But there’s room for improvement,” he said, suggesting more investments could have been made. “I don’t want to see anybody unemployed and I am in no way in favor of these companies being shut down. Still, he said his priority is making sure Navajos have work. When the wind blows just right, he said his community is hit with ash and coal dust.

Joe Ramone, a 69-year-old pipe welder who worked at San Juan, lives in a Navajo community not far from the Four Corners plant.

They argue that power plant emissions and methane from the oilfields have caused health problems for residents. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who is running for reelection, has said the law represented a promise to future generations for a cleaner environment and new job opportunities.Įnvironmentalists have said the closure will reduce air and water pollution in a region that some have described as an industrial sacrifice zone. New Mexico’s Democratic leaders have celebrated the plant’s closure while touting a landmark 2019 law that pushes for a renewable energy economy. The median annual household income is about $20,000, and the unemployment rate hovers around 70%. The poverty rate within the district is four times the national level. Internet service is spotty or nonexistent, and many homes don’t have electricity or indoor plumbing. Some students ride a school bus for three hours round trip, arriving home well after sunset. “They’ve taken the rug out from underneath our feet,” she said.Ĭheck out the new food items and self-serve booze kiosks at Empower Field this year Pierro’s husband, who served as the general manager of the mine for the San Juan plant, is among those forced into early retirement. Her husband purchases equipment for a coal mine that feeds another power plant scheduled to close in 2031.ĭenise Pierro, a reading teacher at Judy Nelson, said it’s stressful for parents to see a steady income erased. It affects their children and their grandchildren,” said Arleen Franklin, who teaches second grade at Judy Nelson. “A lot of the Native American families have multi-generations living in the home so it doesn’t just affect the husband and wife. Hundreds of jobs are evaporating along with tens of millions of dollars in annual tax revenue used to fund schools and a community college. Realities of shuttering the San Juan plant are setting in for surrounding communities, including the Navajo Nation, where poverty and joblessness already are exponentially higher than national averages. Just weeks ago, Hawaii’s last coal-fired power plant closed after 30 years, and more retirements are scheduled around the U.S. President Joe Biden also has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. It’s part of the latest wave of coal-burning units to be retired as New Mexico and other states try to fight climate change by requiring more carbon-free sources of electricity. The remaining workers will spend the coming weeks draining water from the plant, removing chemicals and preparing to tear down what has long been fixture on the high-desert horizon. The San Juan Generating Station burned its last bit of coal Thursday. The plant and mine had provided electricity to millions of people across the southwestern U.S. The clamor of second graders breaking away from lessons to form lunch lines has gotten quieter in a rural New Mexico community, where families losing coal jobs have been forced to pack up and leave in search of work.Īt Judy Nelson Elementary, 1 in 4 students have left in an exodus spurred by decisions made five years ago to shutter a coal-fired power plant and mine that sit just up the road from the school in a largely Navajo community. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu

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