The Trump administration has until December to save the largest coal-fired power plant in the West, but the prospects for the plant burning coal after 2019 are questionable.
The deliberations over the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona are beginning to heat up after months of confidential, behind-the-scenes negotiations to secure new owners. The talks will continue into next year even after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signs off on a key environmental determination for the plant and approves a lease extension by Dec. 1.
Zinke ramped up efforts to save the plant after low natural gas prices prompted the owners to decide to close the plant by the end of the year. A temporary lease agreement was forged to keep the plant running until the end of 2019 or until a longer-term solution can be created.
Resuscitating the plant could be the first test of President Trump's resolve to restore demand for coal in the electricity sector, especially since the the government is a majority stakeholder in the plant it is seeking to save. The Interior Department owns a 24 percent stake in the power plant.
"We're looking at it more from an overall preventing the premature closure of coal plants because we think they're important to grid resilience and reliability," said Michelle Bloodworth, the chief operating officer of the pro-coal industry group American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.
Get the Exclusive
05.18.2024