Thread by @PeccaryNotPig, Today we witnessed a solemn and historic event: explosions topple the 775-foot-tall [...]

Today we witnessed a solemn and historic event: explosions topple the 775-foot-tall smokestacks of the Navajo Generating Station which has dominated the horizon and negatively impacted the communities of the Navajo Nation for decades. Thread /1

EcoFlight / Jonathan Kloberdanz

Navajo and Hopi Statements on the demolition of smokestacks at largest coal plant in the West

Friday, Dec. 18, 2020
PAGE, Ariz. – At 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning, explosions rocked the base of the first of the three massive smokestacks that have dominated the horizon on the /2

western edge of the Navajo Nation for a half century. In slow motion, the towering stack came crashing down in a thundering cloud of dust, followed in succession by the other two as part of Salt River Project’s demolition of the largest coal-burning power plant in the West. /3

The demolition of the three 775-foot-tall smokestacks at Navajo Generating Station (NGS) is hugely symbolic. It marks the close of a painful chapter for thousands of Navajo and Hopi whose lives and families have been impacted by coal. Until it closed last November, the 2,400 MW/4

power plant generated electricity for Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and other cities, insultingly bypassing Navajo and Hopi homes and businesses. The plant also pumped the massive amounts of water that has allowed Phoenix to grow into the fifth largest city in America/5

all while thousands of Navajo and Hopi homes also lack access to running water.

“The demolition of the smokestacks at NGS is a solemn event,” said Nicole Horseherder, executive director of the Navajo grassroots group Tó Nizhóní Ání, which has worked for 20 years to move the /6

Navajo Nation past coal. “It’s a reminder of decades of exploitation subsidized by cheap coal and water from the Navajo and Hopi. Coal provided jobs and revenue to the Navajo Nation, but Navajo ranchers and farmers, who depended on the land that was mined and the water that /7

fed the mine and power plant, shouldered the cost. While miners were provided safety gear as they worked, hundreds more living near the coal industrial complex had to endure asthma and other health issues without any recourse. /8

“That chapter is now closed,” Horseherder continued. “But the work is far from over. We have to make sure Kayenta Mine is cleaned up. We have to secure water and electricity for many communities that lack access to both. We have to replace the millions of dollars in lost coal /9

revenue from the abrupt closure of the plant and coal mine. And we have to make sure investment flows back into building a more sustainable economy for the Navajo and Hopi.”

“We’re hopeful that this marks the continuation of our transformation into a sustainable economy /10

that is built on fundamental Navajo and Hopi respect for air, land and water and that will have direct, measurable benefits for our communities, not exploit them,” said Carol Davis, executive director of the Navajo grassroots group Diné CARE. “We hope the incoming Biden /11

Administration follows through on commitments it has made to Native American tribes and assists us in addressing the many problems left behind by 50 years of over-dependence on coal.”

“So far, the federal government has failed to meet even its most basic trust /12

responsibilities to the Navajo and Hopi,” said Ben Nuvamsa, a former chairman of the Hopi Tribe. “The massive coal pits and piles that stretch across thousands of acres at Kayenta Mine remain as they were when the mine closed more than a year ago. Billions of gallons of /13

pristine water were pumped from the Navajo Aquifer and I’m not sure if it will recharge in our lifetime. There must be accountability for cleaning up this mess, for restoring vital groundwater that was taken from us and for /14

returning the countless artifacts and burial sites that were removed for the mine.”

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