Laurel Morales/KJZZ

One of the Navajo Generating Station's three 750-megawatt generators.

The Navajo Generating Station in northern Arizona has been a significant source of employment and wealth for nearby communities and the Navajo Nation. But a rapidly-approaching deadline that could lead to the plant’s closure has upped the urgency and, arguably, the tension, over its future.

The NGS may close this year if a buyer can’t be found, as the current owners — including APS and SRP — are ready to shutter it. An entity owned by the Navajo Nation — the Navajo Transitional Energy Company, or NTEC — wants to purchase the plant, but an impasse has been reached. Recently, the NTEC published a full-page ad in The Arizona Republic to update the public on the state of the plant and negotiations.

To learn more, The Show spoke with NTEC’s Governmental and External Affairs Director Steve Grey, asking him whether the current standoff is insurmountable or if there’s hope for more negotiation.

SRP recently confirmed to the Arizona Republic that “the discussion … did end at an impasse” and the utility doesn’t “see a path forward.”

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• What Is The Future Of The Navajo Generating Station?