Craig Station

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Craig Station is an operating power station of at least 1427-megawatts (MW) in Craig, Moffat, Colorado, United States. It is also known as Yampa project (Unit 1, Unit 2).

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Craig Station	Craig, Moffat, Colorado, United States	40.4627, -107.591153 (exact)

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3: 40.4627, -107.591153

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year	Retired year
Unit 1	Operating	coal: subbituminous	446.4	subcritical	1980	2026 (planned)
Unit 2	Operating	coal: subbituminous	446.4	subcritical	1979	2028 (planned)
Unit 3	Operating	coal: subbituminous	534.8	subcritical	1984	2028 (planned)

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
Unit 1	Public Service Company of Colorado [9%]; Platte River Power Authority [18%]; Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc [24%]; PacifiCorp [19%]; Salt River Project [29%]	Salt River Project [29.0%]; Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc [24.0%]; Berkshire Hathaway Inc [19.3%]; Platte River Power Authority [18.0%]; Xcel Energy Inc [9.7%]
Unit 2	Public Service Company of Colorado [9%]; Platte River Power Authority [18%]; Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc [24%]; PacifiCorp [19%]; Salt River Project [29%]	Salt River Project [29.0%]; Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc [24.0%]; Berkshire Hathaway Inc [19.3%]; Platte River Power Authority [18.0%]; Xcel Energy Inc [9.7%]
Unit 3	Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc [100%]	Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc [100.0%]

Financing

• Units 1 and 2: PacifiCorp 19%, Platte River Power Authority 18%, Salt River Project 29%, Public Service Company of Colorado 10% and Tri-State Generation and Transmission 24%

Retirement plans

In September 2016, it was reported Craig Station Unit 1, a 446 MW unit built in 1979, will be shut down by December 31, 2025. Unit 2 (also 446 MW) was planned for retirement in 2026.

During a media call on January 9, 2020 executives from Tri-State Generation and Transmission said that Units 2 and 3 will retire in 2030 and Unit 1 was still on schedule for retirement in 2025. Before the announcement, Units 2 and 3 were scheduled for closure in 2038 and 2044, respectively.

In July 2020, S&P Global reported that Tri-State announced that unit 2 would close in September of 2028 instead of 2030. In November 2020, the Air Quality Control Commission approved Colorado’s regional haze plan, requiring unit 3 to also close by 2028.

However, in December 2020, the Colorado Air Quality Control Commission voted to reverse the plan. The about-face followed objections from utilities and the Colorado Energy Office, which was coordinating Gov. Jared Polis’ efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In December 2023, Tri-State filed an updated resource plan with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission proposing that all three units be retired by the end of 2028. Unit 3 was slated to retire in January 2028, and Unit 2 was slated to retire in September 2028.

In April 2025, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association reaffirmed its intention to retire Unit 1 by the end of 2025, and retire Units 2 and 3 in 2028.

As of October 2025, the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association was reportedly expecting to receive an emergency order from the federal government to keep Unit 1 operating past 2025.

Department of Energy orders Craig coal unit to stay online

On December 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) ordered Craig Station Unit 1 to keep operating past its previously planned retirement date at the end of 2025. The 90-day emergency order was in effect until March 30, 2026. According to the plant’s operator, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Unit 1 was offline as of December 19, 2025, following a mechanical failure. Tri-State reportedly said that restarting the unit “will likely require additional investments in operations, repairs, maintenance and, potentially, fuel supply, all factors increasing costs.”

In January 2026, the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and the Platte River Power Authority requested a rehearing of the emergency order, arguing that the DOE violated their Constitutional rights by requiring them to keep Craig Unit 1 operating. The utilities stated that the DOE’s action constituted a ‘taking’ of their property without compensation or due process. In addition, the utilities argued that while Energy Secretary Chris Wright invoked emergency powers to issue the order, there “is no such emergency” and the order “disrupts a considered resource planning effort”.

In March 2028, the Sierra Club, Vote Solar, and Environmental Defense filed an appeal with the federal court against the DOE’s order to keep Craig Unit 1 online.

In late March 2026, the DOE issued another order to keep Craig Unit 1 operating through June 28, 2026.

Emissions Data

• 2024 Gross Load (MWh): 5,067,823
• 2024 SO2 Mass (short tons): 1,304
• 2024 CO2 Mass (short tons): 5,879,473
• 2024 NOx Mass (short tons): 4,332
• 2023 Mercury emissions (Hg, lb): 29.58

Pollution exemptions

In July 2025, the Trump administration issued an executive order exempting coal units at Cardinal Plant, Craig Station, and Dallman Station from complying with pollution limits in the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) until July 9, 2029. While pollution equipment was available to meet the standards, the order claimed compliance was not possible as the tougher 2024 standards required technologies “that do not yet exist in a commercially viable form.” Units 2 and 3 at Craig Station received the exemption.

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Craig Station

In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants. Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal plant, Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Craig Station

Type of Impact	Annual Incidence	Valuation
Deaths	24	$170,000,000
Heart attacks	36	$400,000,000
Asthma attacks	440	$23,000
Hospital admissions	16	$380,000
Chronic bronchitis	16	$6,900,000
Asthma ER visits	22	$8,000

Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011

Citizen groups

• Clean Energy Action
• Environment Colorado
• Rate Payers United of Colorado
• Sierra Club Rocky Mountain Chapter
• Wind Power Solutions

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.