Navajo lawmakers take up power plant lease renewal
Web Producer: Mekita Rivas
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) - Navajos lawmakers are set to meet Thursday evening to take up a lease extension for a coal-fired power plant.
The proposed agreement is for a 25-year lease for the Navajo Generating Station in Page that will expire in 2044. The agreement would increase annual payments to the tribe from $3 million to more than $40 million a year.
The special session of the Navajo Nation Council takes places in Window Rock.
The current lease set to expire in 2019 allows for an extension without the Navajo Nation approval. But plant operator, the Salt River Project, says it wants the tribe's support before asking the U.S. Department of the Interior to sign off on it.
The plant powers a series of canals that deliver water to Arizona's major metropolitan areas.
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