More than four years after the closure of an Arizona power plant and the coal mines that supplied it, Hopi tribal leaders are still trying to determine what is adequate compensation for the income they lost.
The Arizona Corporation Commission ordered Arizona Public Service Company to pay the Hopi tribe for the loss of revenue from coal, but the tribe appealed the order because the settlement was based on insufficient evidence and didn’t cover the losses, and in late December the Court of Appeals of Arizona dismissed the case .
In 2021, the commission ordered APS to pay the Hopi tribe $1 million directly and fund electrification projects within the Hopi reservation in an amount “up to $1.25 million” as part of APS’s Coal Community Transition Assistance.
The decision was made after Tucson Power filed a rate application in April 2019, when questions were raised about what would be done to assist communities affected by the transition away from coal-based energy production. In January 2021, APS announced a “Clean Energy Commitment” to end all coal-fired generation by 2031.