Colorado’s governor and top administrators who oversee public health, energy and the environment oppose the Trump administration’s plans to rescind rules that require coal-fired power plants to reduce climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s rule change won’t be immediate because federal laws require administrative procedures, including a public comment period. And environmental groups, who condemned the move, most likely will sue the Trump administration over the changes.
Meanwhile, Colorado’s leaders vowed to forge ahead with plans to shutter the five remaining coal-fired power plants still operating in Colorado. The utility companies that operate those plants, including Xcel Energy, have agreed to move away from coal and have planned for the shift in how Colorado powers its electrical grid.
“Colorado is rapidly transitioning to affordable clean energy solutions to save Coloradans money, protect our grid from unreliable coal power plants, and move closer to our goal of net-zero emissions in the state by 2050,” executive director Will Toor said in a news release. “Through increased fuel costs and expensive investments in aging infrastructure, the Trump administration’s attempts to save an obsolete fuel source such as coal will only drive up electricity prices across the country while contributing to the harmful pollution that already plagues our region.”
Lisa Anderson, an Xcel spokeswoman, said the company — the largest electricity provider in the state — would review the proposal while it continues to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.
“Xcel Energy supports a durable, achievable federal framework that enables the investments needed to meet growing electricity demand and deliver benefits to our customers,” Anderson said in an email to The Denver Post. “Xcel Energy has reduced carbon emissions from electricity generation 58% from 2005 levels as of year-end 2025. We will continue working with state regulators and partners to develop and implement plans while executing on our previously approved state resource plans.”
Colorado wants to eliminate most greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and closing those coal-fired plants is part of the state’s plan.
All of those plants are scheduled to close by 2031, although Colorado Springs Utilities has informed the state and federal governments that it wants to keep its Raymond D. Nixon plant open longer to account for a growing demand for power among its customers. Xcel also has asked to keep one of its Comanche plants in Pueblo running longer to meet demand.
Already, the state has been battling the Trump administration over its plans to close coal-fired power plants.
In January, the determined Colorado cannot order the closure of coal-fired power plants under the Clean Air Act, and the agency denied the state’s plan to reduce the haze that clouds views at Rocky Mountain National Park and other federal lands, based on that determination.
On Dec. 31, the U.S. Department of Energy, which is led by Coloradan Chris Wright, issued an emergency order for Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association to continue operating its 45-year-old Unit 1 at the Craig Generating Facility in Moffat County. The order came after the plant malfunctioned weeks earlier and would need a costly repair to reopen.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and six environmental groups filed a petition to challenge that emergency order, which is still in effect. Meanwhile, Tri-State is being forced to spend money to repair and run the plant.
Environmentalists said the EPA’s decision could exacerbate climate pollution, which is driving natural disasters such as extreme weather and bigger, faster wildfires that are destroying Colorado’s forests and other parts of the American West.
Colorado’s coal and gas plants emitted 25,892,876 tons of carbon dioxide last year, said Robin Everett, the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign deputy director. The natural disasters and extreme heat are costing Colorado billions of dollars in health care expenses and property damage.
“The Trump administration is ignoring this danger because his corporate backers are telling them to,” Everett said. “At this juncture, it’s critical states that have set climate goals, like Colorado, take every action possible to fight EPA on this proposal and to redouble efforts to hold polluters accountable. Our local leaders and lawmakers can’t use this federal climate regression as an excuse to walk back their own climate goals and commitments — the risks are too great.”
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin wants to strike the Biden administration’s 2024 Carbon Pollution Standards, arguing they are not allowed under the Clean Air Act because the recommended technologies for controlling emissions were not adequately tested. And the Trump EPA is arguing that it does not have the authority to use the Clean Air Act to “manipulate Americans’ energy choices.”
The EPA administrator said the repeal would save more than $310 billion for energy companies.
The federal agency wrongly claimed in a news release that greenhouse gas emissions from power plants have no impact on global climate change and that “if all carbon dioxides were eliminated tomorrow, there would be no meaningful climate impact.” The EPA also claimed that any public health harms are too uncertain and convoluted to specifically tie damages to the U.S. power sector.
But the power sector is the second-largest source of carbon dioxide and other in the United States, the . And scientists from the world’s industrialized nations agree that emissions must be drastically cut to avoid the most devastating impacts of global climate change.
Coal is the dirtiest fuel for generating electricity, releasing tons of carbon dioxide as it burns. That carbon dioxide mixes with volatile organic compounds on hot days and forms a blanket that traps heat close to the earth. That heat raises temperatures and drives extreme weather such as hailstorms and hurricanes.
Zeldin made the announcement while the United States was hosting an international energy conference for G20 nations.
That location and timing “shows how far they have moved from their purpose and missions,” said Hana Vizcarra, deputy managing attorney for Earthjustice’s D.C. office.
“The record of this administration is a relentless march to undo all of those protections,” Vizcarra said. “They are protecting their favored industries at the expense of the public’s health, our communities and our economies.”
