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- By Levi Rickert
The U.S. Department of Interior announced on Friday that it will work with the San Carlos Apache Tribe to develop a plan to address electric power outages caused by repeated transmission line failures that have caused extreme hardship on the Reservation.
San Carlos Apache Tribe Councilman Eugene “David” Nozie met with Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Sept. 9 in Washington to discuss the San Carlos Irrigation Project’s (SCIP) failure to provide reliable electricity for the reservation.
“Secretary Haaland said the department would form a working group with the Tribe as soon as possible to determine the best options to alleviate the power outages caused by repeated transmission line failures,” Councilman Nozie said. “We are grateful Secretary Haaland is committed to finding a solution to this serious problem that the threatens the health and welfare of Reservation residents, businesses and essential services.”
Last month, the SCIP main transmission line into the Reservation failed during a monsoon storm, leaving communities without power for 21 hours in the sweltering summer heat. The outage was just the latest in a long history of power failures.
“Power outages are all too frequent, some lasting for hours and some lasting days, paralyzing the Tribe’s essential facilities, cellular communications, government services, and water delivery,” said San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Terry Rambler. “We look forward to working with Secretary Haaland to find a permanent solution to this chronic problem.”
The SCIP was established in 1924 by the department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide irrigation water and pumping to private landowners and electricity to residents on and off the Reservation.
The SCIP has 1,894 residential and 355 commercial Reservation customers. The Tribe has repeatedly requested federal authorities to replace the transmission line and construct a new access route along U.S. Highway 70.
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