Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Moffat County

Colorado’s main suer runs on Trump
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado’s main suer runs on Trump

By Tom Anthony | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice According to Tucker Carlson interviewee Joe Kent, erstwhile Director of Counterterrorism, it was Netanyahu that induced the US to attack Iran. Of course Trump is taking the blame and that goes with being President, as executive decisions have their consequences. High gas prices aren't popular with too many people (we're excepting the ones who own oil wells) and so being anti-Trump has gotten somewhat easier on both sides of the aisle. My dad was a doctor and started out a Republican (although, as a Catholic, he did support Kennedy and, we'll have to include, partnered with Roy Romer in a ski resort venture). After me hearing years of ranting about "socialized medicine" he capitulated to the Democrats later in life to the poi...
Federal Order Delays Closure of Craig Power Plant as Energy Debate Intensifies
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Federal Order Delays Closure of Craig Power Plant as Energy Debate Intensifies

By Scott Weiser | The Denver Gazette The Trump administration’s energy agency has ordered one of three generating units at a Colorado power plant to remain available for operation amid an impending shutdown of the station and its supplying coal mines. The move is one of the latest attempts by the White House to revive coal production in the U.S. following President Donald Trump’s promise to “unleash” American energy. In Colorado, Democrats and their allies have prioritized moving away from fossil-fired energy in favor of solar and wind power in their campaign to get to net “zero” carbon emissions in a few decades, arguing it is good for people’s health and the environment. Republicans and others have argued that the transition is happening too quickly, with little rega...
Elk Fire forces evacuations: Northwest Colorado battles fast-growing blaze
Fox31, Approved, State

Elk Fire forces evacuations: Northwest Colorado battles fast-growing blaze

BY SPENCER KRISTENSEN | KDVR - FOX 31 DENVER (KDVR) — Three large wildfires caused by lightning strikes are burning in northwest Colorado in Rio Blanco and Moffat Counties, the Bureau of Land Management reported on Monday morning. Here’s what to know about each fire: Elk Fire The Elk Fire is the largest of the three fires. Initially reported on Aug. 2, the fire has grown to 3,000 acres as of Monday morning and is burning in the Oak Ridge area, nearly 10 miles east of Meeker. The fire is burning on private, state and BLM lands. Evacuation and pre-evacuation orders The Rio Blanco Sheriff’s Office ordered evacuations on Sunday and continued with pre-evacuation orders on Monday afternoon. READ THE FULL STORY AT KDVR - FOX 31
AGNC and Craig urge Congress: Let displaced coal workers access retirement without penalty
Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

AGNC and Craig urge Congress: Let displaced coal workers access retirement without penalty

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice They built the grid. Now they’re fined for surviving. Colorado coal workers plead for relief amid forced transition fallout. In Craig, a coal worker with $60,000 in retirement savings could lose $6,000 of it overnight—just for trying to survive after losing his job. That’s the reality hundreds of families are facing in Northwest Colorado, where coal plants and mines are shutting down years ahead of schedule and federal tax law is punishing livelihoods already in freefall. Now, the Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado (AGNC) and the City of Craig are calling on Congress to change that. The two entities are urging passage of the Energy Worker Penalty Waiver Act, a federal bill that would exempt displaced coal workers from the standard 1...
James: Metro elites power down rural Colorado energy while calling it a ‘just transition’
ScottKJames.com, Approved, Commentary, State

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. Mean...
“A deadline without a plan”: how rural Colorado is building the energy future the state won’t
Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, State, Top Stories

“A deadline without a plan”: how rural Colorado is building the energy future the state won’t

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice In May 2023, Gov. Jared Polis signed HB 23‑1247, directing the Colorado Energy Office to study advanced energy solutions — from nuclear and geothermal to long-duration storage — in regions facing coal-plant closures like Craig Station. The law included $50,000 from the Just Transition Fund and federal support to study firm energy options in northwest Colorado. Within months, coal facilities began closing across the state—including Craig Station, now set to shutter by 2028. While studies are underway, comprehensive transition plans are still being reviewed. Facing job losses and shrinking tax bases, rural communities are taking charge. “There’s a closing schedule—but no roadmap,” said Matt Solomon, project manager for the Northwest Colorado En...
Moffat County wants $118 million in help from the company that’s closing power plant and coal mines
Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Moffat County wants $118 million in help from the company that’s closing power plant and coal mines

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. ...

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