Local elected officials in Colorado are speaking out against the Trump administration’s order to keep the coal-fired Craig Generating Station Unit 1 available to operate past its planned retirement date.
The officials addressed the Colorado Public Utilities Commission during the public comment portion of the Jan. 14 meeting.
“It is painfully clear that the federal government currently has not only abandoned climate-sensitive policies and fuel choices, but that it is actively seeking to destroy a durable climate and to return to the damaging fuel sources that got us into this pickle in the first place,” said Glenwood Springs City Council member Steve Smith.
The U.S. Department of Energy issued an emergency order Dec. 30 to Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and other co-owners of Craig Station Unit 1 to keep the unit available to operate. Unit 1 was slated to retire Dec. 31; Tri-State said it had planned for adequate resources to maintain reliability after the unit retired. (See DOE Blocks Retirement of Another Coal-fired Plant.)
A DOE news release said the order was to ensure access to “affordable, reliable” electricity through the winter. The order is in effect through March 30.
Tri-State said in a release that Unit 1 was hit by an outage Dec. 19 due to a valve failure. But Tri-State has a “100% compliance” policy, CEO Duane Highley said, and planned to take needed steps to repair the valve.
Local officials said their communities are ready for the coal plant to close.
“[The] heavy-handed order to Tri-State to keep the Craig Unit 1 coal plant open flies in the face of Colorado law, Tri-State’s bottom line and what people in Craig and Moffat County want,” Ridgway Mayor John Clark told the PUC.
Speakers pointed to the impact that climate change is already having on their communities.
Broomfield City Council member Sean McKenzie said a grass fire that broke out in the community Jan. 5 was quickly contained, but sparked memories of the devastating Marshall Fire in December 2021 that destroyed 1,084 homes.
“The conditions that were once reserved for July are now visiting us in January,” McKenzie said. He urged commissioners to “uphold the policies you’ve worked so hard to put in place.”
Basalt City Council member Hannah Berman called climate change an “existential threat” to the area’s economy, which relies on outdoor recreation. She asked the PUC to “take any and all action they can to ensure that Colorado continues to transition off of coal power as mandated by Colorado law.”
Adams County Commissioner Emma Pinter warned the commission that now is not the time to backslide on climate goals.
“In Colorado, our climate emission goals still stand and must be achieved,” Pinter said. “This commission needs to work to ensure that we meet all of our climate goals in spite of any federal efforts to the contrary.”
