Coal news and updates

This week, Xcel Energy announced plans to permanently shut down the coal-burning Hayden Generating Station in northwest Colorado. The plan calls for the first of the plant’s two units to be retired by the end of 2027 and the second at some point the following year.

 

Seventy-five workers are employed at the plant, which is jointly owned by Xcel, PacifiCorp and Salt River Project. Xcel is the majority owner.

 

The companies will manage the transition of the workforce in partnership with its union, the International Brotherhood of Electricians (IBEW) Local 11. The transition will include “attrition, retirement and retraining employees,” Xcel stated in its press release.

 

“We are working closely with the company to ensure our union members have ample employment opportunities to minimize impacts to them, their families and the communities we serve,” said Rich Meisinger, Business Manager of IBEW Local 111.

 

The Hayden plant has provided stability for the community since it began generating electricity in 1965. Meisinger worries whatever replaces the plant won’t offer the same kind of job security.

 

“What I think is the biggest detriment is our members that work in these coal-fired power plants, is their wages and benefits are collectively bargained for. Right? Like, they have union wages, they have pensions, they have other benefits that once those jobs leave this communities, because they’re such good jobs, it actually has a much larger impact,” said Meisinger. “They have dedicated their careers to these power plants and now the rug is getting pulled out from under them. And so it is my goal, this local union’s goal to make sure they land on their feet.”

 

The original retirement dates for Hayden’s Unit 1 and Unit 2 were 2030 and 2036, respectively, according to Xcel. But the early closures were a part of the company’s recent commitment to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2030. Xcel hopes to ultimately deliver completely “green” electricity – from wind, solar, and hydraulic (water) and biomass sources – to customers by 2050.

 

Meisinger sits on the board of a team specifically established to help communities with this type of transition.

 

“In 2019 we actually passed a transition bill. It’s a bill that is aimed at helping people who are displaced from their jobs because of legislation that is closing down coal fired power plants,” he continued, “It’ll help our members, it’ll help people that work for the railroads that haul coal, as well as people working in the coal mines. It also helps the communities impacted by these closures.”

 

He says talks with Xcel have been going well and he’s hopeful the facility can be repurposed in a meaningful way.

 

“One of the things we are looking at is possibly repurposing the power plant, or at least that building, right? Like, there are other jobs that are done in Denver and buildings that possibly we are looking at, maybe we can move those jobs to the Hayden power plant.”

 

Routt County commissioner and former mayor, Tim Redmond, has made a point to be part of the conversation with Xcel as plans move forward.

 

Source : https://denver.cbslocal.com