{"id":484043,"date":"2026-01-01T05:37:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T05:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/484043\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T05:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T05:37:16","slug":"trump-administration-tells-colorado-coal-generator-to-stay-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/484043\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration tells Colorado coal generator to stay open"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration has told another coal-fired power facility<\/a> to remain open, this time ordering the owners of a Colorado electricity generating unit to keep it running beyond its Wednesday retirement date. <\/p>\n

Compliance will cost Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and the other owners of the Craig Station power plant in northwestern Colorado. The plant owners will need to fix a broken valve that put the power plant\u2019s 446-megawatt Unit 1 out of operation on Dec. 19, Tri-State said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The order from Energy Secretary Chris Wright follows recent Department of Energy moves to keep coal-fired power stations open in Indiana, Washington state and Michigan<\/a> despite efforts by their owners to close them.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s part of President Donald Trump\u2019s push<\/a> to revive the U.S. coal industry<\/a> at a time when many utilities are shifting to cheaper, less-polluting energy sources such as natural gas and renewables. The administration, meanwhile, has blocked renewable energy, including wind power.<\/a><\/p>\n

The 45-year-old generator in Colorado, one of three at Craig Station, had been scheduled to close at the end of 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs 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,\u201d Tri-State CEO Duane Highley said in the statement.<\/p>\n

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The power plant\u2019s owners had been planning since 2016 to shut down Unit 1 for economic reasons and to comply with \u201cnumerous state and federal requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked how much returning the unit to operation would cost and how long that would take, Tri-State spokesperson Amy Robertson said by email that the utility had no further information to share.<\/p>\n

The generator must remain operational to address a shortage of electricity and electrical generation in the northwestern U.S., Wright wrote in Tuesday\u2019s emergency order keeping the unit operational.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump Administration is committed to lowering energy costs and keeping American families safe,\u201d Wright said in a release.<\/p>\n

Wade Gerber, who works at the power plant, said the announcement changes little for Colorado\u2019s coal country, which is undergoing a long-term shift<\/a> away from the fossil fuel as a pillar of the local economy.<\/p>\n

He sees Craig \u2014 a city of about 9,000 people \u2014 as caught in the middle of a dizzying political battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat 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,\u201d Gerber said.<\/p>\n

Gerber recently opened a distillery that caters to the cocktail lounge his wife owns next door, with plans to begin distributing more widely in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI already told both my bosses, if that blows up even a little bit, I can tell you: \u2018Here\u2019s my two-week notice,\u2019\u201d Gerber said.<\/p>\n

Colorado officials criticized the Trump administration order as a disservice to electricity users. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unacceptable to burden ratepayers with these unnecessary costs,\u201d Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The power plant was completed in 1980. Its No. 2 and No. 3 units have been scheduled to be retired in 2028. The plant\u2019s fuel is mined at the nearby Trapper Mine, which is also scheduled to close.<\/p>\n

____<\/p>\n

Brittany Peterson in Denver contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP\u2019s environmental coverage, visit https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/climate-and-environment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration has told another coal-fired power facility to remain open, this…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":484044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[218931,64,42404,10109,10106,13672,4439,69,218929,10102,525,11289,57,6323,2862,181121,7801,214,61,67,370,132,68,17084,2057,218930,2058,93],"class_list":{"0":"post-484043","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-amy-robertson","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-christopher-wright","11":"tag-climate","12":"tag-climate-and-environment","13":"tag-co-state-wire","14":"tag-colorado","15":"tag-donald-trump","16":"tag-duane-highley","17":"tag-energy-industry","18":"tag-finance","19":"tag-finance-business","20":"tag-general-news","21":"tag-in-state-wire","22":"tag-indiana","23":"tag-local-news-for-apple","24":"tag-mi-state-wire","25":"tag-michigan","26":"tag-u-s-news","27":"tag-united-states","28":"tag-united-states-government","29":"tag-unitedstates","30":"tag-us","31":"tag-utilities","32":"tag-wa-state-wire","33":"tag-wade-gerber","34":"tag-washington","35":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115818230394922023","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}