Wyoming is funding a study to build the country’s first new coal-fired power plant in over a decade. (Cowboy State Daily)
The state is giving Basin Electric $4M to explore adding a second unit to the Dry Fork Station, a site that was actually designed for expansion back in 2011, before the “war on coal” really heated up.
The logic: Governor Mark Gordon calls it “proof that coal is not dead,” betting that new tech can make the fuel cleaner while providing the massive baseload needed for data centers and industrial users.
This is a lonely path: The last new coal plant to come online in the US was in 2013. If built, this project would be a defiant “flag in the ground” against the broader energy transition.