A law passed in the just-finished legislative session offers a little hope to people who were laid off when the San Juan Generating Station and coal mine in Farmington closed.
A long-delayed process is set to begin moving forward again to bring financial assistance to a community where hundreds of people, many from the Navajo Nation, lost their jobs.
A promised $20 million to help people who lost their jobs when the coal-powered complex closed. But it set a one-year time limit on the process, which expired as legal challenges and the pandemic slowed the implementation of the law.
Now, removes that time limit.
"It really was a recognition by the legislature that this process has taken longer than what was expected," said Jason Sandel, a businessman and former Farmington city councilor who leads a community advisory committee which has heard proposals for how the money might be spent.
He says now that the new legislation has passed, the committee will make a decision.
"We have some clarity about those affected workers. And so we'll be in short order coming together to finalize a recommendation," he said.
passed in the session provides for a plan to be made for the cleanup of the generating station and coal mine to minimize environmental contamination.
