- Coalition of environmental groups says it plans to sue over approval of new permits for the Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine.
- Directors of the Navajo Transitional Energy Company give go-ahead for seeking an ownership interest in the Four Corners Power Plant.
A coalition of environmental groups says it plans to sue over the approval last July of new permits for the Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine. On Monday, groups including the San Juan Citizens Alliance and Diné CARE filed a notice of intent to sue numerous agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Office of Surface Mining, over alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act. The plant and the coal mine that feeds it are on the Navajo Nation 15 miles southwest of Farmington, New Mexico, and have been in operation since 1957. The recently granted permits would allow them to continue until 2041. In their notice, the groups say the biological opinion upon which the approval was based is “fundamentally flawed” and that continued operations will threaten endangered fish populations in the San Juan River.
The directors of the Navajo Transitional Energy Company have given the go-ahead to seeking an ownership interest in the Four Corners Power Plant. The Farmington Daily-Times reports that company officials want to acquire a 7-percent interest currently held by the El Paso Electric Company. Arizona Public Service is majority owner of the plant. The Navajo Transitional Energy Company was created in 2013 to manage the Navajo Coal Mine, which the tribe acquired from BHP Billiton.
