NTEC History
The story of America’s largest Native American-owned coal producer.
Navajo Mine operator Utah International was acquired by General Electric.
BHP Billiton and the owners of the FCPP are unable to reach agreement on the renewal of the coal supply agreement. BHP Billiton decides to divest its interest in the Navajo Mine and begins to search for a suitable buyer.
The Navajo Nation conducts an extensive survey and tribal member comment exercise that results in the issuance of the Navajo Nation’s 2013 Energy Policy. The Navajo Nation re-affirms its inherent sovereign rights to develop its natural resources to promote the economic development of the Nation.
The Navajo Nation creates NTEC under Navajo law as an autonomous commercial entity to “promote the development of the Navajo Nation’s resources and new sources of energy, power, transmission and attendant resources to develop the economic, financial, social and cultural well-being of the Navajo People and the Navajo Nation.” NTEC is formed as an LLC with the Navajo Nation as its sole shareholder.
Department of Interior and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement issue a record of decision approving a 25-year site lease extension for Navajo Mine and Four Corners Power Plant.
NTEC names North American Coal Corp. as the new Navajo Mine operator. North American Coal forms Bisti Fuels LLC to operate Navajo Mine. Bisti assumes operational control of the mine on January 1, 2016.
NTEC finalized the acquisition of seven-percent ownership of Four Corners Power Plant, a 1,550 MW power plant. This makes NTEC the only tribal company in the United States to have partial ownership of a coal-fired power plant.
With the closure of NGS and Kayenta mine, NTEC massively expands its free coal distribution program to provide essential heating coal across the Navajo Nation and to the Hopi communities.
NTEC acquires interest in Texas Minerals Corp. to invest in rare earth minerals project near El Paso, Texas. Rare earth minerals are needed to build solar panels, wind turbines and for modern electronics.
In October 2019, NTEC acquired the assets of Cloud Peak Energy through a bankruptcy auction process. These include three coal mines in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana (Antelope, Cordero Rojo, and Spring Creek). NTEC becomes the third-largest producer of coal in the United States.
Navajo Mine makes history by earning the National Mining Association’s prestigious Sentinels of Safety Award – presented each year to the mine with the best safety record in the US – and the National Award for Excellence in Surface Mining Reclamation. While NTEC has received both of these awards multiple times (Sentinels of Safety in 2020 & 2022, and Excellence in Surface Mine Reclamation in 2016, 2021-22 & 2024), they had never before been awarded to the same mine in the same year.
After a decade of growth as the first large-scale mining operation owned by a federally recognized tribe on its own lands, CEO Vern Lund reflected, “We are incredibly proud of NTEC and the work it does to provide economic and social opportunities otherwise not available to the Navajo People.”
Annual taxes and royalties paid by Navajo Mine and Four Corners Power Plant operations account for 35% of the Navajo Nation General Fund, and generate $183M in economic impact annually.
NTEC Headlines
