The U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently announced more than $100 million to aid the Navajo Nation in its green energy transition.
This investment from the Powering Affordable Clean Energy Program will finance solar-powered facilities and a battery energy storage system for the not-for-profit Navajo Tribal Utility Authority.
It’s supposed to generate more than 30 megawatts of renewable energy for its roughly 40,000 tribal customers in rural Arizona and New Mexico.
“We’ll be able to power about 13,000 homes each year,” said NTUA general manager Walter Haase. “So it allows us to have some power supply to connect up those families that don’t have service today.”
About 10,400 households still live without electricity on Navajoland. So not only will this federal funding help light up more homes, Haase explained it’ll make the entire electrical grid more reliable — meaning fewer power supply spikes.
“By having battery storage, we’re now able to supply that cost-effective economic power that’s produced during the day,” he added, “in those couple hours when the price is very expensive. That is a cost savings.”
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Some traditional Indigenous stories can only be uttered during the wintertime. A member of the Gila River Indian Community has been workshopping a new collaboration with the Great Arizona Puppet Theater that’ll bring old creation tales to life on Saturday.
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A lawsuit has prevented some Arizona ranchers from using wells due to water rights claimed by the Gila River Indian Community.
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The Navajo Nation government recently came to an agreement with mining company Energy Fuels on the transport of uranium from a mine south of the Grand Canyon.
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A temporary exhibit featuring a little-known 1940s American art movement is nearing the end of its run at the Heard Museum in Phoenix. The show highlights the interconnection of Native and non-Native artists as they separately looked to redefine American and Native art.
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After the recent federal funding freeze, a coalition of tribal organizations is calling for confirmation that recent executive orders won’t harm programs and services their communities rely on.