Colorado is pushing back harder on the Trump administration’s campaign to keep highly polluting coal-fired power plants open longer than the owners or state regulators wanted, seeking a 10th Circuit federal appeals court review of an EPA decision.
The new suit Wednesday by Attorney General Phil Weiser claims the EPA overreached in January when it rejected a required Colorado clean air plan because it relies on closing the state’s six remaining coal plants in the coming years. In rejecting Colorado’s regional haze or smog-fighting plan, the EPA said at the time that coal plants should stay open to ease strains in the national electric grid, and that requiring them to close is an “illegal taking” of assets.
“EPA’s decision to disapprove Colorado’s regional haze state implementation plan is based on policy objections to closing coal plants and it is another example of the Trump administration intruding on state authority without any basis in law,” Weiser said, in a statement accompanying the petition to the 10th Circuit to overturn the EPA.
State air pollution control officials and clean energy advocates are relying on the closure of all the coal plants by 2031 to meet a number of statutory and policy goals, from reducing Colorado’s overall greenhouse gas output to fighting ozone to reducing smog. The haze plans required as part of the federal Clean Air Act are meant to clean up and protect the vistas across public spaces like Rocky Mountain National Park, Mesa Verde and more.
“Colorado included the closure of several coal-fired power plants in its plan based on utilities’ independent decisions to close them. Those decisions in turn were based on the utilities’ judgment that closure was the best and most cost-effective way to comply with a range of state and federal laws,” Weiser said. “Coloradans love the outdoors, yet the EPA is threatening to weaken protections necessary to safeguard some of our most sensitive ecosystems and scenic vistas from harmful pollution.”
A coalition of environmental groups filed a parallel petition Wednesday in the same appeals court asking it to overturn the EPA haze plan rejection. The National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club and Earthjustice joined in the suit.
In addition to rejecting Colorado’s latest haze plan, the Trump administration has also issued emergency orders keeping Tri-State Generation’s Craig Unit 1 coal plant open past its scheduled closure in December 2025. The order came despite the fact that Craig was already shut down for repairs at the time. Tri-State disputes the reopening order, but has brought the plant back online and it is available to generate power.
The Trump administration also supports Colorado Springs Utilities’ request to state regulators that it keep open the Ray D. Nixon coal-fired plant in Fountain past the long-scheduled shutdown year of 2029. CSU now says cleaner replacement power has proven more expensive than planned and may not be ready to take over generation that year.
State officials say the coal plant closures are codified by other rules and the Trump administration moves will not deter them from replacing polluting generation with renewable energy. Environmental advocates have also noted that propping up fossil fuels over solar, wind and battery storage will prove more expensive for consumers. The federal government has not specified to Tri-State, for example, how to pay for the estimated $80 million in generating costs required to keep Craig open through 2026.