Grand Canyon Trust

The Grand Canyon Trust works to safeguard the wonders of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado Plateau, while supporting the rights of its Native peoples. It envisions a Grand Canyon and Colorado Plateau where wildness, the diversity of native plants and animals, clean air, and flowing rivers abound; sovereign tribal nations thrive; a livable climate endures, and people passionately work to protect the region they love for future generations. (Substrategy: Advance Conservation Protections)

The Navajo Generating Station (NGS) is a coal-fired power plant located on the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona. It is one of the largest and most polluting coal plants in the West, and should soon be nearing the end of its 50 year life cycle. The plant, along with the associated Peabody coal mine at Black Mesa employs approximately 700 Navajo people and returns nearly $30 million in royalty and other payments to the tribe. While the coal operations employ very few Hopi people, it does provide them with about $12 million in annual royalty payments for the coal mined in the region. While shutting down the Navajo Generating Station, and other coal plants located near or on Navajo tribal land is an important step in moving the western power grid away from coal-dependence, it will have economic consequences for these two tribes, which are among the poorest communities in the United States. The purpose of this grant is to help develop a process that will explore potential transitional and economic development options for the Navajo Nation as it prepares for the lost income and royalties associated with the coal economy that exists today.

The Grand Canyon Trust is the principal advocate for the Colorado Plateau, an area comprising the Four Corners region of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona. The region has the greatest concentration of national parks in the United States, including the Grand Canyon. This general support grant would help the Trust as it seeks to conserve the public land of the plateau, improve management of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, reduce fossil fuel development, stimulate renewable energy development, and broaden conservation support among the region’s Native American peoples.