The Department of Energy has ordered a Colorado coal plant to remain open beyond its planned retirement as part of the department’s growing pattern of delaying coal plant closures over reliability concerns.
The DOE issued an emergency order late Tuesday directing Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, which operates Unit 1 of the Craig Station coal plant, to keep the unit running just before it was set to close at the end of the year. The department said that the coal plant is essential to maintaining the region’s electric grid stability during the winter months, helping minimize electricity costs and blackouts. The unit will continue operating until March 2026.
In a statement, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, “Keeping this coal plant online will ensure Americans maintain an affordable, reliable, and secure supply of electricity. The Trump Administration is committed to lowering energy costs and keeping American families safe.”
Gov. Jared Polis (D-CO) criticized the DOE’s effort to keep the coal plant running, arguing that it would lead to higher costs for ratepayers.
“This order will pass tens of millions in costs to Colorado rate payers, in order to keep a coal plant open that is broken and not needed. Ludicrously, the coal plant isn’t even operational right now, meaning repairs – to the tune of millions of dollars – just to get it running, all on the backs of rural Colorado ratepayers!” Polis said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“Going backwards is an attempt to force local communities to foot the bill to extend plant operations, and will cost energy consumers more. Today’s action flies in the face of this careful planning, is inconsistent with market forces, and will hurt Coloradans,” he added.
The DOE’s move is part of a broader effort to keep coal plants running past their retirement dates to address reliability concerns as energy demand increases and electricity prices rise. The department has issued at least five emergency orders to keep retiring coal plants operating.
Officials in the Trump administration have blamed rising prices on energy policies enacted during the Biden administration, which sought to phase out fossil fuels like coal in favor of renewable energy.
Earlier this month, Wright told the Washington Examiner that when the administration entered office, about 100 gigawatts of “reliable, firm” energy capacity were set to close.
“Americans have suffered that, Americans have seen that, President Trump was elected to reverse that,” Wright said. “To date, in our 10 months to 11 months in office, we’ve already stopped the closure of over 15 gigawatts of power production capacity across the country.”
He added, “If that 100 gigawatt had closed, and of course we wanted to participate in the AI race and build these data centers, [and] re-shore some American manufacturing, blackouts would be 100 times more common.”
Still, electricity prices continue to rise well above inflation rates. According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, electricity prices rose 6.9% for the year ending in November, faster than overall inflation, which stood at 2.7%.
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Wright told the Washington Examiner that if the electricity prices continue to rise in three years, they will be to blame.
He said if prices fail to drop, “They should kick me out, fire me!”
