Trump orders Colorado retiring coal plant to keep operating

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

• The Trump administration orders the Craig Station coal plant in northwestern Colorado to continue operating beyond its scheduled end-of-2025 retirement date, even though the facility went offline due to a mechanical failure in mid-December. (Associated Press, Big Pivots)

• Colorado counties call on state utility regulators to push Xcel Energy to strengthen just transition plans aimed at helping communities weather coal plant shutdowns. (Colorado Sun)

• Wyoming economists expect the state’s coal production and resulting revenues to continue to decline despite the Trump administration’s efforts to bolster the industry. (Wyoming Public Radio)

CLEAN ENERGY

• California’s Energy Commission recommends expedited permitting for the proposed Soda Mountain solar-plus-storage project in San Bernardino County over local officials’ opposition. (E&E News)

• A California water district says its plan to develop clean energy on thousands of acres of water-constrained farmland in the San Joaquin Valley could result in 21 GW of new solar capacity. (PV Magazine)

• A municipal utility in New Mexico’s fossil fuel-producing San Juan Basin plans a 4 MW solar-plus-storage facility to complement new high-efficiency turbines at a natural gas plant. (Albuquerque Journal)

GRID

• Colorado regulators order Xcel Energy to propose a flexible interconnection tariff that would allow developers to connect distributed generation projects to the grid without capacity upgrades. (PV Magazine)

DATA CENTERS

• BorderPlex Digital Assets looks to source 500 MW of renewable energy by 2028 to help power its planned Project Jupiter and other New Mexico data centers. (Data Center Dynamics)

OIL & GAS

• Advocates criticize the federal Bureau of Land Management’s plan to reduce protections for imperiled greater sage grouse habitat and open more land to oil and gas drilling and other development. (Utah News Dispatch, news release)

• New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez files a lawsuit accusing individuals and associated petroleum firms of colluding to dump oil and gas facility cleanup costs on the state. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

• Wyoming advocates accuse the federal Bureau of Land Management of skirting environmental laws by issuing 255 oil and gas drilling permits to a major Trump campaign donor’s firm. (WyoFile)

• The federal Bureau of Land Management slashes by more than half the acreage to be offered in an upcoming oil and gas lease sale in Wyoming after realizing it was in a protected area. (WyoFile)

HYDROPOWER

• New Mexico firm Kinetic Power launches a feasibility study of its proposed 1,500 MW pumped hydropower storage project on the Navajo Nation. (Circle of Blue)

NUCLEAR

• Wyoming awards Virginia firm BWXT $100 million to support its proposed nuclear reactor fuel manufacturing plant in Gillette. (WyoFile)

• Idaho National Laboratory researchers launch full-scale production of enriched fuel salt for its molten chloride fast reactor. (news release)

• Washington state officials work with private firms to establish an advanced nuclear reactor industry. (Washington State Standard)

COMMENTARY

• An analyst says a blend of political will, market development, and abundant resources have helped New Mexico become a clean energy powerhouse without increasing electricity prices. (Complex Effects)

NEW FROM CANARY 

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