coal

Free coal is available to all members of the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe this winter – as long as they can haul it away themselves.

One of the largest coal producers in the United States has sued BNSF Railway, alleging it breached a contract to transport up to 5.5 million tons of coal overseas.

The Kayenta Mine Complex on tribal lands in northeastern Arizona once supplied the coal that lit up homes in Los Angeles and pumped water to Phoenix. The mine closed in 2019, and now Navajo and Hopi people want the land returned so they can use it to graze livestock and gather culturally important plants. Mine reclamation is well underway, but the process is slow, and some worry it’s taking too long. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.

The funding is available to 22 states and the Navajo Nation.

Tribal grassroots groups say the Arizona Corporation Commission has approved a portion of the recommended funding for tribal and rural communities to transition from coal economies.

Friday morning the three smokestacks at the now-closed Navajo Generating Station will be demolished. It marks an end to the most striking visual reminder…