Navajo coal plant closure could cause 1K job losses
Yuma plant wins prestigious award
Associated Materials, LLC, awarded the Alside Southwest Plant in Yuma with the 2nd annual Environmental Health and Safety Award for 2016.
This honor was celebrated in a ceremony held at the factory April 4. The award is presented to the top performing manufacturing site in Environmental Health and Safety out of 11 factories throughout North America.
The ceremony was attended by local city and government officials, special customers and vendors, senior leaders from the company, and the workforce of Yuma. The ceremony included a Southwestern style buffet, entertainment with a mariachi band, Mexican folklorico dancers, and an award ceremony complete with a music video starring the workers of Yuma.
The trophy was awarded to Yuma by CEO Brian Strauss and Executive Vice Principal of Operations, Bill Topper. Special prizes for employees were given away during the celebration. Employees enjoyed getting their photos taken in the photo booth as well.
AMI is a U.S. and Canadian manufacturer and distributor of residential and light commercial exterior building products meeting the needs of homeowners, contractors, remodelers, builders, architects and property investors.
TJ Wright, an employee of Sign Pro, has passed a rigorous handson and written test to be a 3M preferred graphics installer.
The certificate for Wright accredits him as an individual installer for his skills and knowledge with vehicle wraps, fleet vinyl graphics, wall and floor graphics.
Wright is committed to follow proper 3M installation procedures and is the only 3M preferred graphics installer in Yuma.
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, Arizona, 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.
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.
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,” Williams said. “They are going to feel it.”
Bill Diak, the mayor of Page, Arizona, said the closure of the facilities will be devastating for his town, though tourism to nearby Lake Powell will help soften some of the impact.