Colorado Congressman Jeff Hurd has asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to issue an emergency order that the two units at the Comanche power plant keep operating because there’s a risk of an energy shortfall if the coal facility in Pueblo County is shut down when planned.
The Republican who represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Pueblo County, said in a letter Thursday to Wright that “the state’s politically driven rush to decommission otherwise safe, reliable, and efficient generation” could leave Colorado short of reliable sources of electricity.
Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest electric utility, closed a unit of the coal facility in 2022 and plans to close another by the end of this year. The third and last unit at the site is scheduled to shut down by the end of 2030.
Comanche 3 is Xcel’s largest generating unit in Colorado, but one plagued by chronic malfunctions and breakdowns. And it’s one that hasn’t run since mid-August and might not be operational again until next summer.
Comanche will be Xcel’s last coal plant in Colorado when it closes. The company decided to shut the plant earlier than planned as questions about its reliability grew and moves to cut the state’s greenhouse gas emissions intensified.
Xcel Energy has proposed replacing the coal plant with wind and solar power, battery storage and natural gas generation.
But some Pueblo County business and political leaders say Xcel’s plan, which was endorsed by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, won’t replace the jobs and tax revenue the Comanche plant has provided to the community for years. The advisory group Pueblo Innovative Energy Solutions Advisory Committee, formed in cooperation with Xcel, recommended that the coal plant be replaced by natural gas or small, modular nuclear reactors.
In September, the Pueblo County commissioners filed a document with regulators saying they would ask President Donald Trump and Wright to order that the coal plants in the county keep running until a new energy facility is built that can provide the kind of jobs and revenue that Xcel’s coal facilities have.
The plant generates approximately $200 million per year in economic activity and $31 million annually in property tax revenue, according to a report by the Pueblo advisory committee.
Trump has championed coal and nuclear power as energy sources while attacking renewable energy. The administration issued emergency directives to keep coal plants in Michigan and Pennsylvania operating despite plans to retire them.
Hurd said in his letter to Wright, a fellow Coloradan, that the Comanche power plant is “a cornerstone of electric reliability in the region” and a lifeline for Pueblo County. A message was left with Hurd asking if he has concerns about Comanche 3’s operational troubles.
A message was also left with the Department of Energy asking whether Wright is considering issuing an order to keep the coal plant running until a new source of power generation begins operating.
“We are in regular conversations about Colorado’s energy future with various stakeholders, including federal, state and local elected officials. We are aware that there are members of the community that would like to see the plant’s life extended,” Xcel Energy spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo said in an email Friday.
Aguayo added that Colorado regulations call for the closing of Comanche 2 at the end of 2025. She said the unit has been a reliable part of Xcel’s generation fleet since1975.
“We are also aware that federal actions can extend plants of this nature,” Aguayo said. “We will comply with any orders issued by the Department of Energy to extend our coal plants if ordered to do so.”
Emma Pinter, chair of the Adams County commissioners, called Hurd’s letter to Wright “beyond disappointing.”
“Keeping this unreliable and polluting coal plant open is going to cost Coloradans tens – maybe hundreds – of millions of dollars, and it’s not even necessary. There’s no energy emergency in Colorado,” Pinter said in an email.
Pinter is president of Colorado Communities for Climate Action.
