Trump DOE Extending Colorado Coal-Fired Plant Operations, Although Owners Don't Want That

The U.S. Department of Energy has issued an emergency order to keep open a Colorado coal-fired power plant originally scheduled for shutdown last year.

The order prevails although the power plant’s owners want to close the plant for economic reasons.

The order announced by Energy Secretary Chris Wright ensures that Craig Station Unit 1 is available for operation and grid generation through at least June 28. It is the DOE’s second emergency order designed to keep the coal-fired unit open this year.

Craig Station Unit 1 was scheduled for shutdown by the end of 2025, but Wright issued the first emergency order on December 30. The power unit is

“The last administration’s energy subtraction policies threatened America’s energy security and positioned our nation to likely experience significantly more blackouts in the coming years—thankfully, President Trump won’t let that happen,” Secretary Wright said in a statement. “The Trump Administration will continue taking action to ensure we don’t lose critical generation sources.”

Many of the nation’s aging coal-fired power plants are being retired for both operational and economic reasons. The steady and predicted future rise of energy demand by artificial intelligence and cloud-based computing centers is threatening to create a supply shortfall in the U.S. grid, and some are saying that existing plants will be kept open longer than originally planned.

Among the utilities connected to the generation output at Craig Station included

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Platte River Power Authority, Salt River Project, PacifiCorp, and Public Service Company of Colorado (Xcel Energy), in coordination with the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Rocky Mountain Region and regional grid system operator Southwest Power Pool.

The Trump Administration has been pushing to keep the coal-fired plant open even if the facility’s owners are saying that Craig Station should be closed, according to reports in the Colorado Sun website. Tri-State delivers power to dozens of electric cooperatives in the region.

Both Tri-State and Colorado state Attorney General Weiser have argued against keeping the Craig Station Unit 1 open. The plant’s continued operation is expensive for its owners and customers, they say.

“We support the U.S. Department of Energy’s efforts to ensure the western United States maintains a reliable supply of electricity to meet growing demand and emergencies, and we do not take this request for a rehearing lightly, but as not-for-profit entities, we face issues that other utilities do not, because it is our members that ultimately are going to pay for the cost of this order,” said Tri-State CEO Duane Highley in a January statement after Wright’s initial emergency order.