Largest coal plant in the West shuts down, dealing financial losses to Native American tribes

The Navajo Generating Station coal-fired power plant burned the last of its coal Monday, marking the end of the plant's 45-year run, Salt River Project, an Arizona utility company, announced. The plant was the largest coal plant in the West, and its closure will affect the entire region. The mine supplying the plant closed in August after sending the final shipment of coal to the plant via an electric railroad that stretched 78 miles between the two locations. Since then, the plant had burned down its coal stockpile, which covered more area than a Walmart superstore and parking lot. The last bit of usable coal burned Monday and the power plant, which could produce 2,250 megawatts of power at full capacity, sent its last electrons down the transmission lines to Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas at about 12:09 p.m...MORE