8:30 a.m. December 18th, 2020:
Explosions rocked the base of the first of the three massive smokestacks that have dominated the horizon on the western edge of the Navajo Nation for a half century.
EcoFlight’s Jonathan Kloberdanz captured the demolition of the towering stacks as part of Salt River Project’s demolition of the largest coal-burning power plant in the West. The demolition of the three 775-foot-tall smokestacks at Navajo Generating Station (NGS) is hugely symbolic. It marks the close of a painful chapter for thousands of Navajo and Hopi whose lives and families have been impacted by coal. For the Navajo and Hopi who live in the shadow of NGS, and the now-closed coal mine that fed it, this will not be a time for celebration, however. The demolition is the close of a painful, decades-long chapter for thousands of Navajo and Hopi whose lives and families have been impacted by coal.
From Jonathan:
It was an honor to meet so many new friends today, mostly native, of which many had worked in this coal plant or had relatives who did. I shared in their sentiments, of the difficulty in moving on, of appreciating what was and what is to come.
It felt monumental to see these obelisks of an outdated energy system crumble to the ground. And what an honor to have had the chance to capture it for an organization, EcoFlight, that has worked for the justice of all life forms on mother earth for nearly two decades.
See the footage here:
“Navajo Generating Station Demolished”