Coal plant’s closure could cost 1,000 jobs

NAVAJO MOUNTAIN, Utah — Officials in remote areas of Utah and Arizona say the recent decision to shut down a coal-fired power plant in northern Arizona is expected to cause about 1,000 job losses in an area already struggling with high unemployment.

Owners of the Navajo Generating Station in Page, Ariz., voted earlier this year to close the plant and the coal mine that supports it by 2019.

The plant employs 500 people, mostly Navajo, and is considered important to the local economy. A Peabody Energy coal mine that supplies the plant employs 430 people.

Bill Diak, the mayor of Page, Ariz., said the closure of the facilities will be devastating for his town, though tourism to nearby Lake Powell will help soften the impact.

Jerry Williams, a plant worker and Lechee Chapter president of the Navajo Nation, said the economic hit will extend to relatives because residents on the reservation often take up jobs far away to help out family back home.

“We support our parents, our grandparents and other relatives,” said Williams. “They are going to feel it.”

It’s cheaper for utility companies to buy power from natural gas-powered plants instead of coal and it no longer makes financial sense to keep the coal plant running, according to the Salt River Project, one of the plant’s owners.