A successful and equitable energy transition cannot be achieved without supporting the communities that have powered our economy for over a century by hosting essential fossil fuel infrastructure. Across the United States, dozens of coal-fired power plants have been retired in the shift to cleaner, more affordable sources of energy, and dozens more are scheduled to retire by the end of the decade.
This trend is largely because operating existing coal plants now costs more than retiring them and using cheaper, cleaner alternatives like wind and solar. In addition, states are enacting policies to accelerate the clean energy transition in response to the growing climate challenge.
As these changes happen, coal plant host communities face the loss of economic and community development benefits provided by coal plants. These benefits include tax revenue, high-quality jobs, demand for local products and services, human capital, and participation in community development functions such as governance and philanthropy.
Navigating these losses and developing strategies to diversify local economies requires careful planning and action that is led by the communities and is responsive to their needs and priorities.
GPI recently had the pleasure of supporting a coal plant host community in rural northwest Colorado to conduct that planning and develop a set of potential concrete actions by convening one of the plant’s owners, local elected officials, and three state agencies.
Tri-State proposes to close Craig Station
Craig Station is a three-unit coal-fired power plant in Moffat County that is co-owned by Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a wholesale electric generation and transmission cooperative, and four other utilities. Tri-State is the plant operator and provides electricity across four Western states.
Uniquely, despite being located in Moffat County, neither the City of Craig nor Moffat County receives electricity from the plant. This is because the city and county aren’t within a Tri-State member service territory.
That said, the plant has been a central asset to the local economy, providing valuable high-paying jobs and significant property tax revenue since it began operating in 1979.
In 2020, Tri-State committed to retiring Craig Station by 2030, and through a subsequent proceeding at the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, revised that date to January 1, 2028.
In addition, under another commission proceeding in 2022, Tri-State entered into a settlement agreement with multiple state agencies and advocacy groups in which it agreed to discuss and develop potential community assistance opportunities for Craig Station’s host community.
The settlement required that this process was led by a third-party neutral facilitator and happened in collaboration with six parties—the City of Craig, the Colorado Energy Office, the Colorado Office of Just Transition, the Colorado Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate, Moffat County, and Tri-State.
In 2023, GPI was selected as the facilitator to convene the parties, guide the development of community assistance opportunities, and capture those opportunities in a final report. The Office of Just Transition funded GPI’s assistance, with Tri-State agreeing to provide additional funding if needed.
GPI builds a shared understanding
GPI convened the six collaborating parties for 11 in-person meetings in Craig, Colorado, between July 2023 and April 2024. We started the facilitation process by asking the group a series of questions about the situation at hand:
- What does success look like for your organization, both for this process and in the long term?
- What do we collectively need to do, adhere to, or keep in mind to stay on track?
- What issues are out of the scope for these discussions?
- What ground rules do we want to have to ensure productive meetings?
- What has happened and is happening currently that is important to a successful economic transition for the City of Craig and Moffat County?
- What are the biggest uncertainties that would impact the transition?
- What questions do group members have that they would like to get answers to or explore further together?
The answers to these questions revealed that the parties were aligned on supporting the community in navigating its economic transition. Still, there were disagreements about the settlement terms that brought the parties together.
There was also a lack of clarity around two critical pieces of information: first, the City of Craig and Moffat County’s priorities for the economic transition, and second, how the state regulatory process might impact new energy infrastructure in the community.
In response, GPI did the following:
- Helped the group establish a shared set of ground rules, guiding principles, and objectives for the monthly meetings and the final report.
- Asked parties to present on the topics needing clarity and provided time for participants to build a shared understanding before discussing possible solutions.
These discussions helped to build a foundation of shared understanding about the group’s perspectives and what was known about the current situation.
A unique solution for the Craig community
After establishing this foundation, GPI asked the parties to come up with as many ideas as possible to support the community’s economic transition. The group then worked through this list across a series of meetings to discuss the possibilities and challenges of each.
To inform the group’s discussions, GPI also worked with the parties to recruit outside speakers with experience navigating economic transitions in coal plant host communities in other states.
One of the group’s challenges was to think about a broad set of possible solutions that included but were not limited to energy infrastructure. In other words, the problem was related to energy infrastructure, but the solutions could be anything that could contribute to sustainable, long-term economic development for the community.
The group ultimately refined a set of possible solutions captured in the final report, labeled the Informational Community Assistance Plan for the City of Craig and Moffat County, Colorado. The plan offers nine community assistance opportunities that could feasibly and meaningfully support the long-term economic health of the community in response to Craig Station’s eventual closure.
One of these opportunities—the creation of an economic development fund—drew significant support from the collaborating parties. This gained support because it put the power of investment in the hands of the local community.
Moreover, the economic development fund offered continuous reinvestment into the community over time instead of making a one-time contribution. Tri-State and multiple other sources could finance this fund, and the community would decide how to use it.
Following the development of the Informational Community Assistance Plan, the Office of Just Transition provided funding to the City of Craig and Moffat County to hire a legal team to advocate for the community assistance opportunities in front of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission. The parties ultimately reached a settlement agreement in June 2024 for Tri-State to provide up to $70 million in financial and other support between 2026 and 2038 for the economic transition in Craig and Moffat County.
Ongoing efforts to address change
There is still work to be done to achieve the goal of replacing economic losses projected to occur because of Craig Station’s retirement. Nevertheless, the community’s needs and priorities stay at the core of this transition.
The outcome of this convening process produced collaboratively developed community assistance opportunities that are more robust and thoughtful than they would have been had only a single party developed them.
The process also allowed the parties to build a more nuanced understanding of each other’s perspectives, which will be vital as the community continues to navigate its economic transition.
Our efforts continue to grow. GPI is currently supporting a similar process in Itasca County, Minnesota, and we are eager to support other communities facing similar transitions to develop collaborative, equitable solutions. If you are interested in working with us or hearing more about our facilitation process in this story, contact us at [email protected].