美国国家公共电台 NPR Looming Shutdown Of The Navajo Generating Station Means New Jobs Far From Home

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Navajo leaders are scrambling¹ to find a new owner for the West's largest coal-fired power plant, the Navajo Generating Station. For four decades, both the Hopi and Navajo tribes have relied heavily on jobs provided by the coal industry. Unless a new owner for the plant can be found, it's scheduled to shut down at the end of next year. Many of its employees aren't waiting for a new owner, though. From KJZZ's Fronteras Desk in Flagstaff, Laurel Morales reports.

LAUREL MORALES, BYLINE²: From the LeChee Chapter House just south of Page, Ariz., three smokestacks from the Navajo Generating Station poke³ through the horizon like a pitchfork. Behind them, red sandstone mesas tower over the gleaming Lake Powell. Jerry Williams is the president of the LeChee Chapter. And he's worked for the Navajo Generating Station for 38 years. Two weeks ago, he had to make a tough decision, stay with the plant or accept a redeployment down near Phoenix⁴.

JERRY WILLIAMS: I thought that I'd be the last one to turn that switch off and say, hey, we're done. But it didn't turn out that way.

MORALES: Williams chose to take a job at a natural gas facility owned by Salt River Project - or SRP - the utility that operates the Navajo Generating Station.

WILLIAMS: I'm short of retirement⁵. I'm 58 years old. If I was going to retire next year - not being 65, you get penalized⁶ for every year that you retire early.

MORALES: William says his wife refuses to go to Phoenix, so he plans to drive 300 miles back to LeChee on the weekends. About a third of the plant's 500 employees have also taken a new job with SRP near Phoenix. And more may follow.

WILLIAMS: Few people I know - they turned their offers down. Couple of them that I know are close to retirement. And some of them are just - they have families. They have kids here in the school system. And some of them have property that they bought here.

MORALES: So they will settle for minimum-wage jobs or live off the land like their ancestors have done. No other job on the Navajo Nation pays as well as the Navajo Generating Station. The revenue, taxes and royalties⁷ from coal make up about a third of the Navajo operating budget and most of the Hopi budget.

SEAN TEE: There's no comparison.

MORALES: Sean Tee talked to me in his new apartment near Phoenix. SRP relocated him to a natural gas plant there a few months ago.

TEE: The job that NGS provided was - you could live beyond your means. I was able to provide a pretty good life for my siblings⁸.

MORALES: And Tee still sends money back home. He misses his family and animals in Tuba City.

TEE: You know, I like a rural life where, you know, there's still a dirt road. And there's less noise, less traffic, less people. I had a few roping steers⁹, four horses. We always had sheep. But the sheep didn't last that long because we always eat them (laughter).

MORALES: Tee would like to go back home someday. Jonathan Miller¹⁰, on the other hand, says he's given up making the Navajo Nation home. Miller still lives in LeChee and works for the plant. He says he sees too much dysfunction on the reservation, not to mention the economic struggles.

JONATHAN MILLER: Boy, if you look at the economic condition on the reservation, the only thing that holds this nation together is the natural resources.

MORALES: Half of the tribe is unemployed¹¹.

MILLER: I think a lot of the younger people are willing to move on. But I don't think they have too much of a tie anymore to the land or to, I guess, their grandparents' way of lifestyle. They weren't trained how to do that anymore.

MORALES: So when SRP hands Miller his redeployment offer, he says he will take it and go. For NPR News, I'm Laurel Morales in Flagstaff.

(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN MOULDER'S "JOURNEY TO THE EAST, PART 1")

1 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

4 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

5 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

6 penalized   

对…予以惩罚( penalize的过去式和过去分词 )； 使处于不利地位

参考例句：

• You will be penalized for poor spelling. 你拼写不好将会受到处罚。
• Team members will be penalized for lateness. 队员迟到要受处罚。

7 royalties   

特许权使用费

参考例句：

• I lived on about £3,000 a year from the royalties on my book. 我靠着写书得来的每年约3，000英镑的版税生活。 来自辞典例句
• Payments shall generally be made in the form of royalties. 一般应采取提成方式支付。 来自经济法规部分

8 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

9 steers   

n.阉公牛，肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 )；操纵；控制；引导

参考例句：

• This car steers easily. 这部车子易于驾驶。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fodder fleshed the steers up. 优质饲料使菜牛长肉。 来自辞典例句

10 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

11 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。