Federal energy regulators have denied a key permit for a proposed hydro-storage project on the Navajo Nation. The controversial plan was slated for an environmentally and culturally sensitive area near the Little Colorado River.
The Big Canyon Pumped Storage Project would have included multiple dams, four reservoirs and other infrastructure in a remote and rugged area of the Navajo Nation. Multiple tribes, environmental groups and others have fought the plan for years, and say it would threaten water resources, historical sites, ceremonial practice, plant and animal species, and groundwater rights.
Earlier this year the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission announced it would no longer issue preliminary permits to projects on tribal land that are opposed by the tribe. In a federal filing last month, the Navajo Nation Department of Justice rejected the Big Canyon Project.
The Phoenix-based company Pumped Hydro Storage says its application predated the new policy and tribal support would be difficult to secure. But regulators rejected the company’s arguments.
After the project was proposed in 2020, the U-S Department of the Interior voiced its opposition because of possible impacts to wildlife and fish species, and the 11 tribes with historical and cultural ties to the area.
