The Interior Department is arguing that it has the legal authority to keep the largest coal plant in the West open, in an attempt to keep project managers in Arizona from finding alternative energy resources such as natural gas.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s head of water and science sent a letter Friday to the Central Arizona Project board of directors to explain Zinke’s congressional mandate in determining the fate of the Navajo Generating Station coal plant.
“While the department recognizes that many circumstances have changed since passage of the 1968 act, including enactment of the 2004 Arizona Water Settlements Act, it currently believes that the 1968 act remains the applicable governing authority and must be addressed in any decision relating to future sources of project power,” the letter from assistant secretary Tim Petty reads.
The letter was sent ahead of the board’s June 7 meeting, when it is expected to consider its options. It was sent the same day President Trump ordered Energy Secretary Rick Perry to save the nation’s struggling coal and nuclear plants from closing prematurely. Before then, the Interior Department had been relatively quiet about using the secretary’s 50-year-old authority to stop the board from finding new resources to replace the coal plant.
The power plant was constructed as the most reliable way to pump water into the central part of the state. Under a 1968 congressional charter, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation now owns a 25 percent stake in the coal-fired power plant.
“With the 1968 act in mind, the department expects to consider several options going forward, including the feasibility of continued use of NGS-provided power,” the letter stated. “We hope to work collaboratively with the district and other stakeholders to explore available options consistent with the 1968 act, which may include the submission of a new plan to Congress that reflects currently available and economically viable sources of power.”
The coal plant is slated to close at the end of 2019, but the board is looking for alternatives, even though Zinke convinced the plant’s current owners to halt an earlier closure while new owners are found. The current owners, with the exception of Interior, want to sell off the Navajo plant because low natural gas prices are making it difficult financially to continue to run.
A coalition called “Yes to NGS” plans to rally Wednesday with more than 300 miners and their families. The coalition argues that closing the plant early would be devastating to jobs and increase the cost of electricity in the region.
The coalition also demands that the board delay signing any agreement for 90 days to allow a new purchaser to square away the details of taking ownership of the plant.
