The future of Colorado’s coal transition is suddenly in limbo. (Alamosa Citizen)
Federal officials are weighing whether to invoke emergency powers that would force Xcel Energy’s Comanche 2 and Tri-State’s Craig 1 coal units to stay online beyond their planned 2025 retirements.
Tri-State’s CEO said he’s been told to expect such an order by December, while Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-CO) has already urged DOE to delay Comanche 2’s closure, citing rising demand and outages at Comanche 3 (which is down until mid-2026).
Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Energy Office say President Trump’s coal push is more political than practical. They argue keeping aging plants online would burden ratepayers and stall clean energy progress. Tri-State and Xcel, meanwhile, say they’ll comply with any order—but both question who will pay for running units they no longer need.