Northern Arizona
Coconino and N. AZ regional studies
Regional Economic Assessment & Strategy for Coal-Impacted Navajo and Apache Counties, Arizona, 2018
Economic Contribution of the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) on the City of Page, 2017
Northern Arizona Coal Communities Workforce Initiative, 2018
Highlight from the report:
“The struggle is real for Northern Arizona, and we need assistance. It’s time for focused discussion that leads to action from stakeholders and partners on the state, tribal and federal level. Partnerships with economic and workforce development professionals to start business incubators and accelerators to assist entrepreneurs to start their own businesses is necessary. Assistance is needed from the owners of the utilities to re-purpose their employees into similar opportunities within their own communities while providing alternative power sources. Collaborations must happen between the federal, state, tribal, counties, public and private stakeholders and outside industries to encourage business attraction and relocation, to take advantage of existing infrastructure and innovate new ideas for the resiliency of Northern Arizona.”
National and regional studies
Policy Options to Enable an Equitable Energy Transition, Resources for the Futures, 2021
The report by the D.C. non-profit Resources for the Future provides information on selected federal programs and policies that can be used to support and enable transition. The report covers 36 policies in six categories including energy equity and resilience, environmental damage remediation, clean energy innovation, and economic and workforce development in coal impacted communities. This report notes that Navajo County faces the greatest number of risk factors in transition.
Supporting the Nation’s Coal Workers and Communities in a Changing Energy Landscape, Union of Concerned Scientists | Utility Workers Union of America, 2021
The report details the need for and cost for providing financial support to coal workers and communities. These comprehensive resources will cost between $33 billion over 25 years to $83 billion over 15 years to provide a comprehensive set of resources to coal miners and coal plant workers. The report also identified the most vulnerable counties using 10 criteria to assess risk. The most vulnerable county identified with 9 of 10 risk factors is Arizona’s Navajo County.
BlueGreen Alliance National Energy Transition Policy Framework
The report provides pillars such as Local Leadership and Support, Interagency Grants, Economic Development Support, Workforce, Reclamation, and Bankruptcy to provide a framework of policy options to support transition. The BlueGreen Alliance is a collaboration of labor unions and environmental organizations.