{"id":5564,"date":"2020-12-09T12:09:48","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T17:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=5564"},"modified":"2020-12-09T12:14:42","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T17:14:42","slug":"cronkite-news-navajo-families-line-up-for-heating-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2020\/12\/09\/cronkite-news-navajo-families-line-up-for-heating-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Navajo families line up for heating help"},"content":{"rendered":"\"navajotransitionalenergycompany\"\r\n
The Navajo Transitional Energy Company launched its annual Community Heating Resource Program on October 28, 2020. “Good first day for NTEC’s Community Heating Resource Program, \r\n213 loaded vehicles with free coal. 41 different chapters, the farthest chapter that received a load coal was from Tonalea Chapter which is roughly about 200 miles away (one way), takes about 3.5 hours to get to Navajo Mine,” a post on social media read. Photo: NTEC<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Navajo program again distributes reservation coal to heat tribal homes<\/div>\r\n
Wednesday, December 9, 2020<\/div>\r\n
By Allen H. Awfe<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nWASHINGTON – For decades, coal from the Navajo Nation helped deliver water and helped power homes and businesses throughout Arizona and the Southwest.

<\/p>\r\nNow, some of that coal is being used to heat Navajo homes as well.

<\/p>\r\nFor the fifth straight year, the Community Heating Resource Program (CHRP) is helping Navajo residents stay warm through fall and winter months by distributing coal for free from the Navajo Mine – one ton at a time.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe program<\/a>\r\nkicked off this year on October 28 and will continue through spring. It was formally established by Navajo Transitional Energy Co., which owns the mine in Fruitland, New Mexico, in 2016.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“We’ve probably provided over 18,000 tons of coal to Navajo families,” since 2016, said Cortasha Upshaw, the mine’s community affairs coordinator, who also oversees the program. She said “about 8,900 tons of coal” were distributed last winter alone.

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Good first day for NTEC's Community Heating Resource Program, \r\n213 loaded vehicles with free coal. 41 different…<\/p>Posted by Navajo Transitional Energy Company<\/a> on Monday, November 2, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nUnder the program, NTEC distributes tickets – each redeemable for one ton of coal – to the Navajo Nation’s participating local governments, or chapters, in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Chapter officials then decide how to distribute the tickets among community members, Upshaw said.

<\/p>\r\nThe number of tickets a chapter gets is based on its population. Participation is not required, but Upshaw said “94 of the 110 Navajo Nation chapters are enrolled in the program” this year, and that all but one chapter was enrolled in 2019.

<\/p>\r\nCoal has long provided jobs on the Navajo Nation but has not always had the best reputation, with several coal-fired power plants in the region routinely listed among the worst producers of greenhouse gas emissions. But Nicole Horseherder, director of the environmental advocacy group T\u00f3 Nizh\u00f3n\u00ed \u00c1n\u00ed,<\/a>\r\napplauds the free coal program.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“You can’t compare what’s happening when Navajo Mine decides to deliver heating fuel to Navajo families who live out in the countryside, who don’t have any other way of heating their home,” Horseherder said. “This is different than when APS or SRP (Salt River Project) comes in and burns so many millions of tons.”

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