In the arid landscapes of the Navajo Nation, where communities already struggle with access to clean water and reliable infrastructure, Tallgrass Energy’s latest proposal lands with the subtlety of a thunderclap. Through its subsidiary, GreenView Pipeline LLC, the fossil fuel company is marketing a 200-mile hydrogen pipeline project—dubbed a “clean energy corridor”—as a climate-forward investment in tribal lands. But make no mistake: this is not a solution. It’s a false solution, one that threatens to repeat the same cycles of extraction, pollution, and broken promises that Indigenous communities have endured for generations.

A Dangerous Detour Masquerading as Progress

GreenView Pipeline LLC proposes a massive hydrogen pipeline stretching from near Shiprock, New Mexico to north of Flagstaff, Arizona. It would cut across 13 Navajo Nation chapters, including Mexican Water, Red Mesa, Kayenta, and Tuba City, carrying hydrogen gas under high pressure across fragile, sovereign lands.

Tallgrass claims this pipeline will enable a renewable hydrogen “ecosystem” to supply markets like Phoenix and Las Vegas. But what they don’t say outright is that this so-called clean hydrogen is most likely to be “blue hydrogen”—produced from methane gas, a potent fossil fuel—using energy-intensive processes that consume large volumes of water and emit carbon dioxide, which must then be captured and stored underground.

This is classic greenwashing. As we’ve outlined before (FalseSolutions.org on Hydrogen Greenwashing), blue hydrogen is neither clean nor sustainable. It is a lifeline for fossil fuel companies—not the planet.

Community Concerns and Rising Resistance

While Tallgrass sponsors events like the Northern Navajo Nation Fair and dangles vague promises of “community benefits,” many Navajo residents and organizations are pushing back. Local environmental group Tó Nizhóní Ání has been at the forefront, educating residents about the risks of hydrogen infrastructure and exposing the lack of transparency in how this project has been introduced to the community.

Grassroots leaders are demanding accountability. They’ve raised alarms about:

• Water Scarcity: Hydrogen production is water-intensive, requiring millions of gallons of water, in a region already facing drought and with over 30% of Navajo households lacking access to running water. (Navajo Times)
• Safety Risks: Hydrogen is highly flammable and can leak invisibly, increasing the risk of explosions. Unlike natural gas pipelines, hydrogen pipelines are harder to monitor, and leak detection is still a technical challenge. As we explain in Hydrogen Drawbacks and Risks, even the industry’s own safety data acknowledges serious gaps.
• Regulatory Loopholes: The Navajo Nation lacks specific hydrogen pipeline regulations, raising questions about who would be liable if (or when) something goes wrong. And let’s not forget: “The only pipeline that never leaks is the one that is not built.”
• Legacy of Exploitation: From uranium mining to oil and gas drilling, the Navajo Nation has long borne the brunt of industrial projects that promised jobs and prosperity but delivered contamination and economic abandonment. Why should this pipeline be any different?

A Project Built on Assumptions, Not Consent

Despite some local chapter resolutions in support, opposition is mounting. Groups like Tó Nizhóní Ání, alongside concerned residents and climate advocates, argue that community consultation has been inadequate and often misleading. In many cases, residents say they were offered gift cards and free meals in exchange for attending “informational sessions” that glossed over the project’s real impacts. (azcentral.com)

This type of public relations theater is not true consultation. It is manipulation. And it’s being deployed in a region where many residents still remember the devastating health impacts of uranium mining and the broken promises of the fossil fuel industry.

Better Solutions Exist

If Tallgrass truly cared about supporting Indigenous communities and addressing the climate crisis, it would invest in community-scale solar, battery storage, and clean water infrastructure. The Navajo Nation has some of the best solar potential in the country—why force a dangerous, fossil-backed detour?

Better solutions put people before pipelines. They are community-owned, distributed, and don’t rely on century-old ideas of burying explosive gases in tribal lands.

We deserve great solutions—ones that respect tribal sovereignty, protect health, and ensure climate resilience.

Final Thoughts

Tallgrass Energy’s GreenView pipeline is a wolf in clean energy clothing. It’s not about justice. It’s about profit. The Navajo Nation deserves better than another experiment in extractive infrastructure.

Let’s not repeat the past. Let’s stop this pipeline before it becomes another scar across sacred lands.

Take action. Spread the word. Demand real solutions. Because the only pipeline that never leaks is the one that is not built.

Learn more:
https://falsesolutions.org/hydrogen-drawbacks-and-risks/
https://falsesolutions.org/greenwashing-hydrogen/