Reports: Trump to keep Colorado coal plant running

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Western Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

COAL

• Tri-State Generation & Transmission officials expect the Trump administration to force the power wholesaler to continue operating its Craig Station coal plant in western Colorado beyond its scheduled retirement date, even though Tri-State is shuttering the unit for economic reasons. (Canary Media)

• Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’s administration and Xcel Energy petition state regulators to allow the Comanche 2 coal plant to continue operating beyond its planned closing date to cover its neighboring coal facility that is offline for repairs. (CPR)

• Utah’s and Wyoming’s coal industries pin their overseas export hopes on a proposed shipping terminal in California’s Bay Area that can move forward now that Oakland has exhausted its legal challenges opposing the facility. (E&E News)

OIL & GAS

• The Trump administration considers opening California coastal waters to offshore oil and gas drilling for the first time in four decades, drawing push back from advocates and Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Los Angeles Times)

• Sable Offshore looks to the Trump administration to help it overcome scandals and mounting state and local regulatory obstacles hampering its effort to restart oil production off California’s coast. (Inside Climate News)

• New Mexico’s Supreme Court agrees to hear advocates’ lawsuit accusing the state of violating residents’ constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment with its oil and gas-friendly policies and by failing to enforce pollution laws. (Source NM)

• State data show the third-quarter 2025 oil and gas-related spills in New Mexico increased nearly 400% compared to the year’s first two quarters. (news release)

SOLAR

• An investigation finds Republican U.S. lawmakers from California and Utah took advantage of federal clean energy tax credits for residential solar installations before voting to sunset the incentives. (E&E News)

• Enlight Renewable Energy secures $1.44 billion in financing for its 600 MW Snowflake solar-plus-storage project under development near Holbrook, Arizona. (Energy Storage News)

WIND

• Repsol files a motion in a Wyoming court seeking to overturn Laramie County’s denial of its proposed Laramie Range wind project in the southern part of the state. (Cowboy State Daily)

TRANSPORTATION

• Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signs a transportation bill that raises the gasoline tax and increases vehicle registration fees, prompting anti-tax advocates to launch a referendum effort to overturn it. (Oregon Capital Chronicle)

• Southern California regulators approve an agreement requiring the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to develop zero-emission infrastructure plans. (E&E News)

CLIMATE

• In a speech at the United Nations’ COP30 climate summit in Brazil, California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticizes the Trump administration’s absence from the event and fossil fuel-friendly energy policies. (New York Times)

CARBON CAPTURE

• ADM begins sending captured carbon dioxide from its Nebraska ethanol production facility via pipeline to the Tallgrass Eastern Wyoming geological sequestration hub. (Biofuels Digest)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Trump’s DOE may soon force more coal plants to stay open — Jeff St. John

• Can Australia power its big aluminum smelters with clean energy? — Maria Gallucci

• Massachusetts considers expanding effort to ban gas in new buildings — Sarah Shemkus

• Is New York backpedaling on its pledge to electrify new buildings? — Alison F. Takemura