Last Trainload Of Coal Arrives At Navajo Plant, Page AZ; 3rd-biggest Point Source Of Carbon In US
The last trainload of coal rolled into the Navajo Generating Station near Page on Monday, marking the closure of the mine 78 miles away and starting a countdown for the plant's own darkening. The electric companies that own the coal plant voted in 2017 to close it, citing lower prices from natural-gas plants.
The last load from the electric train means the current 265-person workforce at Peabody Energy's Kayenta Mine will be reduced to a "smaller crew" responsible for filling in the massive holes scraped by drag lines and returning the area to a landscape suitable for native plants and animals as well as livestock. With about 42 days of fuel stockpiled on site, the power plant will remain open a bit longer.
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When running at full capacity, Navajo Generating Station is about the third-largest source of greenhouse-gas emissions in the U.S., depending on how much the other big coal plants run in a given year. For that and other reasons, environmental groups have pushed for years to close the plant. In addition, burning coal releases mercury, which eventually finds its way into the food chain and makes fish from certain lakes in Arizona and elsewhere unsafe to eat.
Coal's sulfur dioxide emissions cause acid rain. Scrubbers installed at Navajo from 1997 to 1999 reduced those emissions by more than 90%. Nitrogen oxides contribute to haze and to breathing problems, much like the smog automobiles cause in cities. SRP installed new controls on each unit from 2009 to 2011 cut those emissions by more than 50%.
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https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/business/energy/2019/08/26/navajo-generating-station-receives-last-trainload-coal-mine-kayenta/2089822001/