By Ryan Randazzo | The Republic
Lawmakers debated but failed to pass a proposal to give about $12 million in annual tax breaks for coal sales Wednesday in an effort to save the Navajo Generating Station power plant, which is closing next year.
Related: Copper could be the solution for displaced coal miners on the Navajo Reservation
Potential buyers are looking at the power plant, but are unlikely to step in and save it without the tax break, said bill sponsor Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Tucson.
Peabody Energy runs the Kayenta Mine on Navajo and Hopi land in northern Arizona. The mine sells coal to the power plant 80 miles away. If the plant closes, so will the mine.
Finchem argued that taxes on the coal are are illegal, but the courts have not recognized that. His bill made it through the House but was held in the Senate Finance committee Wednesday.
“We just don’t tax natural resources,” Finchem told members of the Senate committee.
