The Navajo Generating Station emerged as a test of the Trump administration’s promise to aid the coal industry after four utilities with an ownership stake in the plant announced its retirement in 2017.
A buyer interested in acquiring the facility backed out last year. And with Democrats now in control of the House, the prospects for congressional intervention have all but disappeared.
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