Expected power plant closures spark unemployment fears

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — One of three coal-fired power plants in the Four Corners region of the southwest has been partially shut down and the other two could close in the next five years. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that the change likely means cleaner air in the region where the borders of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona meet. But it also means hundreds of lost jobs for plant workers and coal miners, many of them members of the Navajo and Hopi tribes. The Public Service Company of New Mexico, the state's largest utility company, announced last week that it is considering closing the San Juan Generating Station near Farmington as soon as 2022 and is already planning to shut down half of its coal-fired units.