Colorado’s coal plant closure plans face EPA challenge Image By EPN Staff The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency challenged Colorado’s plans to close the state’s remaining six coal-fired power plants by 2031 over concerns about grid reliability and violation of federal law in a decision published July 16, 2025. The state had attempted to codify closure dates in its Regional Haze Plan, a federal Clean Air Act (CAA) requirement intended to reduce smog and maintain visibility in national park and wilderness areas. The preliminary rule is consistent with other efforts by the administration to boost coal production and use across the country. Why it matters The federal notice found Colorado’s long-term strategy for reducing regional haze which included closing coal plants “did not sufficiently assess the closures’ impacts on maintaining grid reliability and utilities’ ability to meet energy demand.” The EPA was especially critical of the closure of the Ray. D Nixon Power Plant Unit 1, slated for December 29, 2029. Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) informed the agency that unfavorable market conditions for renewable energy development, lack of adequate transmission developments and increased demand for electricity, along with the coal plant’s closure, could compromise grid reliability in the area. The EPA notice also raised concerns that state enforced plant closures could violate the Takings Clause in the Fifth Amendment if owners were not justly compensated. The state plan did not provide assurances that no such violations would occur. The bigger picture Colorado is not the only state planning to retire coal-fired plants and transition to wind and solar. The District of Columbia and 24 states plan to meet 100% carbon-free energy targets between the years 2033 and 2050 according to the Clean Energy States Alliance. Meeting this goal will require the closure of energy plants that burn coal or other fossil fuels and release carbon dioxide. Energy derived from coal has fallen over the last decade as states have moved to natural gas, wind, solar and other renewable energy options. Multiple states, particularly in the mid-west and mid-Atlantic regions, are planning to retire coal plants by 2028 according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Nearly one quarter of all U.S. coal-fired plants will retire by 2029. The Trump Administration, however, has made coal production and use a priority. In May, the U.S. Department of Energy ordered the J.H. Campbell plant in Michigan, which was slated to close at the end of the month, to remain operational for another 90 days. Like Colorado, Michigan law requires the state to transition to 100% carbon-free energy by 2050. President Trump has also signed an executive order boosting the mining of coal on federal lands and exempted coal-fired power plants from emission reduction requirements for mercury, arsenic and benzene for the next two years. Additional details A decade ago, energy derived from coal accounted for 60% of the Colorado’s energy portfolio. Today only a quarter comes from coal. Coal produces the majority of energy in West Virginia, Missouri, Wyoming and Kentucky and the least amount in California and the New England states. The public may submit comments until September 15, 2025.
