Navajo lawmakers put off vote
Navajo Nation lawmakers have put off voting on a lease extension for a coal-fired power plant until later this month.
The lawmakers took the action after questioning water use at the Navajo Generating Station in Page, how to control pollution, the federal government's role in the plant and the formation of a negotiating team.
Navajo President Ben Shelly is urging tribal lawmakers to approve the extension. The current lease for the generating station provides the tribe with about $3 million a year. That amount would increase to $43 million a year, starting in 2019, if the tribal council approves an extension to 2044.
Shelly says there's little, if any, room to renegotiate it. He says further negotiations would be detrimental to the tribe and those who work for the power plant.
