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The Trump administration, saying there is an emergency need for electricity, has ordered Tri-State Generation and Transmission to keep its coal-powered Craig Unit 1 running. The unit was scheduled to close Wednesday.

“The emergency conditions resulting from increasing demand and shortage from accelerated retirement of generation facilities … could lead to the loss of power to homes, and businesses,” the U.S. Department of Energy order states.

Tri-State was directed to “take all measures necessary to ensure that Craig Unit 1 is available to operate” through March 2026.

Craig Unit 1 was closing to comply with clean air regulations and for economic reasons, Tri-State said in a statement. On Dec. 19 it also suffered a mechanical failure in a valve that shut down the plant.

“As a result of the order, retaining Unit 1 will likely require additional investments in operations, repairs, maintenance and, potentially, fuel supply, all factors increasing costs,” Tri-State said. 

“Tri-State is continuing to review the order to determine how best to comply while limiting the costs to its members, and the impacts to its employees and operations,” the association said. 

Coal accounts for most of the cost to operate

When it is up and running, Craig Unit 1 would cost $85 million a year to operate, according to a report by energy consultant Grid Strategies using federal data, with fuel accounting for two-thirds of the cost.

The Trump administration move drew sharp criticism from Colorado officials and environment groups Wednesday.

“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,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement.

“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 Colorado ratepayers,” Polis said.

Tri-State provides power to 41 rural electric cooperatives and public power districts in four states, including 15 in Colorado. While the association operates the plant, Xcel Energy and the Platte River Power Authority own a percentage of the unit and will share its costs.

The Trump administration is abusing the section of the Federal Power Act that allows for emergency action, Eric Frankowski, executive director of the Western Clean Energy Campaign, said in a statement.

“The Energy Secretary has the authority to issue such orders, but they are supposed to be used only in rare emergency circumstances,” Frankowski said. “There is no crisis or emergency involving Craig Unit 1, which at 45 years old is nearing the end of its expected operational life.”

The DOE has issued emergency orders to keep open fossil fuel plants scheduled to be closed in New York, Michigan and Indiana as part of the Trump administration’s push to revive the coal industry.

The report that DOE cites to justify the emergency action — the North American Electric Reliability Corp. 2024 assessment — found adequate generating capacity for 2026. NERC is the agency responsible for ensuring grid reliability.

The report says that the region including Colorado and all or parts of 10 other states could face generating capacity issues, if additional plants aren’t brought online, starting in the summer of 2031.

In approving Tri-State’s Electric Resource Plan, or ERP, which calls for shutting Craig Unit 1 in 2025 and Units 2 and 3 in 2028, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission found that the closure would not impair reliability.

“Craig Unit 1 is not required for reliability or resource adequacy purposes based on the record in this ERP,” the commission said, placing the Colorado and the Trump administration at odds once more.

As part of the ERP, Tri-State plans to put a 307-megawatt plant, powered by natural gas, on the site of the Craig Station and 200 MW of battery storage. The Craig Unit 1 capacity is 446 MW.

State wants 6 coal plants to retire by 2031

To meet clean air and greenhouse gas reduction goals, the state wants the six remaining coal-fired plants  in Colorado to close by 2031 and have them replaced with renewable and gas-fired generation.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax and is trying to revive the coal industry. The administration also recently denied disaster relief to Colorado for floods and fires in western Colorado.

“The administration basically has a policy of not allowing any coal plants to retire regardless of the facts,” said Matthew Gerhart, a Sierra Club senior attorney. “It is an ideologically driven exercise rather than a fact-driven exercise.”

The Grid Strategies analysis of Craig Unit 1 costs was done for the Sierra Club using data from the Federal Energy Regulation Commission and the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

In comparing megawatt-hour prices for electricity from Craig Unit 1 with nearby power prices, the Grid Strategies study found the Craig prices higher 90% of the time. “Key reasons that Craig Unit 1 is uneconomic are its high fuel cost and low efficiency,” the report said.

The administration order did receive support from U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd, a Grand Junction Republican, whose 3rd Congressional District includes Craig and Pueblo, where the coal-fueled Comanche Unit 2 that was supposed to shut down for good Wednesday remains in service because the newer Unit 3 is broken down and cannot be repaired until summer. 

“For years,” Hurd said Wednesday in a prepared statement, “Colorado’s energy policy has been driven by ideology instead of reality, and working families in places like Craig and Pueblo have paid the price.

“Colorado needs energy policy rooted in facts, reliability, and respect for the people who keep the lights on, not mandates written to satisfy political pressure from activists and Denver bureaucrats,” Hurd said.