Latest news with #LightUpNavajo
Bangkok Post
3 days ago
- General
- Bangkok Post
Faced with US heat waves, the Navajo push for power -- and A/C
TONALEA (UNITED STATES) - Workmen plant electricity poles in the rust-orange earth of the Navajo Nation and run cables to Christine Shorty's house -- finally giving her power against the searing Arizona desert heat. It will be a luxury in the vast Native American reservation, the largest in the United States, where more than 10,000 families are still without electricity and therefore air conditioning. "It's climate change. It's getting hotter," Shorty tells AFP. "This would be easier for us with the fan and maybe air conditioning. And we look forward to that." In her 70 years, Shorty has seen her isolated, tiny hamlet of Tonalea, a dot in the enormous area of the reservation, change dramatically. Summer monsoon rains are rarer, and temperatures can touch 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) in July and August -- previously unthinkable in the hamlet, located on a plateau at an altitude of 5,700 feet (1,730 metres). The area's seasonal lakes are drying up, and in some years the livestock are dying of thirst. Like many others, Shorty has a generator and small solar panels that allow her to power a gas fridge, cook and watch television. But their power is limited, and she often has to choose which appliance to plug in. Being hooked up to the electrical grid is "a big change. It's going to make my life a lot easier," she tells AFP. - 'Survival mode' - Most of the United States was electrified in the 1930s under president Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal initiatives. But in the Navajo Nation, which stretches across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, the first efforts only began in the 1960s, and there are still not enough power lines. "This area was looked over," says Deenise Becenti of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA), the agency that manages the reservation's infrastructure. "That surprises many people. They're saying, you know, why are there third world conditions that exist here in the United States, the greatest country in the world?" To catch up, the semi-autonomous government of the reservation launched the "Light Up Navajo" project in 2019. The humanitarian initiative sees electricity companies from all over the country send their employees to work in the reservation for around a dozen weeks a year. Since 2019, electricity has been supplied to 5,000 families in the reservation, including 1,000 thanks to "Light Up Navajo," Becenti said. But as climate change drives temperatures higher, families still without power in the reservation -- where many live below the poverty rate and unemployment is high -- are in "survival mode," she said. - 'Angry' - Elbert Yazzie's mobile home turns into a furnace in the summer, and he has already lost one member of his extended family to heat stroke. "I used to like the heat," the 54-year-old, who lives in nearby Tuba City, tells AFP. "But when you get older I guess your body can't take it no more." His home was finally connected to electricity just weeks ago. Since then, he has rigged up an evaporative air cooler, also known as a "swamp cooler", by salvaging three broken appliances from a garbage dump. "Now we can turn on the A/C anytime we want, so we don't have to worry about the heat, and the generator and the gas, and all that stuff," he says. "Now we don't have to go to (other) people's houses to cool down, we can just stay home, relax, watch TV, things like that." He and Shorty are the fortunate ones. Without more funding, connecting the remaining 10,000 Navajo families without electricity could take another two decades, Becenti says. That is far too long for Gilberta Cortes, who no longer dares let her children play outside in the summer, for fear of getting heat-exacerbated nosebleeds. An electricity pole has just been erected in front of the 42-year-old's house and a line is due to be extended to her in a few months' time. But she has endured too much false hope to be serene. "My mom and dad were in their 20s, they were promised power," but it never materialised, she says.
Int'l Business Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Faced With US Heat Waves, The Navajo Push For Power -- And A/C
Workmen plant electricity poles in the rust-orange earth of the Navajo Nation and run cables to Christine Shorty's house -- finally giving her power against the searing Arizona desert heat. It will be a luxury in the vast Native American reservation, the largest in the United States, where more than 10,000 families are still without electricity and therefore air conditioning. "It's climate change. It's getting hotter," Shorty tells AFP. "This would be easier for us with the fan and maybe air conditioning. And we look forward to that." In her 70 years, Shorty has seen her isolated, tiny hamlet of Tonalea, a dot in the enormous area of the reservation, change dramatically. Summer monsoon rains are rarer, and temperatures can touch 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) in July and August -- previously unthinkable in the hamlet, located on a plateau at an altitude of 5,700 feet (1,730 meters). The area's seasonal lakes are drying up, and in some years the livestock are dying of thirst. Like many others, Shorty has a generator and small solar panels that allow her to power a gas fridge, cook and watch television. But their power is limited, and she often has to choose which appliance to plug in. Being hooked up to the electrical grid is "a big change. It's going to make my life a lot easier," she tells AFP. Most of the United States was electrified in the 1930s under president Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal initiatives. But in the Navajo Nation, which stretches across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, the first efforts only began in the 1960s, and there are still not enough power lines. "This area was looked over," says Deenise Becenti of the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority (NTUA), the agency that manages the reservation's infrastructure. "That surprises many people. They're saying, you know, why are there third world conditions that exist here in the United States, the greatest country in the world?" To catch up, the semi-autonomous government of the reservation launched the "Light Up Navajo" project in 2019. The humanitarian initiative sees electricity companies from all over the country send their employees to work in the reservation for around a dozen weeks a year. Since 2019, electricity has been supplied to 5,000 families in the reservation, including 1,000 thanks to "Light Up Navajo," Becenti said. But as climate change drives temperatures higher, families still without power in the reservation -- where many live below the poverty rate and unemployment is high -- are in "survival mode," she said. Elbert Yazzie's mobile home turns into a furnace in the summer, and he has already lost one member of his extended family to heat stroke. "I used to like the heat," the 54-year-old, who lives in nearby Tuba City, tells AFP. "But when you get older I guess your body can't take it no more." His home was finally connected to electricity just weeks ago. Since then, he has rigged up an evaporative air cooler, also known as a "swamp cooler," by salvaging three broken appliances from a garbage dump. "Now we can turn on the A/C anytime we want, so we don't have to worry about the heat, and the generator and the gas, and all that stuff," he says. "Now we don't have to go to (other) people's houses to cool down, we can just stay home, relax, watch TV, things like that." He and Shorty are the fortunate ones. Without more funding, connecting the remaining 10,000 Navajo families without electricity could take another two decades, Becenti says. That is far too long for Gilberta Cortes, who no longer dares let her children play outside in the summer, for fear of getting heat-exacerbated nosebleeds. An electricity pole has just been erected in front of the 42-year-old's house and a line is due to be extended to her in a few months' time. But she has endured too much false hope to be serene. "My mom and dad were in their 20s, they were promised power," but it never materialized, she says. "I'm still angry." Most of the United States was electrified in the 1930s, but efforts in the Navajo Nation only began in the 1960s, and there are still not enough power lines AFP New utility poles bringing electricity to the Navajo Nation are seen in Cameron, Arizona AFP Elbert Yazzie's mobile home turns into a furnace in the summer, and he has already lost one member of his extended family to heat stroke AFP Navajo Nation resident Gilberta Cortes, 42, who uses a generator for electricity, carries her child outside her home in Cameron, Arizona on July 9, 2025, as she waits for electricity from the power grid to reach her residence AFP 'Light up Navajo' sees electricity companies from all over the country send their employees to work in the reservation AFP
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Baldwin County linemen ‘Light Up Navajo' with something they have never had before: electricity
BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. (WKRG) — We take it for granted, but a simple flip of a switch is changing lives — not only for the Navajo people in Chinle, Arizona, but in the lives of those responsible for making it happen right here at home. UPDATE: Federal Bureau of Prisons responds to Todd Chrisley's allegations about FPC Pensacola 'Smiles from ear to ear — happiness. They knew the day was coming, but it was still not the same as the moment that it happens,' Riviera Utilities lineman Bryan Cook said, describing the moment the lights came on for one family for the first time. Richard Sanspree is a lineman with Riveria Utilities and heard about an initiative called 'Light Up Navajo,' where utilities and co-ops volunteer their time to string line, put up poles, and connect the Navajo Nation with something many have never had, electricity. 'I just couldn't believe that there were people in the United States with no power,' Cook said. 'That just hit me hard, and it still hits me hard. I got chills now.' 'Here, everybody would be freaking out. The apocalypse,' said lineman Hunter Wilson. 'But there, it's just normal life. They don't think anything of it.' For 10 days, nine Riviera linemen traveled to and worked in the Arizona desert, 12 to 14 hours a day. 'It's a different environment,' Cook said. 'And at the end of the day, it's helping people because none of us knew that nobody had power.' 'They were just as excited as we were to build it to see it built,' veteran lineman Paul Shoenight said. It was hard work. The equipment used to dig through rock is different, and the terrain is unlike anything they had ever encountered. 'It is a wide open area and the homes are so far out from town that it takes an hour or so to get to one residence,' Shoenight said. Light Up Navajo began in 2019 with 15 thousand families living without electricity. Now, almost five thousand have power, but there is still a lot of work left to do, according to Shoenight. 'The Navajo Nation people are the nicest, humble people I have ever met in my life, and I would love to go back,' he said. By the end of the trip, nine families had electricity for the first time. 'It was actually emotional and hard,' Sanspree said. 'I wish we could have stayed another week.' 'The first thing they said, 'We are going to buy an a/c and a refrigerator,'' Wilson laughed. While the Riviera crew was able to 'light up' at least part of the Navajo Nation, what they got in return will stay with them forever. 'It was an experience of a lifetime,' Shoenight said. 'It was more than I thought it was.' UPDATE: 75-year-old man shot, killed by MPD after pointing gun at officers Making a difference just by flipping a switch. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
