By Mark Jaffe | The Colorado Sun
Faced with a “near-existential threat” as a coal-fired power plant and the mines that feed it close, Moffat County and the City of Craig, backed by state officials, want Colorado utility regulators to require the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association to provide up to $118 million in aid.
Tri-State, which operates the coal-fired Craig Station, plans to shutter the plant’s first unit at the end of this year and has moved up the final closure of two other units to 2028. The two local mines that provide the coal are also expected to close.
The closures will leave a large hole in the region’s taxbase and jobs. In 2023, the power plant and mines provided 43% of property tax revenues for the county and accounted for 437 high-paying jobs.