Coal was once the dominant U.S. energy source, powering the country’s growth from the late 1800s into the 1950s. Although it has given way to cleaner, more efficient and more transportable fuels, President Donald Trump has been a vocal proponent of a coal revival. The Navajo Nation could be a central figure in coal’s comeback, but the tribe has a complicated history with the fossil fuel — while it has served as a crucial heating source and pillar of the local economy, it has also left a legacy of health and environmental devastation.
As the tribally owned Navajo Transitional Energy Company looks to extend the life of a New Mexico coal mine — which helps power homes in Phoenix — by more than a century, a panel of four Navajo experts convened at Rio Salado College on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026 to explore a pressing question.
The free discussion was moderated by Gabriel Pietrorazio, KJZZ senior field correspondent.
“Recently I saw the title, like, the ‘Future of Navajo Coal Country.’ What panel am I on?” said Karletta Chief, a Diné hydrologist at the University of Arizona. “There is no future for coal on Navajo lands, and it’s just dirty energy.”
That was the consensus among panelists, which included Chief, who is from the Navajo chapter of Black Mesa where Peabody Energy mined the fossil fuel for generations atop the Colorado Plateau in northern Arizona.
Retired Peabody coal miner Alexander Osif, who is Diné, Hopi and Pima, agreed that the coal industry is not going to make a meaningful comeback on the Navajo Nation. “That’s not going to happen, definitely not with Peabody. … Those days are gone,” said Osif.
Also taking part in the discussion was Clara Pratte, who is Diné and a Democrat running for a seat on the Arizona Corporation Commission. “I have to echo that. I don’t believe there is a future coal country,” said Pratte, who co-founded the public-benefit corporation Navajo Power.
“I think that as the Navajo Nation, we’ve been the battery of the Southwest and the West for a long time,” she continued. “We’ve got a lot of transmission lines there. We’ve got a lot of opportunity. It’s not in coal, and the idea when somebody says, ‘Well, what about clean coal?’ There’s no such thing as clean coal.”
As for nonprofit Diné C.A.R.E. executive director Robyn Jackson, her takeaway is that the Navajo Nation “can’t invest in coal anymore,” stressing “and I hope that for us — our leadership — especially those listening, hear us out.”
Meet the panelists
Karletta Chief is a Diné hydrologist and director of the University of Arizona’s Indigenous Resilience Center. She’s also an extension specialist in environment science at the land-grant university. Her scholarship focuses on water science and informing Indigenous communities in a culturally sensitive manner. Chief aims to facilitate efforts of university climate and environment researchers, faculty, staff and students working with Native Nations to build resilience to climate impacts and environmental challenges. She also leads the National Science Foundation’s Native FEWS Alliance and Indigenous Food, Energy, and Water Security and Sovereignty Program whose vision is to develop a diverse workforce with intercultural awareness and expertise in sustainable food, energy, and water systems [FEWS], specifically through off grid technologies to address the lack of safe water, energy, and food security in Indigenous communities.
Nicole Horseherder is Diné and from the Black Mesa region of the Navajo Nation. Nicole is one of the original founding members of the nonprofit Tó Nizhóní Ání and has been an active member since its establishment. Nicole is a graduate of the University of Arizona with a Bachelor's in Family and Consumer Resources. Nicole received her Master of Arts in Linguistics from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. Canada. Nicole began her work with Tó Nizhóní Ání as an outreach coordinator and interpreting hydrology and legal documents for Diné communities fighting coal-mine impacts. Today Nicole is leading efforts towards transition away from fossil fuel development in the Navajo Nation. Outside of Tó Nizhóní Ání, Nicole enjoys her time with family, horses, ceremonies, and traveling.
Robyn Jackson is executive director of the nonprofit Diné C.A.R.E. She is Tó’áhaní (Near the Water Clan) and grew up in the Chuska Mountains on the Navajo Nation. Her experience includes research, community organizing and organizational management in the areas of environmental health, forest conservation, sustainable food systems and renewable technologies in the Southwest.
Jackson's leadership centers Diné ancestral values of relationality and kinship with the natural world, honoring matriarchal strength and the Diné Philosophy of Life.
Alexander Osif is Navajo, Hopi and Pima, and from Kayenta, Arizona. He's with Canyonlands Healthcare at the Chilchinbeto Clinic in Chilchinbeto, Arizona, one of a dozen clinics serving Arizona and Nevada. Alex is the Black Lung case manager for Canyonlands Healthcare screening for coal miners' lung diseases. He's also a retired coal miner of 36 years and currently serving his third-term as president of United Mine Workers of America Local Union 1924. In this role, Alex works closely with the medical provider and care team as well as miners and other community members who have healthcare needs. Alex is committed to helping provide care for coal and uranium miners, and other community members while serving primarily Native American tribal communities across service areas in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona.
Clara Pratte is a nationally recognized energy leader, entrepreneur and Arizona-born member of the Navajo Nation with a career spanning more than 20 years of public service, entrepreneurship and innovative energy development. Pratte has worked under three U.S. presidents and four Navajo Nation presidents, including managing critical policy portfolios in economic development and tribal affairs in the U.S. Small Business Administration and U.S. Department of Commerce.
Today, she is a Flagstaff small business owner and entrepreneur who champions energy independence and jobs in tribal and rural communities. Pratte co-founded Navajo Power, a public-benefit corporation that develops large-scale energy projects on tribal lands, and owns Strongbow Strategies and Tseebii Sisters Coffee Company.
She is a 2026 candidate for the Arizona Corporation Commission, where her top priority will be lowering utility costs for Arizona families, seniors and veterans. Pratte grew up with no electricity or running water at home, so her campaign to oversee Arizona’s utilities is personal. If elected, she will be the first Native American to serve statewide in Arizona history.
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![Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren [left] Gov. Katie Hobbs and Hopi Chairman Lamar Keevama sign a memorandum of understanding for coal-impacted communities at the Desert Botanical Garden on Aug. 11, 2026.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7ad88d7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4158x2317+0+505/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa5%2F46%2F67ddb3664347bcd872157bbfffaf%2Fnavajo-hopi-az-agreement-cg-20260811.JPG)
The six-page MOU is being touted as a blueprint for cooperation between the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe and the state of Arizona — all of which are “vulnerable to future coal mine and generating station closures.” -
Leadership clarified that non-members — including employees or residents, guests of tribal members, travelers on public roadways and vendors tied to the Tohono O’odham Gaming Enterprise — may still travel freely “without any restrictions.” -
![The Long family [clockwise from top left] Joni Lapahie, Dáilan Long, Jona Lapahie, Emma Long and Emery Long.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ac75967/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2246+0+389/resize/280x156!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8c%2F3e%2Fcb7758794c59b588da1f9a3323b8%2Flong-family-household-burnham-nm-gp-202602.jpg)
Coal has long been the economic bedrock of the Navajo Nation, which owns deposits in Wyoming, Montana and New Mexico. Now, the tribe is asking the Trump administration to dramatically expand the life — and size — of an operational coal mine that could uproot the lives of some Navajo families. And their longtime homes — literally. -
So instead of Santa hand-delivering stockings of coal along with his team of reindeer, it’s NTEC — or the Navajo Transitional Energy Company — with its diesel-powered trucks trekking across the sprawling 27,000-square-mile reservation. -
Coal is perhaps most closely associated with Appalachian states like West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky — or Wyoming, the nation’s leading producer of the fossil fuel. But the coal-mining business was once thriving in northern Arizona as well, atop the Colorado Plateau.
![Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren [left] Gov. Katie Hobbs and Hopi Chairman Lamar Keevama sign a memorandum of understanding for coal-impacted communities at the Desert Botanical Garden on Aug. 11, 2026.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bcf9baa/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4158x2317+0+505/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fa5%2F46%2F67ddb3664347bcd872157bbfffaf%2Fnavajo-hopi-az-agreement-cg-20260811.JPG)
![The Long family [clockwise from top left] Joni Lapahie, Dáilan Long, Jona Lapahie, Emma Long and Emery Long.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8f96e94/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2246+0+389/resize/560x312!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8c%2F3e%2Fcb7758794c59b588da1f9a3323b8%2Flong-family-household-burnham-nm-gp-202602.jpg)
