A plan by Xcel Energy to acquire billions of dollars worth of new power sources and shut its coal plants has won the backing of state regulators – but has infuriated leaders in Pueblo County, home to what would be Colorado’s last coal power station.
The county commissioners have filed a document with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission saying they’ll 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’s coal facilities have.
Trump has promoted coal as an energy source through executive orders and issued emergency directives to keep coal plants in Michigan and Pennsylvania operating despite plans to retire them. Pueblo County is urging the same kind of tactic in Colorado.
The county’s filing was a response to Xcel Energy’s proposal to speed up renewable energy projects to take advantage of federal tax credits being phased out. But the focus was on Xcel’s 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.
The Comanche power station near Pueblo, set to close by the end of 2030, will be Xcel’s last coal-fired plant in Colorado. Renewable energy and natural gas are a large part of the proposed mix to replace coal.
Xcel’s blueprint for phasing out coal is called a “just transition” plan because the intent is to help communities where coal facilities have been a big part of the economy.
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.
“It’s not a just transition we’re getting. We’re getting just nothing,” Pueblo County Commissioner Paula McPheeters said during a board meeting last week.
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’s filing said. The county believes it’s no longer obligated to support the agreement approved by several parties.
Pueblo County Commissioner Miles Lucero said he was frustrated by the PUC’s decision, but was disappointed with the final version of the county’s filing. He said the board didn’t see the final language before the document went to the PUC.
“I see the request to keep Comanche open indefinitely and saying that we’re in the process of doing that. That’s not accurate,” Lucero said. “And it puts us in a bad place because if somebody comes and approaches us and says, ‘Well, what steps have you taken to start the process of soliciting the Trump administration to do anything,’ we don’t know because we haven’t had those conversations explicitly.”
McPheeters said the filing “was exactly what I wanted it to say.”
“I don’t know where you were in the conversation, but I was fully aware of where we were going with it. I’m surprised that you were surprised,” McPheeters said to Lucero.
The Pueblo County attorney and Frances Koncilja, an outside attorney hired by the county, submitted the filing.
“I do not take action without the approval of all three commissioners which occurs in an executive session after discussion among the three commissioners,” Koncilja, a former member of the PUC, said in an email.
Messages were left with Zach Swearingen, chairman of the commission board, about whether a request to the Trump administration is underway.
Keeping with the plan
Xcel said it is moving ahead to scale back operations at Comanche and retire the plant.
“We 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,” Xcel spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo said in an email.
Action Colorado, a public policy group representing 22 southern Colorado counties, and the Pueblo Economic Development Corp. 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.
Sara Blackhurst, president and CEO of Action Colorado, 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.
Modular nuclear reactors, still in the development phase, were the top choice of the Pueblo Innovative Energy Solutions Advisory Committee. The report said a gas plant alone wouldn’t replace the roughly $200 million in economic benefits or the nearly $1 billion in tax revenue the county gets from the coal plant each year.
“The only option left is for Trump’s order of not closing any more coal plants to be enforced,” Blackhurst said.
The PUC will issue a written decision on the first phase of Xcel’s plan in the coming weeks. Parties in the case will have a chance to request reconsideration. PUC Chairman Eric Blank said members will review the Pueblo County advisory committee’s report and labor concerns.
The plan’s second phase will determine the type and volumes of new power sources.
Under the plan, Xcel Energy would add more than 6,000 megawatts of new sources of electricity over the next five years. The utility’s current peak generating capacity is about 7,000 megawatts.
One unit of the Comanche coal plant was closed in 2020 and a second is scheduled to shut down this year. The third unit began operating in 2010 and was expected to run until 2070, but it has experienced mechanical and operational troubles through the years.
Pressure mounted to close the third unit much earlier because of the ongoing problems and efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Xcel Energy’s goal is to have a carbon-free electric grid by 2050.
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