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u.s. news Dialuna 3 OctOber 2022
US shift away from coal hits tribal community in New Mexico

(AP) — The clamor of close in 2031.
second graders breaking
away from lessons to form Denise Pierro, a reading
lunch lines has gotten qui- teacher at Judy Nelson, said
eter in a rural New Mex- it’s stressful for parents to
ico community, where see a steady income erased.
families losing coal jobs Pierro’s husband, who served
have been forced to pack as the general manager of the
up and leave in search of mine for the San Juan plant,
work. is among those forced into
early retirement.
At Judy Nelson Elementary, “They’ve taken the rug out
1 in 4 students have left in an from underneath our feet,”
exodus spurred by decisions she said.
made five years ago to shutter
a coal-fired power plant and Area power plants, mines and
mine that sit just up the road associated businesses repre-
from the school in a largely sent 80% of property tax rev-
Navajo community. The enues that fund the Central
plant and mine had provided Consolidated School Dis-
electricity to millions of peo- trict, which spans an area the
ple across the southwestern size of Delaware and Rhode
U.S. for nearly a half-century. Island combined. Almost
93% of the students are Na-
The San Juan Generating vajo.
Station burned its last bit of way in favor of these com- existed now, they would be read: “Thank you to all em-
coal Thursday. The remain- It’s rural and remote. Some panies being shut down. But temporary. And to make up ployees at San Juan for your
ing workers will spend the students ride a school bus for there’s room for improve- for lost property tax revenue, years of dedicated service!”
coming weeks draining wa- three hours round trip, ar- ment,” he said, suggesting she said, some families will The last few dozen employ-
ter from the plant, removing riving home well after sun- more investments could have have to pay up to seven times ees will be laid off over the
chemicals and preparing to set. Internet service is spotty been made. more. coming weeks. Some were
tear down what has long been or nonexistent, and many ready to retire; in June, there
fixture on the high-desert homes don’t have electric- The loss of the San Juan plant It’s been heartbreaking for were voluntary layoffs when
horizon. ity or indoor plumbing. The and the mine ripple through so many Navajos to consider the first of the last two gener-
poverty rate within the dis- every facet of life, from few- leaving home, Aspaas said. ating units closed.
It’s part of the latest wave trict is four times the national er lunch orders at Kirtland’s “That’s what others don’t un- “There’s lots of us who have
of coal-burning units to be level. The median annual café to a dwindling ash sup- derstand,” she said. “There’s worked 20-plus years and we
retired as New Mexico and household income is about ply for concrete manufactur- culture, there’s traditions, all know each other and it’s
other states try to fight cli- $20,000, and the unemploy- ers. Meanwhile, prices have and so it’s not easy.” our family,” said plant direc-
mate change by requiring ment rate hovers around skyrocketed for everything Sharon Clahchischilliage, tor Rodney Warner, who will
more carbon-free sources 70%. from the Navajo staple of once a teacher and a former oversee the decommission-
of electricity. President Joe mutton to the woven baskets New Mexico lawmaker, said ing. “It’s who we are.”
Biden also has pledged to cut New Mexico’s Democratic and other materials needed people in her Navajo com-
greenhouse gas emissions in leaders have celebrated the for healing ceremonies. munity near Shiprock are December would have
half by 2030. plant’s closure while tout- angry. marked 10 years at the plant
ing a landmark 2019 law that Public Service Co. of New “One of them told me, ‘I for Steven Sorrow, 32. He
Just weeks ago, Hawaii’s last pushes for a renewable en- Mexico, which runs the don’t know who to be angry and his coworkers know
coal-fired power plant closed ergy economy. Gov. Michelle plant, is providing $11 mil- at for us having to do this. there’s a good chance they
after 30 years, and more re- Lujan Grisham, who is run- lion in severance packages We don’t have a family any- will have to uproot and pos-
tirements are scheduled ning for reelection, has said to help about 200 displaced more,’” she said, referring sibly enter other fields. Some
around the U.S. over the the law represented a prom- workers. About 240 mine to bonds broken as Navajos will head to Wyoming, Colo-
next decade. ise to future generations for workers are getting severance search for jobs elsewhere. rado or Utah, where there are
a cleaner environment and payments worth $9 million. In the final days, the plant’s other plants and mines.
Realities of shuttering the new job opportunities. Another $3 million went to spinning turbine sent vibra- “It’s going to be an adjust-
San Juan plant are setting in job training. tions through layers of con- ment for sure,” he said. “I
for surrounding communi- Environmentalists have said crete and passing work boots. feel like I’ve tried to prepare
ties, including the Navajo the closure will reduce air A state fund established by Heat emanated from the over the five years when they
Nation, where poverty and and water pollution in a the energy law also includes boilers below. told us what we had left.
joblessness already are expo- region that some have de- $12 million for affected Hopefully I’ve prepared well
nentially higher than national scribed as an industrial sac- workers. In the dim control room, enough.”
averages. Hundreds of jobs rifice zone. They argue that Solar and battery storage workers monitored screens
are evaporating along with power plant emissions and projects are meant to eventu- displaying temperatures, Aspaas said officials need to
tens of millions of dollars in methane from the oilfields ally replace the capacity lost pressure, turbine speeds and find ways to keep the work-
annual tax revenue used to have caused health problems with San Juan’s shutdown pollution control systems. force in New Mexico. She
fund schools and a commu- for residents. and provide jobs during con- Allen Palmer, 70, spent over said the foundation of eco-
nity college. Joe Ramone, a 69-year-old struction. But some of those half his life working his way nomic development is edu-
pipe welder who worked at projects have been delayed up the ranks. cation but without economic
“A lot of the Native American San Juan, lives in a Navajo due to supply chain prob- “I hate to see it close,” he said. development, education suf-
families have multi-gener- community not far from the lems, and others are on hold fers.
ations living in the home so Four Corners plant. When indefinitely amid historic in- Workers knew for years that “This whole transition, ev-
it doesn’t just affect the hus- the wind blows just right, flation and other economic the plant would be shuttered. erything that’s happening,
band and wife. It affects their he said his community is hit constraints. It became more real as coal the closures, that’s what is
children and their grandchil- with ash and coal dust. Fresh off a night shift as an piles shrank each day — un- threatening our ability to
dren,” said Arleen Franklin, Still, he said his priority is electrician at the mine for the til there was nothing left. As keep funding education,” she
who teaches second grade at making sure Navajos have neighboring Four Corners the finish line approached, said. “When you go down
Judy Nelson. Her husband work. Power Plant, Christine As- the company served workers to what it impacts, it is the
purchases equipment for a paas, a Central Consolidated green chile cheeseburgers as education of our people, of
coal mine that feeds another “I don’t want to see anybody School Board member, said a morale booster alongside the Navajo people, our stu-
power plant scheduled to unemployed and I am in no even if those “green” jobs a big projection screen that dents.”