Coal plant on tribal land to close after powering US West

ALONG THE BLACK MESA AND LAKE POWELL RAILROAD, Ariz. — Ron Little nestles into a familiar seat aboard a train locomotive and slides the window open, leaning out to get a better view of dozens of rail cars that stretch for a mile behind and the landscape he knows so well.

The heavy steel wheels roll along a dizzying pattern of concrete railroad ties that snake through sandstone formations, boulder-laden arroyos and grasslands. Little points to a rock formation named for the reddish dirt that Navajos use to dye wool for rugs and another with a cutout like the handle of a milk jug.

http://www.startribune.com/long-running-coal-plant-on-navajo-reservation-nears-its-end/564281912/