Colorado state officials attacked the legal basis for new executive orders by the Trump administration to boost the nation’s coal industry and pledged to fight efforts to block state goals of phasing out coal for cleaner energy sources.
President Donald Trump signed executive orders Tuesday to “reinvigorate” what he called America’s “beautiful, clean coal.” Another order targets “state overreach,” or state laws and policies he sees as hampering coal mining.
Colorado has set goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and addressing the impacts of climate change. Closing coal plants is considered crucial to meeting those goals because coal emits more carbon dioxide, the primary gas contributing to climate change, than other energy sources
Burning coal also emits mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, which pose human health and environmental risks.
The state has been moving toward expanding renewable energy use since 2004 when Colorado voters became the first in the nation to require investor-owned utilities to get a certain percentage of their power from renewable sources. The momentum has picked up as the costs of wind and solar power and battery storage have decreased.
“We are committed to delivering less expensive, reliable electricity and protecting Colorado’s air, water and cherished landscapes, and supercharging our energy mix to meet our 100% clean energy goal – a goal we are on a path to reach by 2040 without this overreach of the federal government,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said the legal basis for the executive orders on bolstering the coal industry “is a mystery to me.”
State Rep. Ty Winter, a Republican from Las Animas County, believes the orders are a “much-needed step toward restoring balance, bringing energy independence home and recognizing the value of Colorado’s coal communities.”
The executive orders refer to removing barriers to coal production on federal lands, including a moratorium on new leasing from the Obama administration that’s been entangled in legal disputes. An order directs the U.S. Attorney General to identify state laws on climate change, environmental justice, carbon or greenhouse gas emissions and carbon penalties or taxes and take appropriate action to stop enforcement of laws deemed to be illegal.
Weiser questioned the legality of those provisions. Under the U.S. Constitution, he said, states have full authority to protect public health, safety and welfare and to protect air and water quality.
“And the federal government doesn’t have a constitutional basis to stand on to tell us what to do when it comes to protecting the people of Colorado,” Weiser said. “And I don’t understand for the life of me what, if any, federal basis there could be to try to tell us how to manage our energy mix.”
Weiser is one of several Democratic state attorneys general who have sued over the Trump administration’s freeze on certain federal monies and other executive orders.
One of Trump’s first executive orders after taking office in January was “Unleashing American Energy,” which he said was necessary to counter the Biden administration’s focus on renewable energy. He derided the former president’s approach as pursuing “a precariously inadequate and intermittent energy supply.”
Coal, on the other hand, “is abundant and cost effective” and will be critical to meeting the country’s rising demand for electricity as manufacturing and construction of energy-intensive data processing centers increase, an executive order said. Another directive called for a two-year pause on more stringent limits on mercury and toxic emissions from coal plants to support the industry.
Adam Eckman, CEO and president of the Colorado Mining Association, said the effects of Trump’s executive orders on the coal industry will likely differ depending on the region.
“Colorado’s coal market has contracted significantly in recent years primarily as a result of state legislation,” Eckman said. “That’s a state-based effort less than federally driven, so that probably blunts the potential effect of the executive orders than it would in other states.”
Winter, whose House district has a long history of coal mining, would like to see state officials reconsider state carbon-emission goals to help reverse the decline of the coal industry at a time when China and India are bringing “coal-fired plants online at a rapid pace.”
In Colorado, utilities have closed coal plants earlier than planned to meet state requirements and their own goals. Xcel Energy, Colorado’s largest electric utility, plans to close the last unit of the Comanche power plant near Pueblo by the end of 2030, shuttering its last coal facility in the state. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Colorado’s second-largest electric utility, has retired coal facilities ahead of schedule and will shut more by 2031.
Xcel and Tri-State said in statements Wednesday that they’re reviewing the executive orders and remain focused on providing reliable energy to their customers.
Coal provides about 16% of the nation’s energy, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In 2010, coal’s share of the energy mix was 45%.
“Coal has been on the decline for decades, not because of federal policies, but because it’s dirty and it’s increasingly unreliable as our coal fleet ages. And it can’t compete on a level playing field with renewable energy sources,” said Jenny Harbine, managing attorney for the Northern Rockies office of Earthjustice, an environmental law firm.
The cost of renewable energy sources continues to decrease and combined with battery storage, are more cost-effective than coal, Harbine said.
Originally Published:
