Council OK’s lease to keep NGS open
Navajo Times | Krista Allen The Navajo Generating Station near Page, Arizona, could shut down this year, taking more than 1,000 jobs with it.
LECHEE, Ariz.
After nearly eight hours of debate, the Navajo Nation Council on Monday passed legislation that will permit the Navajo Generating Station to remain open through 2019.
The Council voted 18-4 on the bill, introduced by Speaker LoRenzo Bates on May 24, just five days before the July 1st deadline, imposed by the plant owners for a decision by the Nation.
The approval comes after the Council voted on June 19 to table the measure and to check whether the plant’s owners would be open to some amendments or not.
The Council last night gave thumbs up to four of nine amendments to the bill, which concern the use of water, the resolution of disputes, and the swapping of some language.
The Nation and the five utility owners – Arizona Public Service Co., NV Energy, Salt River Project, Tucson Electric Power, and the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation – have been negotiating a replacement lease since February 13, when the owners voted to close the plant at the end of December 2019 because of competition from cheap natural gas.
The plant would have been been shut down and the owners would have started decommissioning it as soon as next week if the Council did not pass the legislation.
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Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow