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The owners of Craig Unit 1, a Colorado coal-fired plant, formally objected to the Trump administration's plans to keep the plant open in a 38-page petition to the U.S. Department of Energy last Thursday. Tri-State Generation and Platte River Power Authority joined the Colorado Attorney General and a coalition of environmental groups in opposing the administration's effort to override plans to retire the plant.
Tri-State operates the 45-year-old Craig Unit 1 and had planned since 2016 to retire the unit by the end of 2025. “We have planned for the retirement of this resource for over a decade and have proactively replaced the capacity and energy from new sources,” said Jason Frisbie, general manager and CEO of Platte River, in a statement accompanying the petition. The utility and owners warned that keeping the plant open will mean ratepayers will “unnecessarily bear the full cost of complying” with Energy Secretary Chris Wright's December 30, 2025 order to keep the plant running.
Craig Unit 1 alone emitted more than 2 million tons of carbon dioxide in 2024, and also emits hundreds of tons of harmful pollutants like nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide. Colorado’s six remaining coal plants contribute a significant portion of the state’s overall output of about 115 million metric tons of carbon.
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We used these lands to go off-roading. We use them to hunt and fish, to camp and climb, and do everything under the sun and stars. They're our public lands, not some administration's. And they're most definitely not for sale, as the American people continually chant every time these folks rear their ugly, greedy heads.”
