Navajo Energy Company To Acquire Shares In Coal Power Plant

The Navajo Nation would expand its investment in coal-fired electricity generation as part of a plan to acquire more shares in one of the Southwest's last remaining coal power plants.

The tribe's Navajo Transitional Energy Co. has negotiated an agreement with New Mexico's largest electric utility to take on the utility's share of the Four Corners Power Plant in 2024. If approved by state regulators, the transaction would preserve jobs at the plant and the adjacent tribally-owned mine for several more years. Many of the workers are Navajo. The deal would also allow the New Mexico utility a faster exit from coal.