Nearly 3,000 Families Expected to Receive Free Navajo Mine Coal

A community member picks coal at the Navajo Mine Community Coal Stockpile. Nearly 3,000 community members are expected to load coal during the winter months.

Published January 21, 2019

NAVAJO MINE, N.M. — On a chilly January morning, Darrell Newton’s three-month-old grandchild sat in the warm interior of the family truck while grandparents and father loaded coal into a flatbed trailer at the Navajo Mine Community Coal Stockpile.

The Newton family enters its sixth generation of getting its coal from Navajo Mine.

“I was like seven or eight years old when I first remember coming with my grandparents,” Newton said. “Now I’m trying to keep my kids warm. We’re all under the same roof.”

Newton, 45, of Tse Daa K’aan (Hogback, NM) remembers the public stockpile being next to the Four Corners Power Plant and you could buy it in bags.

“I never been anywhere else for coal. We keep coming back. I guess it’s part of our lives,” he said. “Now I’m out here with my son and his kid. We’re continuing the family tradition.”

People come from all regions of the reservation to Navajo Mine to load and haul the free coal provided by Navajo Transitional Energy Company. The coal is offered to Chapter members with each Chapter given an allotment based on population and need. Currently, 28 chapters draw coal from the pile with approximately 2,800 allotments given annually. Each allotment represents one family visit to the mine.

“We have a duty to the Navajo people to help them stay warm through the winter months,” said Steve Grey, Navajo Transitional Energy Company’s director of governmental and external affairs. “Navajo Transitional Energy Company’s management of Navajo Mine opened the Community Stockpile to more chapters and Navajo people this year and we’re happy with the results.”

James Pioche, Tse Daa K’aan Chapter President, said he welcomes the coal provided through the stockpile because it heats the homes of elderly people in his community.

“Coal is a very important thing for our community. A lot of them are going through hardship with winter. People don’t realize how important coal is to keep warm,” he said.

He said conditions this winter caused his chapter to declare a state of emergency because some of the elders that live in rural parts of Tse Daa K’aan were burning “anything they could get a hold of.”

“We have elders that live far off the road, burning old clothes to keep warm. This is actually happening,” he said.

Thankfully, he said the chapter loaded coal from the Community Stockpile and delivered coal to the elders in need.

“It is really vital that we receive coal,” he said.

Pioche is one of several people who’ve used the Community Coal Stockpile.

The stockpile has been a busy site the past several months. Lower than normal winter temperatures and the most recent storm has had temperatures hovering at or below zero degrees. With most people still using coal as their main source of home heat, the community stockpile continues to be indispensable resource to local Chapters, Grey said.

Coal is still an inexpensive, plentiful, mined-in-America source for home heating. Propane and natural gas come with a higher price tag, so most homeowners would rather burn coal, Grey added.

We expect the number of allotments to increase as we move deeper into winter season.

“We have received loads of positive feedback from Chapter members about the availability and quality of the coal,” Grey said.

People arrive at the mine as early as 4:00 a.m. to get in line to haul coal. A small backhoe is staffed and available at the site to either load trailers or to turn over the coal pile, so people don’t have to dig through the coal fragments for chunks of coal.

Coal has been used by the grassroots people for many centuries and the same practice is repeated today.  If you would like your Chapter to learn more about the program or have your Chapter added to the program, contact Andy Hawkins, 505-598-2892 or email Andy.Hawkins@nacoal.com.