Colorado girds for fight with Trump over coal

By Benjamin Storrow | 11/05/2025 06:56 AM EST

One of the state’s power providers said Tuesday that it expected Energy Secretary Chris Wright to try and prevent the retirement of one of its coal units.

Craig Station sits in the background of the Trapper Mine in Craig, Colorado.

Craig Station sits in the background of the Trapper Mine in Craig, Colorado. Rick Bowmer/AP

A fight over the future of coal is brewing in Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s home state.

Colorado’s two largest coal plants are slated to partially close before the end of the year. Supporters of the plants are asking Wright to intervene and issue an emergency directive that would keep the facilities running past their retirement dates.

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, which runs one of those plants, says it expects an order imminently.

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Conversations with the Department of Energy have led Tri-State to believe it is “very likely” to receive an emergency order to keep open a 446-megawatt generating unit at the 1,427-MW Craig Station in northwest Colorado, said Amy Robertson, a spokesperson for the power cooperative.

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