Trump administration orders coal-burning power plant in Colorado to stay open

Noelle Phillips, The Denver Post on Dec 31, 2025

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DENVER — The Trump administration, in its ongoing push to boost fossil fuels, issued an emergency order Tuesday to keep an aging coal-fired power plant in Craig, Colorado, operating even though it was scheduled to be retired this week.

The move was criticized by Colorado environmentalists, who said it will cost utility ratepayers and harm public health as the old plant pumps climate-changing carbon emissions into the air.

The emergency order, issued Tuesday evening by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, will keep Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association’s Unit 1 at the Craig Station in Moffat County open for another 90 days. The order could be renewed.

Tri-State had planned to shutter the coal-burning unit as part of its plans to switch to alternative, less-polluting energy sources such as geothermal heat, solar power and wind turbines. The move was part of the Westminster-based utility company’s efforts to comply with Colorado rules aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The company has also said it makes economic sense.

Tri-State was planning to close two other units at the Craig Station in 2028.

But President Donald Trump’s agenda is to boost the nation’s use of fossil fuels, and since he took office in January, he has set about trying to save the dying coal industry through executive orders, large sales of coal from public lands, regulatory relief and offers of hundreds of millions of dollars to restore coal plants.

Environmental groups are suing the Trump administration over his use of emergency executive orders, arguing the president is abusing his power because there is no national emergency in supplying electricity.

Colorado environmental advocates, including GreenLatinos, EarthJustice and the National Parks Conservation Association, denounced the emergency order as a move that will make the state’s air dirtier and harm public health.

“This order puts our communities at risk and turns back progress that Coloradans have fought tirelessly for,” Jessica Herrera, in-house counsel for GreenLatinos, said in a news release. “Once again, the administration is putting the fossil fuel industry before our health and well-being.”

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