The Interior Department announced Wednesday more than $119 million meant to aid communities reclaiming abandoned coal mines — part of President Donald Trump’s agenda to achieve American energy dominance.
Two tribes were named as grant recipients.
The Navajo Nation and Crow Tribe of Montana are among 24 coal-producing states getting federal dollars, including Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.
Between the pair of tribes, they tallied $607,376 in federal funding stemming from the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. The Crow Tribe got $148,721, while the Navajo Nation secured $458,655.
On top of that, the federal agency on Thursday announced another $3.67 million each for the Navajo Nation, Crow Tribe and Hopi Tribe through the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization Program, which is supposed to help states and tribes by “turning legacy coal mining sites into engines of economic growth.”
Despite diversifying and transitioning to some sources of renewable energy, like solar, the Navajo Nation still heavily depends on coal to fuel its economy — even though the Navajo Generating Station in Page and nearby mines at Black Mesa and Kayenta all shut down within the last two decades.
Four Corners Power Plant, owned by APS, solely relies on coal coming from the Navajo Mine near Fruitland in New Mexico. It produces almost 5 million tons of coal annually, generating over a third of the tribe’s general fund.
Trump signed a slate of executive orders in April, aiming to boost the industry.
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State environmental regulators have given the owner of a uranium mine near the Grand Canyon the green light for higher levels of arsenic in groundwater under the facility. -
Colorado River Indian Tribes Chairwoman Amelia Flores met with leaders from around the world to discuss legal personhood for rivers. -
Across tribal communities in northeastern Arizona, 1 in 3 homes does not have running water. But now, there’s a way to help fix that. -
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are resisting the deal because it would allow the Navajo and Hopi to lease water to cities downstream, likely the growing towns around Phoenix. -
More than 56 million acres — nearly 3% of the U.S. landmass — belong to tribes. The Land and Water Conservation Fund has aided more than 47,000 projects, like parks and trails, in nearly every county nationwide.
