Trump administration orders Colorado coal unit to stay operating

The administration ordered a Colorado coal plant to stay running

The Trump administration has told another coal-fired power facility to remain open, ordering the owners of a Colorado electricity generating unit to keep it running beyond its scheduled retirement date, the U.S. Department of Energy said.

In the order, Energy Secretary Chris Wright directed that Craig Station’s Unit 1, a 446-megawatt coal-fired generator in northwestern Colorado, stay operational beyond its Wednesday retirement, according to Associated Press reporting. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association said compliance would require repairs after a broken valve put the unit out of operation on Dec. 19.

Tri-State said the order’s compliance requirements would impose new costs on the owners of Craig Station, which has three generating units. Tri-State said the plant’s Unit 1 had been scheduled to close at the end of 2025, while its No. 2 and No. 3 units are set for retirement in 2028.

The U.S. Department of Energy said the Craig Station unit had to remain operational to address a shortage of electricity and electrical generation in the northwestern U.S., according to Wright’s emergency order keeping the unit online. In a release, Wright said the administration was committed to “lowering energy costs and keeping American families safe.”

Tri-State CEO Duane Highley said in a company statement that as a not-for-profit cooperative, Tri-State’s membership would bear the costs of compliance unless the utility could identify a method to share costs with those in the region. Tri-State spokesperson Amy Robertson said by email that the utility had no further information to share when asked what it would cost to return the unit to operation and how long that would take.

The order comes as the Trump administration has directed similar efforts to keep coal-fired plants operating in other states, including orders affecting Indiana, Washington and Michigan, the AP reported. It also fits with the administration’s broader push, according to the report, to revive the U.S. coal industry even as utilities shift toward cheaper and less-polluting energy sources such as natural gas and renewables.

At Craig Station, plant employee Wade Gerber said the announcement changed little in terms of the longer-term outlook for the region’s coal economy, which he described as in a long-term political transition. Gerber said Craig—described by AP as a city of about 9,000 people—was caught between policy decisions made by one administration and those that could follow another, adding, “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,” according to the AP report.

Colorado officials criticized the order. Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said in a statement that it was “unacceptable to burden ratepayers with these unnecessary costs,” according to the AP report.

Craig Station was completed in 1980, and its fuel is mined at the nearby Trapper Mine, which is also scheduled to close.