{"id":1064,"date":"2025-09-11T12:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/?p=1064"},"modified":"2025-09-11T14:22:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T14:22:57","slug":"pueblo-county-chafes-at-energy-plan-wants-trump-order-to-keep-coal-burning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/11\/pueblo-county-chafes-at-energy-plan-wants-trump-order-to-keep-coal-burning\/","title":{"rendered":"Pueblo County chafes at energy plan, wants Trump order to keep coal burning"},"content":{"rendered":"

A plan by Xcel Energy to acquire billions of dollars worth of new power sources<\/a> and shut its coal plants has won the backing of state regulators \u2013 but has infuriated leaders in Pueblo County, home to what would be Colorado\u2019s last coal power station.<\/p>\n

The county commissioners have filed a document with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission saying they\u2019ll ask President Donald Trump and Secretary Energy Chris Wright to order that coal plants in the county keep running until a new energy facility is built that can provide the kind of jobs and revenue that Xcel\u2019s coal facilities have.<\/p>\n

Trump has promoted coal as an energy source through executive orders and issued emergency directives <\/a>\u00a0to keep coal plants in Michigan and Pennsylvania operating despite plans to retire them. Pueblo County is urging the same kind of tactic in Colorado.<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s filing was a response to Xcel Energy\u2019s proposal to speed up renewable energy projects<\/a> to take advantage of federal tax credits being phased out. But the focus was on Xcel\u2019s plan, approved last week by the PUC, for thousands of megawatts of new power to meet rising demands for electricity and accelerate coal plant closures in Pueblo County and northwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

The Comanche power station near Pueblo, set to close by the end of 2030, will be Xcel\u2019s last coal-fired plant in Colorado. Renewable energy and natural gas<\/a> are a large part of the proposed mix to replace coal.<\/p>\n

Xcel\u2019s blueprint for phasing out coal is called a \u201cjust transition\u201d plan because the intent is to help communities where coal facilities have been a big part of the economy.<\/p>\n

But Pueblo County business and political leaders say the plan endorsed by the PUC abandons their region, which has a high poverty rate. The county accuses the PUC of ignoring testimony and a report promoting natural gas or small nuclear power reactors as ways to produce cleaner energy while maintaining the levels of jobs and tax revenue that coal has generated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a just transition we\u2019re getting. We\u2019re getting just nothing,\u201d Pueblo County Commissioner\u00a0Paula McPheeters said during a board meeting last week.<\/p>\n

Pueblo County reluctantly backed the just transition plan on condition that it could lead to new power plants that would replace the lost jobs, economic benefits and tax revenue, the county\u2019s filing said. The county believes it\u2019s no longer obligated to support the agreement approved by several parties.<\/p>\n

Pueblo County Commissioner\u00a0Miles Lucero said he was frustrated by the PUC\u2019s decision, but was disappointed with the final version of the county\u2019s filing. He said the board didn\u2019t see the final language before the document went to the PUC.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see the request to keep Comanche open indefinitely and saying that we\u2019re in the process of doing that. That\u2019s not accurate,\u201d Lucero said. \u201cAnd it puts us in a bad place because if somebody comes and approaches us and says, \u2018Well, what steps have you taken to start the process of soliciting the Trump administration to do anything,\u2019 we don\u2019t know because we haven\u2019t had those conversations explicitly.\u201d<\/p>\n

McPheeters said the filing \u201cwas exactly what I wanted it to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where you were in the conversation, but I was fully aware of where we were going with it. I\u2019m surprised that you were surprised,\u201d McPheeters said to Lucero.<\/p>\n

The Pueblo County attorney and Frances Koncilja, an outside attorney hired by the county, submitted the filing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not take action without the approval of all three commissioners which occurs in an executive session after discussion among the three commissioners,\u201d Koncilja, a former member of the PUC, said in an email.<\/p>\n

Messages were left with Zach Swearingen, chairman of the commission board, about whether a request to the Trump administration is underway.<\/p>\n

Keeping with the plan<\/h4>\n

Xcel said it is moving ahead to scale back operations at Comanche and retire the plant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to make significant progress toward state-approved resource plans that are consistent with state emissions reduction targets which would require us to retire our coal units by 2030,\u201d Xcel spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo said in an email.<\/p>\n

Action Colorado<\/a>, a public policy group representing 22 southern Colorado counties, and the Pueblo Economic Development Corp<\/a>. said in documents to the PUC that they support keeping the coal plant open until a new power source is approved that will make the community economically whole.<\/p>\n

Sara Blackhurst, president and CEO of Action Colorado<\/a>, was on an advisory committee of community members that recommended Xcel consider small, modular nuclear reactors and a natural gas plant that would capture carbon emissions to replace the Comanche power plant.<\/p>\n