Navajo Nation Pleads With Trump To Keep Coal Plant From Closing

Published February 21, 2017 at 10:40 AM MST

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This Sept. 4, 2011 file photo shows the main plant facility at the Navajo Generating Station, as seen from Lake Powell in Page, Ariz. The plant is slated to close in 2019. (Ross D. Franklin/AP)

The Navajo Generating Station, the largest coal-powered plant in the western United States, has powered homes in major cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix for decades.

Now, the utilities that own the plant have agreed to shut it down, 25 years ahead of schedule, because they say cheap natural gas is more cost-effective than burning coal. Closing the plant will be a major blow to the economy of the already impoverished Navajo Nation, which leases the land to the utilities.

Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye, who is lobbying the Trump administration to step in.