{"id":49050,"date":"2026-05-08T13:59:58","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T20:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=49050"},"modified":"2026-05-08T13:59:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T20:59:59","slug":"with-promises-of-money-controversial-gas-pipeline-on-navajo-nation-passes-first-hurdle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/with-promises-of-money-controversial-gas-pipeline-on-navajo-nation-passes-first-hurdle\/","title":{"rendered":"With Promises of Money, Controversial Gas Pipeline on Navajo Nation Passes First Hurdle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Pipeline would cross 234 miles of tribal land in New Mexico and Arizona. Committee hearing schedule catches community group off guard.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

by Jerry Redfern, Capital and Main<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story<\/a> was originally published at Capital and Main<\/a>, a NMPBS partner.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"A
An undocumented wellhead sits in the Rattlesnake Oil Field near Shiprock, New Mexico. A proposed natural gas pipeline would pass about a mile north of this spot, carrying the fossil fuel across the Navajo Nation. Photo: Jerry Redfern.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A 234-mile stretch of pipeline<\/strong> that could carry natural gas or natural gas-hydrogen blends across the Navajo Nation is a step closer to reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Resources and Development Committee of the Navajo Nation Council passed a resolution at the end of March to conditionally allow Tallgrass Energy \u2014 through its subsidiary GreenView Resources \u2014 to begin work on a section of a natural gas pipeline that will traverse the Navajo Nation, running from a spot near Farmington, New Mexico, to another spot roughly 40 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona. It is the only vote the Nation will take on this measure. It is also the only segment of the pipeline to be publicly announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The resolution passed 3-1, with one council member absent and committee chair Brenda Jesus abstaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the resolution, the right-of-way is contingent on completion \u201cof all required environmental studies and archaeological clearances.\u201d But the committee debate focused primarily on money \u2014 who had it and how to get more of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs tribes we don\u2019t have the capital or the equity to have Indian tribes and Indian country be able to build out a project of this magnitude,\u201d Jesus said. \u201cAt the end of the day, we have to partner up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Committee member and resolution co-sponsor Danny Simpson said, \u201cAny type of energy development we propose on the Navajo Nation we will definitely have opposition. \u2026 And it stops projects.\u201d But, he continued, \u201cIf we don\u2019t have any revenues \u2026 how can we help our communities?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is already five years in the making. Plans initially called for the pipeline to transport hydrogen but shifted last year to natural gas or a blend of the two. The change was made without consulting the Navajo Nation, rankling many.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the March hearing, Otto Tso, delegate to the Navajo Nation Council, was clearly still bothered by the shift away from hydrogen and said, \u201cWe had to find this out through a third-party source.<\/a>\u201d He was the only committee member to vote against the resolution allowing Tallgrass to begin work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy issue is that you\u2019re going forward rather radically,\u201d Tso said. \u201cWe don\u2019t do this for our [Navajo] enterprises. We don\u2019t give them this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the hearing, Adam Schiche, vice president for business development at Tallgrass Energy, responded, \u201cWe\u2019ve tried to be transparent about our intentions.\u201d He said the hydrogen was planned for Asian markets and the fuel change \u201cwas a market decision. The market decided there was a need for natural gas, particularly for power centers, for data centers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fuel change also altered the project\u2019s environmental underpinnings. The original plan would have transported hydrogen for clean energy and industrial projects. The plan now calls for natural gas or natural gas-hydrogen blends to be burned for electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t clear that everyone on the committee understood the difference in the fuels. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about energy. And we\u2019re talking about clean energy,\u201d Simpson said during the hearing. Natural gas is not generally considered a clean energy source \u2014 burning it generates climate-warming and air-polluting emissions, and leaks in its production chain lead to further climate-warming emissions and air pollution<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know that natural gas still comes from a fossil fuel,\u201d Simpson continued, \u201cbut the Navajo Nation needs to enforce clean energy.\u201d In the end he voted to let the project proceed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
Danny Simpson, left, a Navajo Nation council delegate, poses with Adam Schiche, vice president for business development at Tallgrass Energy. Photo from the 25th Navajo Nation Council Facebook page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This legislation was the first official step for a pipeline that will require buy-in and permits across multiple governments. As of publication there were no publicly filed documents referencing either Tallgrass or GreenView with the regulatory agencies in New Mexico, Arizona or the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the prime federal pipeline permitting agency. Those permits and subsequent construction will likely take years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project could supply<\/a> fuel for up to three new power plants in Phoenix and Yuma, Arizona. Steven Davidson, senior vice president for government and public affairs at Tallgrass, said the company is courting other customers \u201cacross the Southwest\u201d as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slide from a Tallgrass presentation<\/a> to the Arizona Corporation Commission last year read, \u201cTallgrass\u2019 GreenView project is the bold, forward-looking solution Arizona needs to ensure reliable and affordable energy.\u201d The slide shows arrows connecting a major Tallgrass pipeline in northwest Colorado with Arizona, passing through New Mexico and Utah along the way. Even so, Davidson said the project start is centered on the San Juan Basin around Farmington and is \u201cnot planning to go up to Colorado at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the March 30 hearing, debate focused less on environmental and permitting concerns than on annual payments by Tallgrass to communities along the proposed route. In addition to annual fees paid to the tribe based on the length of the pipeline and the amount of land used for compressor stations, roads and other facilities, the committee members debated an amendment under which Tallgrass would pay roughly $30,000 to each of the 13 local government chapter houses along the route, totaling $400,000 annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Committee member Rickie Nez spoke directly to Tallgrass\u2019 Schiche during the meeting and said, \u201cWe want you to take an oath and say yes, we\u2019re gonna do this. We\u2019re gonna take care of the chapters. And we\u2019re gonna give them $400,000.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schiche replied, \u201cI\u2019m going to be as succinct as I can possibly be, 100% on the record. We will support a $400,000 community benefit program for local chapters from day one, starting today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, Nez said, \u201cI believe that Mr. Schiche\u2019s word is what he spoke into law verbally and it is what they will do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirty minutes later, Nez addressed Schiche again and said, \u201cYou\u2019re an energy company. You\u2019re gonna use Navajo land. Yes, I agree that you\u2019re gonna pay the Navajo Nation.\u201d But he continued, \u201cMr. Schiche, I believe $30,000 [per chapter house] is not enough. \u2026 What is the maximum that you can do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t signed all the customer commitments yet to make even one dollar off this project,\u201d Schiche replied. \u201cIrregardless of that, our commitment has been steadfast to bring benefits to the Navajo Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schiche said, \u201cWe\u2019ve given close to a million dollars in benefits already to these local communities, and we will continue to offer benefits even outside of this community benefits program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that Tallgrass had already budgeted $30,000 per chapter house for the next year, but \u201cI\u2019d be happy to entertain the $50,000 per chapter per year for the annual fund. I will find a way to rob the piggybank.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nez said the next council could perhaps negotiate the better deal and continued, \u201cI know as well as Mr. Schiche that when he says, \u2018We haven\u2019t made a dollar\u2019 I know that he is going to make tons of money. Tons of cash. That we understand, and that is why we are here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
View of the proposed Tallgrass\/GreenView pipeline route near Shiprock, New Mexico. The route follows an existing natural gas pipeline. Photo: Jerry Redfern.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Controversy preceded the meeting. The bill was first posted on the Navajo Nation\u2019s website at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 13, with the public comment period ending the following Wednesday. By Monday, a slew of New Mexico businesses and state politicians had written in support of the measure, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time comments closed, state Sen. William Sharer, five state representatives, the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, the Jicarilla Apache Nation Council, the dean of the San Juan College School of Energy in Farmington as well as Farmington and San Juan County officials had written in support of the project. In all, the council tallied 32 messages in favor of permitting the Tallgrass\/GreenView pipeline and just seven opposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those opposed was T\u00f3 Nizh\u00f3n\u00ed \u00c1n\u00ed<\/a>, a conservation group led by Nicole Horseherder. \u201cThere needed to be a lot more work done before this vote came up,\u201d she said. Her group was surprised by the timing and filed its dissent days after the initial deadline for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis came up all the sudden,\u201d she said, \u201cand was not on the agenda the prior week.\u201d She said the short public comment period was designed to prevent groups like hers from commenting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

T\u00f3 Nizh\u00f3n\u00ed \u00c1n\u00ed has fought the pipeline at the local level for the past four years and in that time collected petitions from 16 chapter houses opposed to the plan, both along and outside the proposed route. After more than a century<\/a> of fossil fuel development on the Nation with little prosperity and long-term environmental problems<\/a> to show for it, the group objects to any new projects that continue the legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re going to move forward in this manner, then they should have a three-fourths vote of the [committee] before it can pass,\u201d Horseherder said. With a missing committee member and the chair abstaining, \u201cThat is power-tripping. That is trying to hoard all the power,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horseherder said that at this point, the only way the project would not happen is if Tallgrass decides to step back. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen the Navajo Nation pull back from a project when it gets past this first step,\u201d Horseherder said. \u201cThat\u2019s been my experience and I\u2019ve seen it a number of times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carolyn Raffensperger, the executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network, worked alongside tribes in the years-long fight against the controversial 1,172-mile-long Dakota Access Pipeline, reviewing state and federal permits as well as construction of that project. She also drafted a handbook for pipeline construction monitors. Even so, she said, \u201cWe lost, but it was a good run.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raffensperger said that companies have used early permits \u201cto sort of ask forgiveness rather than permission for various phases \u2026 especially if they\u2019ve got a major permit to construct the pipeline.\u201d She said companies use the early work as a bargaining chip for later work, arguing, \u201cHow could you possibly cause the state [or tribe] to lose so much money when we\u2019ve already invested?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added, \u201cWe know a lot about natural gas in the Southwest. There\u2019s a lot of it. But hydrogen [is] really different. Hydrogen is pretty explosive. \u2026 Are they prepared for the kinds of big problems that these pipelines can pose?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was originally published at Capital and Main<\/a>, a NMPBS partner. Copyright 2026 Capital & Main.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pipeline would cross 234 miles of tribal land in New Mexico and Arizona. Committee hearing schedule catches community group off guard. by Jerry Redfern, Capital and Main This story was originally published at Capital and Main, a NMPBS partner. 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Committee hearing schedule catches community group off guard. by Jerry Redfern, Capital and Main This story was originally published at Capital and Main, a NMPBS partner. 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