This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Window Rock, Ariz. • Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye is scheduled to sign a lease extension that will allow a coal-fired power plant in northeastern Arizona to continue operating through December 2019.
The tribe's council approved the extension earlier this week, and Begaye is expected to sign the lease Saturday afternoon.
It means at least 700 jobs at the Navajo Generating Station near Page and the coal mine that supplies it won't be immediately lost.
The lease for the 1970s-era plant is set to expire in two years.
The plant's owners announced in February they would close it because cheaper power from natural gas is readily available
They told the Navajo Nation Council that they'd shut it down this year if they didn't get an extension.