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Colstrip Montana, with its massive coal-fired power plant and rich coal mine next to it, is definitely Trump Country. As a candidate, Donald Trump repeatedly promised a coal revival. But since he took office, U.S. coal consumption has hit a 41-year low and coal plant closures have actually accelerated.
The next to fall in December will be Colstrip units 1 and 2, which have been keeping the lights on throughout the Pacific Northwest since 1975. Shutting down one-third of the capacity of the largest coal plant west of the Mississippi comes even after Trump scrapped the Obama-era Clean Power Plan and his administration pledged $39-million to make coal plants run cleaner.
“There’s nothing he can do about it,” says Randy Hardy, an energy consultant and former head of the Bonneville Power Administration. “The market economics are so compelling that absent massive federal government subsidies to keep coal alive, you couldn’t do it economically.”
Cheap natural gas from fracking is making coal less competitive, along with falling prices for wind and solar power. Puget Sound Energy, a major utility in Washington state and co-owner of the Colstrip plant, is rapidly moving away from coal power, which currently makes up 38 percent of its electricity portfolio.
“It’s driven off of economics,” said Ron Roberts, PSE’s Director of Generation, “It’s just going to become more and more expensive to run a coal-fired power plant.”
Talen Energy owns 50 percent of Colstrip 1 and 2. In a statement, Talen President Dale Lebsack said the decision to close the units “comes after extensive review and exhaustive efforts over the last few years to address the financial challenges that these units face.”
Climate politics are also killing coal and driving down future demand. Washington state passed a law that its utilities must be coal-free by 2025. The state’s lone coal plant in Centralia will begin phasing out production in 2020. Oregon’s last remaining coal plant in Boardman will completely shut down its 550 MW of generation by the end of 2020. Oregon’s utilities must be coal-free by 2035. Coal plant closures are also scheduled in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada and Utah. In all, the amount of power produced by burning coal is expected to drop by more than half by 2030, from 34,000 MW to 16,000 MW.
Nancy Hirsch, Executive Director of the NW Energy Coalition, says the coal plant closures are necessary. “It’s a huge contributor to meeting climate goals and the Paris Accords,” said Hirsh, “that’s a critical piece to every country’s commitment to meeting those emissions reduction.”