No one knows what’s next

On Oct. 11, the U.S. Department of Commerce laid out a plan to distribute $30 million in grants to communities where the local economy has suffered or faces a downturn due to the decline of coal operations.

Of that, $624,000 will go to communities affected by the NGS and Kayenta closures, aimed at promoting “economic diversification, job creation, capital investment, workforce development and re-employment opportunities,” according to a press release from the agency. About two-thirds of the money will go to the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation, some will go to Navajo County, and about $100,000 will go to an Arizona State University initiative to promote renewable energy production in the area.

NGS had set an Oct. 1 deadline to find a new owner or ownership group. But Lazard Fréres & Co. LLC, a financial management firm that’s been contracted to seek a new owner of the operation, said in recent weeks that it has a list of potential owners and is still pursuing the idea that NGS could be bought and continue operations past 2019.

Lazard has not identified who the potential buyers are, and NGS officials say they’re still preparing for the planned closure.

While the tribal communities around Navajo Generating Station and the Kayenta coal mine wait anxiously to find out what comes next, Fowler, the Coconino County supervisor, said she sees parallels between the current situation and what Native Americans have been subjected to for centuries.

“They herded us onto desolate lands. Then the federal government took children away and put them in boarding schools,” Fowler said, referring to the “Indian schools” of the early 20th century. “There goes your language, your culture, who we are. Now kids come home and can’t speak with their grandparents.”

The closure of the mine could well result in divided families and an even more fractured community ― like any number of other sweeping actions that had broad repercussions for Native Americans, but that weren’t in their control.

“It’s one traumatic experience after another,” Fowler said. “This is another.”