January 13, 2026 - The U.S. Department of Energy issued an emergency order on Dec. 30 keeping Unit 1 of the Craig Station coal-fired plant running at least through March of this year.

It’s welcome news for Colorado consumers. It would be better still if it were the first of many such orders — federal or state — to keep Colorado coal plants online before they’re prematurely shuttered.

Craig is one source of roughly 1,267 megawatts of coal-generated electricity set for early retirement by the end of next year, as mandated by the Polis administration’s green-energy agenda. Other plants slated for closure are in Brush and Pueblo.

Pueblo’s Comanche Station already got a reprieve. Comanche’s Unit 2 was scheduled to close but will stay open for an extra year because Unit 3 is closed for repairs. That was good news, too. 

Energy Secretary Chris Wright deserves kudos for looking out for his fellow Colorado ratepayers who long for reliable, affordable energy.

Meanwhile, as The Gazette reported Friday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has rejected Colorado’s latest haze-reduction plan, saying the state wrongly tried to force coal-fired power plants to close early as part of efforts to clear up views in national parks and wilderness areas.

All such developments favoring “old” energy amount to a hedge against our state’s spiraling utility rates. They stem from Colorado’s mad dash to erase any trace of its carbon footprint — at any cost. The fossil fuels blamed for that footprint  — like natural gas and coal — in fact are cheap and plentiful.

Rate increases from green energy, on the other hand, have been unrelenting. 

Energy Information Administration data shows Colorado’s average residential electricity rate jumped from 14.19 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2022 to 15.06 cents in 2024 — a 6% increase in two years, according to the Independence Institute.

Now, as The Gazette reports, Xcel Energy has filed back-to-back requests for major increases in electric and natural gas rates starting this August — jolting electricity rates upward by 9.93% and natural gas rates by 11.4%.

Xcel insists that’s only a $17-per-month maximum cost to households with both services. That’s like cheering death by a thousand cuts. And with the state-mandated push to prematurely retire coal-fired power plants, rates are bound to rise further.

The state’s Public Utilities Commission no longer serves its original purpose of keeping regulated monopoly utilities in check. In redefining the PUC’s mission to advance the green movement’s environmental agenda, no matter the cost, the state keeps pushing utility companies toward ever-more-expensive energy sources. 

The PUC’s aggressive emissions mandates and renewable energy targets, which compel these plant closures, are the prime example. Xcel Energy and Black Hills Energy project a combined $1.4 billion in costs just to meet the original greenhouse gas reduction target of 22% by 2030 — let alone the steeper target five years later.

Xcel’s Clean Energy Plan will cost an estimated $12 billion while jacking up utility rates and ignoring the need for reliable energy sources. 

So, what’s the rush? Why are we recklessly shutting down jobs, livelihoods and jeopardizing our ability to generate electricity and heat our homes in order to meet Colorado climate targets that — let’s be honest — won’t move the global needle on greenhouse gas emissions?

A top-down, one-size-fits-all approach is neither reliable nor affordable. Wright’s all-of-the-above portfolio strategy, on the other hand, will unleash a multiplicity of energy sources — oil and gas, wind and solar, nuclear power and, yes, clean coal. Each will find its place and optimize efficiency.

This emergency order on coal is a good start. Let’s hope it’s the first of many corrections.