By Ryan Randazzo | The Republic
The Hopi Tribe and coal-miners on Tuesday filed a lawsuit that aims to force the Central Arizona Project to continue buying power from a troubled coal-fired power plant near Page.
CAP officials said last year that moving to natural-gas power instead of the coal plant could save money for water users throughout Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties.
The plaintiffs said there is no guarantee gas prices will remain lower than running the coal plant, though that is what the plant’s operators have forecast for the foreseeable future.
The Navajo Generating Station is on Navajo land, and is scheduled to close next year. That will force the closure of the Kayenta Mine about 80 miles away, which is on Navajo and Hopi land.
The biggest user of the plant’s power is the Central Arizona Project, which uses the power to pump water from the Colorado River to Phoenix and Tucson.
