James: Metro elites power down rural Colorado energy while calling it a ‘just transition’

By Scott K. James | Commentary, ScottKJames.com

As Craig faces a coal plant shutdown, rural Colorado communities are being gutted in the name of environmental virtue-signaling. Jobs, power, and people are being discarded—and the so-called “just transition” is anything but.

Rural Colorado towns like Craig are being sacrificed on the altar of metro-area environmental guilt—and no amount of “just transition” branding is going to save them. In a July 19, 2025, piece for The Denver Gazette, reporter Scott Weiser rather artfully dives into the coming shutdown of Tri-State’s Craig Station—one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the state—and the ripple effect it’s having on energy, jobs, and entire communities. It’s a wonderfully written story, but the outcome sucks.

Meanwhile, the bureaucrats behind this “green” push hide behind press releases and soft-focus phrases like “equitable transition.” In reality, towns are being gutted, power generation is shrinking, and nobody in Boulder seems to care—as long as the preble’s meadow jumping mouse sleeps soundly.

The Bullet Point Brief

• Craig Is Getting the Shaft: The shutdown of Craig Station will gut hundreds of jobs and erase a massive part of the region’s tax base, all while solar panels and wind turbines scramble to pick up the slack—and fail.
• Enter “The Office of Just Transition”™: Because when you bulldoze someone’s livelihood, the least you can do is create a six-figure bureaucratic gig to hand out sympathy pamphlets.
• Natural Gas? Nuclear? Nah. Rather than upgrading these plants to cleaner alternatives like gas or nuclear—which use the same damn infrastructure—we’re tearing them down to satisfy carbon quotas.
• Metro Elites Strike Again: The people pushing these closures don’t live in Craig. They don’t know anyone in Craig. But they’ve decided Craig’s economy can take one for the team—and the team is a Denver cocktail party.
• Power Generation Is Going Backward: While China builds new coal plants weekly, we’re losing critical energy infrastructure. At the exact moment we need more reliable baseload power, we’re choosing less. Brilliant.

My Bottom Line

This isn’t a “just transition”—it’s a forced eviction by ideology. It’s easy to kill a coal plant when your biggest daily risk is a cold oat milk latte. But for the people of Craig, this isn’t policy—it’s survival. These plants could be converted to cleaner energy sources, keeping the grid stable and the community intact. But nope—we’re chasing utopian green fantasies while entire towns get hollowed out like pumpkins in October. What does the soul of a place cost?

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT SCOTTKJAMES.COM

Scott K. James is a second-term Weld County Commissioner and former Mayor of Johnstown, Colorado. A fourth-generation Colorado native and 40-year radio veteran, he’s been recognized by both the Colorado Broadcasters’ Association and Colorado Counties, Inc. for his public service and communication leadership. James is a strong advocate for individual liberty, limited government, and rural communities. He lives in Johnstown with his wife, Julie, and their son, Jack.

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.