Coal mining employment in Colorado has declined steadily to about 1,150 jobs.
Coal-generated power has plummeted from more than half of electricity needs to less than one-third.
The tons of coal dug from Colorado ground are now barely a quarter of the 2004 peak.
So you’re telling us coal has a chance?
Boosters of the dwindling coal industry and a core of conservative voters would like to think so. They are encouraged by executive orders from President Donald Trump aimed at juicing the U.S. coal industry by opening more federal land to leasing and cutting environmental red tape discouraging coal burning. Could those orders revive the Colorado coal sector?
Possibly, with some road hazards the size of large boulders.
“I don’t expect any massive changes in the near future, but there’s certainly positive steps for the continued development of coal in Colorado,” said Adam Eckman, president of the Colorado Mining Association.
While some of Colorado’s six working coal mines are dedicated solely to supplying local power plants scheduled to close within the next few years, others do export coal and could expand leases and boost production for markets in other states or overseas. West Elk, near Somerset and operated by an international coal giant, could be attractive for its high-heat, low-sulfur coal exports.
Even some of the mines dedicated to serving doomed local power plants could pivot to exports, mining experts said.
The prospect of breathing life into a long-vilified industry has Colorado environmental groups sounding dismissive, though vigilant.
“The reality is Colorado’s coal industry is a shadow of what it once was because the industry has mined the most economic reserves already and now costs are simply too high to maintain nearly any viable mining,” said Jeremy Nichols of the Center for Biological Diversity. “Add to that the liabilities of coal — more air pollution, more climate costs, and more — it’s simply a ghost of an industry at this point. Trump may put on a show, but he can’t raise the dead.”
It wasn’t environmental regulation that choked off the coal industry over the past 20 years, according to experts at the Environmental Defense Fund. The fracking boom making U.S. natural gas abundant and cheap, combined with shrinking costs of building clean wind and solar generation, were far bigger factors, they said.
“The significant reduction in coal generating capacity over the last 15-plus years has been a story of economics, much more than a story of policy,” said Alex DeGolia, the Colorado-based director of state legislative and regulatory affairs for EDF. “We also know that coal plants are, you know, tremendously polluting in terms of both greenhouse gasses and local air pollutants that cause premature death and asthma and other public health harm.”
Colorado mines are expected to produce about 10 million tons of coal in 2025, from a high of 40 million tons in 2004, according to the University of Colorado’s annual Business Outlook. West Elk, a longwall underground mine now owned by the conglomerate Core Resources, produces about a third of that, and also has an export market for its coal.
Peabody’s Twentymile mine in Routt County primarily supplies the Hayden power station, which will close by 2028, but has also exported coal. CU’s discussion of Colorado mining prospects says Twentymile “has the capacity to mine much higher volumes of coal for the next decade.”
The Hayden Station coal-burning power plant operating, May 19, 2024, in near Craig. Xcel energy proposed closing the plant in 2028. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)The Deserado mine near Rangely supplies Utah’s Bonanza power plant, and digs about 1.8 million tons a year; some of Utah’s coal power plants are actually extending their lives, not shortening them.
Tri-State Generation, the power-supply cooperative, operates Colowyo mining for its portion of power generated at Craig station, with Tri-State’s power units scheduled for closure in 2025 and 2028. Tri-State said Friday it plans to end Colowyo’s mining operation by the end of this year. CU’s mining report said Colowyo’s “lowest mercury content in the United States” could have other markets.
Some other Colorado mining operations are specialized, with the King II mine near Durango operated by Grupo Cementos for use in its coal-fired cement making plants. A recently revived coal mine near Trinidad, which specializes in metallurgical, or steel-making, coal, is dormant again, according to state experts.
The burning of coal in Colorado, if not the mining of it, was put on a “glide path” to ending by the state’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Roadmap, Eckman said. The road map and a series of state laws require Colorado’s power generation market to leave coal behind and generate electricity with primarily solar and wind power by 2030.
But Colorado coal mines that stay open for other markets could benefit from expanding existing leases on federal lands, Eckman said. The Trump order ended the ban on new leases, “a positive step to put that moratorium behind us,” Eckman said.
“It also directs the secretary of Commerce to evaluate expanded coal export opportunities, and I think that would be a positive step,” he said. “So there are some things in there that are beneficial for the coal industry in Colorado that aren’t specifically limited to coal combustion markets within our state.”
Global coal consumption set a new high in 2024, Eckman noted, as China and other nations building out their electrical grid continue to add new coal plants alongside renewable projects.
But anyone promoting exports has to hedge their predictions when another Trump policy comes up: tariffs. Few can say whether China will be buying coal or much of anything else from the U.S.
“There’s no denying,” Eckman said, “that the tariff situation does complicate coal exports.”
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Could Trump actually revive Colorado’s vilified coal industry? )
Also on site :