By Ryan Randazzo | The Republic
The Navajo Generating Station coal-fired power plant near Page and the coal mine that supplies it may close this year in the face of low natural-gas prices that undercut the economics of the plant.
The glut of cheap natural gas sweeping the country has made the plant’s electricity more expensive than simply buying power from natural-gas-fired plants. That trend is bringing renewed focus on whether the five utility owners should continue to run the plant.
Salt River Project, an owner and the plant’s operator, has been negotiating to keep it open but faces a variety of headwinds, from retrofits required by federal environmental regulations to renewing a property lease with the Navajo Nation.
SRP’s northern Arizona coal plant one of the biggest carbon emitters in the country.
