The Trump administration has directed a Colorado coal-fired power plant to remain in service past a planned retirement date, ordering the owner of a generator unit to keep it running despite an outage tied to equipment problems. The order, issued by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, took aim at an expected gap in electricity and generation capacity in the northwestern United States, according to the administration’s emergency action.
Craig Station, in northwestern Colorado, has three coal-fired generating units, and Unit 1 had been scheduled to retire at the end of 2025. The Associated Press reported that the emergency order required Unit 1 to stay operational beyond its Wednesday retirement date, after Tri-State said the plant needed repairs—specifically a broken valve that had taken the unit out of operation on Dec. 19. Tri-State said the compliance costs would need to be identified and paid, even as the cooperative had already planned for Unit 1’s closure for economic reasons and to meet state and federal requirements.
Wright’s action followed similar Department of Energy moves to keep coal-fired power plants operating in other states, the AP reported, including Indiana, Washington state and Michigan. The administration’s approach is part of President Donald Trump’s push to revive the U.S. coal industry, while the AP reported that the administration has blocked renewable energy projects, including wind power.
In a statement tied to the order, Tri-State said its members would bear the expenses required to comply unless the utility could find a way to share the costs with others in the region. Tri-State CEO Duane Highley said, “As a not-for-profit cooperative, our membership will bear the costs of compliance with this order unless we can identify a method to share costs with those in the region,” according to the statement reported by the AP.
The order required the unit to remain operational to help address the electricity shortage, Wright wrote in the Tuesday emergency order, the AP reported. Wright also said the administration is committed to “lowering energy costs and keeping American families safe,” according to a release cited in the AP report.
Tri-State spokesperson Amy Robertson told the AP by email that the utility had no further information to share when asked how much returning Unit 1 to operation would cost and how long it would take. The AP reported that plant worker Wade Gerber said the order changes little for Colorado’s coal country as the area undergoes a long-term shift away from coal as a local economic pillar. Gerber, described by the AP as working at Craig Station, said, “What does this administration get to do? What does the next administration get to do? Is it going to make (coal) any long-term thing? No, probably not,” adding that he has already prepared for job uncertainty if the situation does not last.
Colorado officials criticized the administration’s decision, with Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet saying in a statement that it was “unacceptable to burden ratepayers with these unnecessary costs.” Bennett’s criticism landed as Tri-State, which completed the power plant in 1980, faces ongoing retirement timelines for other units: the No. 2 and No. 3 units were scheduled to be retired in 2028, and the plant’s fuel mine, the Trapper Mine, was also scheduled to close, according to the AP report.