An energy company owned by the Navajo Nation wants to expand the operations of a coal mine in northwestern New Mexico, potentially prolonging its life by up to 110 years.
That’s despite predictions that coal’s share of U.S. power generation will decline in the years to come as more coal-fired power plants are retired. Supporters of Navajo Transitional Energy Company’s (NTEC) proposal argue it’s essential to the tribe’s economic stability and sovereignty.
Burnham Chapter residents who live near the Navajo Mine, which is operated by NTEC, met in Window Rock on Monday to argue against the proposed expansion.
NTEC wants the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) to approve a coal surface mining permit for the so-called No Name area within the existing Navajo Mine lease. That could wind up extending the mine’s life for generations to come.
Those living in Burnham Chapter were joined by the environmental group DINÉ C.A.R.E., which is located on the Navajo Nation.
Devon Norberto, a just transition organizer for DINÉ C.A.R.E., tells KNAU he thinks the attempt to extend the life of the Navajo Mine has been rushed.
“A lot of the concerns we heard were around that the [Burnham] community hadn't been fully notified of this permit,” says Norberto. “They weren't included in the process of environmental review.”
At the press conference in Window Rock, Burnham resident Dáilan J. Long told attendees the process for approving the mine expansion was moving too quickly for the level of impact it could have.
“We are asking for transparency,” Long said into the microphone. “It astounds me right now that many of our leaders right now don’t even know that the 110 year permit is on the table.”
These days, the Navajo Mine has only one customer: the Four Corners Power Plant, which is operated by Arizona Public Service Co. and is slated to close by no later than 2038.
DINÉ C.A.R.E. and community residents want to sway tribal leadership to intervene against NTEC’s proposal, according to Norberto.
“We're really hoping to push for our delegates to ask NTEC to pull their permit, and also asking for the [Navajo Nation] council to revoke the permit,” he says.
Expanding the mine for as many as 110 years would have detrimental impacts on Burnham residents, Norberto says.
“It would relocate some of the families within the leasing area that they are trying to mine at,” he explains. “It would force them to lose their grazing lands. It would remove them from their ancestral ties to the land.”
Chris Rowe, the vice president of a Washington, D.C.-based public affairs company, responded on behalf of NTEC in an emailed statement to KNAU.
He emphasized that the No Name permit application “is not seeking to open a new mine or obtain a new lease” and that its application is “part of the standard five-year federal renewal process that has governed the Navajo Mine for decades, and simply authorizes NTEC to mine minerals that are already encompassed within NTEC’s existing mineral lease.”
“NTEC's participation in the public process surrounding the No Name Permit has been appropriate and transparent at every stage,” he said in the statement. “This is true with NTEC’s participation at several Navajo Nation Chapter meetings.”
Rowe did not specify who would purchase coal from the Navajo Mine if it continues operating for 110 years.
He noted that NTEC is a significant contributor to the Navajo Nation’s economy, and that NTEC’s Navajo Nation operations employ 345 people, including 293 American Indians.
But those economic gains aren't worth what Norberto says are the public health impacts experienced by communities near the Navajo Mine and by some miners who have worked at the complex.
“Our people have dealt with a lot of health problems, ranging from liver damage, kidney damage, heart health, heart diseases, black lung disease, and there's no real process in which we can identify the number of people who are affected,” he says. “It's really widespread throughout the communities who are really within the boundaries of Four Corners Power Plant.”
Retired Navajo coal miners in New Mexico have talked publicly about their suspicions that they have deadly black lung disease, otherwise known as coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, from working at operations like the Navajo Mine.
In August, OSMRE is expected to release a record of decision on the No Name permit and an environmental impact statement.
