{"id":4269,"date":"2020-11-09T07:57:21","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T13:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=4269"},"modified":"2020-11-09T07:59:06","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T13:59:06","slug":"native-sun-news-today-reservation-coal-workers-still-out-of-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2020\/11\/09\/native-sun-news-today-reservation-coal-workers-still-out-of-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Native Sun News Today: Reservation coal workers still out of jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/img>\r\n
A bulldozer crawls over a pile of coal at the Kayenta mine on the Navajo Nation in a 2012 photo. Peabody Energy shut down down operations at the facility in December 2019. Photo courtesy Peabody Energy\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n
Mine cleanup provides Rez jobs<\/div>\r\n
Navajo, Hope could benefit<\/div>\r\n
Monday, November 9, 2020<\/div>\r\n
By Talli Nauman<\/div>\r\n
Native Sun News Today Health & Environment Editor<\/div>\r\n
nativesunnews.today<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nBILLINGS, Montana \u2013 In a collapsing coal industry, thousands of lost jobs could be replaced through removal of mine waste that is polluting tribal and other rural lands, according to a new report called \u201cCoal Mine Cleanup Works\u201d<\/a> released October 29.

<\/p>\r\nFor starters, the Navajo Nation could benefit by 1,301 jobs and the Hopi Nation by 416, according to the 35-page report by Kate French, a public administration specialist and regional organizer of Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC).

<\/p>\r\n\u201cThe collapse of the coal industry is devastating small communities across the Western United States, but reclaiming tens of thousands of acres of mined lands could quickly create between 6,000 and 12,000 full-time equivalent jobs over a two- to three-year period,\u201d according to updated findings in the report released by WRC, which is headquartered in Billings.

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\r\n \"tonizhoniani\"<\/div>\r\n
\r\nA T\u00f3 Nizh\u00f3n\u00ed \u00c1n\u00ed participant asks Arizona Corporation Commission for renewable energy development on lands of coal impacted tribal communities. Photo courtesy T\u00f3 Nizh\u00f3n\u00ed \u00c1n\u00ed<\/a><\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nFor comparison, surface mines in the West employed 8,540 workers in 2019.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cThese findings offer a rare bright light of opportunity for the coal communities facing massive lay-offs and lost revenue as the coal industry continues to decline,\u201d WORC said.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cReclamation is one of the few immediately available job opportunities for local workers after a mine shuts down, and the report finds that these jobs are ideally suited for current or former miners.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nAbout 350 miners lost their jobs at Kayenta Mine last year when Navajo Generating Station shut down. \u201cThis report shows up to 200 of them could be back working full time on efforts to reclaim that land over the next few years,\u201d said Nicole Horseherder, director of the Navajo community advocacy organization T\u00f3 Nizh\u00f3n\u00ed \u00c1n\u00ed.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cNavajo and Hopi workers who have been out of jobs for more than a year could be working to restore our lands and waters, but they\u2019re not because since the mine closed last August, Peabody Energy is trying to push off its reclamation obligations for two to four more years,\u201d she said.\r\n

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Peabody Energy laid off over 300 workers when they closed the Kayenta #coal mine last year. New analysis shows Peabody could rehire 200 of them to reclaim the mine. #GoodJobsNow https:\/\/t.co\/WV4ozhi4oC https:\/\/t.co\/b5gvfEcuH6<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

\n\t\t\"X\t\tX (formerly Twitter)\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cPeabody is just leaving big open pits sitting on our land, and people are still out of jobs at a time when we need it most.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nFor nearly 50 years, Kayenta Mine served as the sole supplier of fuel for the largest coal-burning power plant in the West, providing around 8 million tons of coal annually to ship to Navajo Generating Station, or NGS, located 90 miles to the west, according to the report.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nIn early 2017, as coal was becoming an increasingly uneconomic source of electricity, the owners of NGS decided to close the plant. Kayenta loaded its last trainload of coal to NGS in August 2019 and closed its doors for good several months ahead of NGS\u2019s retirement, it says.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nIn the year since Kayenta ceased operations, its owner, Peabody Western Coal Co., has done \u201calmost no reclamation work at the mine,\u201d the report finds. The active mining pits have been left idle, with no significant backfilling or grading taking place.\r\n

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