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Colorado Coal Plant Proposals

Colorado currently receives more than 70 percent of its electricity from coal-fired power plants, and plans are in place to build more. Here is a list of the current proposals. Follow the links to find out more about each proposal and what efforts are underway to oppose them:

1. Pueblo
2. Lamar
3. Limon
4. Southeastern Colorado

1. Pueblo

Location: Pueblo

Company: Xcel Energy

Type: Supercritical pulverized coal plant

Megawatts (MW): 750

Owner: Utility

The Xcel power plant is under construction and scheduled to be in service by 2010. A settlement between Xcel Energy and a group of citizens and environmental organizations resulted in the groups agreeing to drop their opposition to the plant in exchange for Xcel’s agreement to reduce air pollution from two existing coal fired generating units at the site and significantly increase investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency resources. Two other citizens groups are continuing to take legal action to halt the plant’s construction.
Contact: Pam Kiely at pkiely@environmentcolorado.org or 303-573-3871 x336.

2. Lamar

Location: Lamar

Company: City of Lamar

Type: Conversion of gas plant to coal plant

Megawatts (MW): 30

Owner: CO-OPS

Contact: Pam Kiely at pkiely@environmentcolorado.org or 303-573-3871 x336.

3. Limon

Location: Limon

Company: Radar Acquisitions Corporation

Type: Pulverized coal or circulating fluidized bed plant

Megawatts (MW): 500

Owner: Merchant

Radar has proposed a $900 million lignite powered coal plant
Contact: Pam Kiely at pkiely@environmentcolorado.org or 303-573-3871 x336.

4. Eastern Colorado - Tristate Generation

Location: Have not chosen location, potentially near Lamar

Company: Tri-State

Type: Conventional pulverized coal

Megawatts (MW): 600

Owner: CO-OPS

Tri-State is looking into building two 700 MW plants in Kansas as well as the 600 MW proposed plant in Southeastern Colorado. Western Resource Advocates analyzed data provided by Tri-State to show that the construction of these plants, a $5 billion project, would result in wholesale rates jumping at least 64% in the next five years. In addition, Tri-State has the ability to meet the energy demands of its customers without building any additional coal plants.
Contact: Pam Kiely at pkiely@environmentcolorado.org or 303-573-3871 x336.