Biggest coal plant in US West may get another 2 years to live

Bloomberg

The Navajo generating station, the biggest coal-fired power plant in the US West, may live to see another two years. On Monday, Navajo Nation leaders agreed to a deal with the plant’s utility owners that, as originally proposed, could keep the ailing, 2,250-megawatt complex online through December 2019. It would buy the tribe more time to try to attract new owners who are willing to preserve jobs both at the plant on reservation land and the coal mine that supplies it — and to keep critical revenue flowing into the tribe’s coffers.
The fight to keep the Navajo coal plant alive could test President Donald Trump’s resolve to rescue America’s coal industry and bring mining jobs back. Tribal leaders have appealed to the administration for help, and US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has said the agency’s looking at all options to save it.
The deal, which passed with amendments, was the Navajo Nation’s last hope in keeping the coal plant located in the Four Corners area of Arizona running for a little while longer. Without it, the plant’s utility owners led by Salt River Project have said they’d cease operation on July 1 and immediately begin decommissioning activities.
While the pact may give the tribe two-and-a-half years to line up buyers for the plant, it faces an uphill battle given the weak economics for coal and the high cost of retrofits and repairs.
To make the plant a more attractive asset, the Arizona Corporation Commission has proposed that the Interior Department, which has a 24 percent stake in the plant, commit to covering half of its maintenance costs. The agency hasn’t committed to taking any particular action.