{"id":137115,"date":"2025-04-22T15:18:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T20:18:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=137115"},"modified":"2025-04-22T15:20:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T20:20:06","slug":"cronkite-news-trump-gives-new-life-to-aging-coal-fired-power-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2025\/04\/22\/cronkite-news-trump-gives-new-life-to-aging-coal-fired-power-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"Cronkite News: Trump gives new life to aging coal-fired power plants"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Apache<\/a>
The Apache Generating Station is operated by the Arizona Electric Power Cooperative in Cochise, Arizona. Photo: Carol M. Highsmith \/ Photographs in the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Arizona\u2019s Apache Generating Station is one of 66 coal plants to get EPA exemption from Biden-era toxic air pollution caps<\/div>\r\n
Tuesday, April 22, 2025<\/div>\r\n
By Sammy Travis<\/div>\r\n
Cronkite News<\/DIV>\r\n
cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nWASHINGTON — The Apache Generating Station<\/a>, one of the last remaining power plants in Arizona that use coal, is among 66 power plants nationwide granted exemptions by the Trump administration from updated standards on mercury, arsenic, lead and other toxic pollutants.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nEnvironmentalists worry that allowing plants to avoid compliance with the new standards could harm air quality, public health and the environment.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nPower companies have been phasing out coal plants in Arizona for years. The last is targeted for closure in 2032, when federal rules kick in that require 90% capture of carbon emissions.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nBut Arizona\u2019s intense summer heat puts a strain on the supply of electricity, and power companies have long turned to older, dirtier technology when demand peaks.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAt issue are Environmental Protection Agency standards known as the MATS rule, part of the Clean Air Act, which President Richard Nixon signed in 1970. Congress updated it in 1977 and 1990.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Apache Generating Station\u2019s waiver allows its owner and operator, Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, to comply with the 2012 version of the federal standards rather than stricter caps issued by the EPA in April 2024.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe MATS rule was originally aimed at coal-burning plants. The EPA has expanded it to apply to natural gas; Apache, a 408-megawatt plant about 80 miles east of Tucson, uses both.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nNatural gas generates far less toxic material and particulate matter than coal. But it does create carbon dioxide, and the Biden administration also issued rules aimed at curbing those greenhouse emissions.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAEPCO says the older EPA standard is stringent enough to avert hazardous pollution levels and that complying with the updated caps would be \u201ctechnically unworkable\u201d and \u201csignificantly more expensive.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cThe Presidential Variance ensures that Apache can continue to operate to provide power to Southeast Arizona and rural electric utility members,\u201d Carolyn Turner, director of communications and member services at Arizona G&T Cooperatives, which includes AEPCO, said by email. \u201cWe do not believe that the issuance of this variance will result in any increase in particulate or particulate hazardous air pollutant emissions. AEPCO is committed to environmental excellence and continued compliance with MATS.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nTurner cited a 2020 EPA study that she said indicated the \u201cprior MATS standards were sufficient to protect the public from any health risks.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nWhen the EPA issued tighter standards in April 2024, it said that \u201ctechnologies and\/or methods of operation are available\u201d to further control pollution \u201cat reasonable costs.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe agency said the 2012 standards had \u201cdriven sharp reductions\u201d in pollution from power plants and that the updated standards will go further, cutting annual emissions by 1,000 pounds of mercury and at least 7 tons of other hazardous materials by 2028.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cAEPCO requested the exemption to avoid unnecessary financial burden on rural consumers,\u201d Turner said, adding that available monitoring systems aren\u2019t sensitive enough to measure fine particulate matter at the level required by the EPA\u2019s latest standard.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nPresident Donald Trump signed an order shortly after taking office that rolled back Biden-era EPA regulations. In April, he signed multiple executive orders promoting coal.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nHis cost-cutting effort, led by billionaire Elon Musk, has also aggressively curtailed the EPA\u2019s staff and mission.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nTrump-appointed EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin<\/a> gave power companies until March 31 to request a waiver allowing them to operate under the older rules.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nIf approved, companies get a two-year exemption, with the possibility of two-year extensions.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nLast September, AEPCO announced plans to stop using coal for power generation by 2027 at the Apache Generating Station, shifting entirely to natural gas after that.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nArizona has two other coal plants in operation besides Apache: Springerville Generating Station and Coronado Generating Station, both northeast of Phoenix near the New Mexico state line.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nSpringerville, operated by Tucson Electric Power, generates nearly 1,800 megawatts. Environment Arizona Research & Policy Center listed it as the state\u2019s most polluting power plant in 2020.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nTEP owns two of the four units at Springerville. The others are owned by Salt River Project and the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAll have publicly committed to phasing out coal by 2032 and being more environmentally conscious.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAccording to Pam Syrjala, SRP\u2019s senior director of supply and trading, demand can triple in the summer, when temperatures can soar past 110 degrees. Rapid growth in Arizona\u2019s cities has added to pressure on suppliers.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cWe need to lean on all of our resources a lot more in summer,\u201d she said. \u201cCoal plants are an extremely reliable resource. We\u2019re able to store fuel on site, so that\u2019s a very good reliability aspect. But we do still continue to have plans to retire those assets and continue to grow our sustainable resources.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nCoronado generates 822 megawatts. SRP says it will stop burning coal there by 2032.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nSRP announced in 2020 that Coronado would run seasonally starting this year, revving up only to help meet summer demand.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nArizona companies also own a majority of the Four Corners Power Plant, located on Navajo land in New Mexico just east of the state border. Four Corners produces up to 1,179 megawatts and is the largest coal plant that supplies power to Arizona.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThree of the five units at Four Corners have been retired. Decommissioning for the others is planned by 2031.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nIn 2021, Arizona Public Service Co. said Four Corners would shift to seasonal operations that \u201cwill bring substantial environmental benefits\u201d while allowing for surge production needed \u201cduring Arizona\u2019s notoriously hot summer months.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nBut in a securities filing last year, APS said it \u201celected not to begin seasonal operation due to market conditions.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAPS spokesperson Yessica del Rinc\u00f3n affirmed that \u201cFour Corners Power Plant operates as a year-round source of energy to meet customers\u2019 needs.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAPS ended operations last month at the Cholla Power Plant, about 80 miles east of Flagstaff. Del Rinc\u00f3n said the company is reviewing its options following Trump\u2019s executive orders easing restrictions on coal plants.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cWe plan to preserve the site for potential future generation uses, including the possibility of nuclear power. At this time, APS has already procured reliable and cost-effective generation that will replace the energy previously generated by Cholla Power Plant,\u201d she said by email.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Navajo Generating Station, a coal plant on tribal land in northern Arizona, shut down in 2019 and has since been demolished<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nNavajo President Buu Nygren said recently that the Navajo Nation has lost $40 million per year due to the closure and cited the widespread job losses as a warning against moving too quickly to close aging power plants.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nOn April 8, state Rep. David Marshall, R-Snowflake, and 22 other Republicans in the Legislature sent a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, urging him to \u201cstop the retirement of coal-fired power plants in Arizona and support the reactivation of those already shut down.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe lawmakers said they want the Navajo Power Plant reopened \u2013 an idea decried by T\u00f3 Nizh\u00f3n\u00ed \u00c1n\u00ed, a Navajo environmentalist group.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAccording to the group\u2019s executive director, Nicole Horseherder, rebuilding the plant would create environmental and logistical problems.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cFiring up new coal plants does not happen overnight. \u2026 Trump will be out of office before one is even permitted, let alone built and ready to come online,\u201d she said in a statement.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nHorseherder also noted that coal isn\u2019t cost-effective compared to alternatives, which is a big reason why power companies have been phasing it out for years.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nIn an interview with Cronkite News, Horseherder recalled the long history of health problems suffered by Navajo workers at coal plants and mines.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe Navajo Nation should \u201cintentionally and aggressively\u201d move to cleaner sources of energy, she said, though she agrees with Nygren and others on the need to blunt the impact on workers.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cIs there a plan? That\u2019s a question that nobody is asking,\u201d she said.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe dangers of coal are well established.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAccording to the National Institutes of Health, \u201cCoal-burning power plants are a major source of fine particulate matter \u2026 associated with increased risk of death.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nCoal mining is especially dangerous. Ongoing exposure to coal dust is associated with coal workers\u2019 pneumoconiosis, also known as black lung disease.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe American Lung Association says that \u201cthe burning of fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal at power plants emits a host of harmful air pollution, including carbon dioxide that drives climate change and other emissions like particulate matter, carbon dioxide, mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nArizona has no active coal mines.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe last two were the Black Mesa and Kayenta mines, both owned and operated by Peabody Energy on Navajo land. Black Mesa closed in 2005, around the same time as the Mohave Generating Station in Nevada. Kayenta operations ceased in 2019 when the Navajo Generating Station closed.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nFor more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org<\/A>.<\/STRONG>\r\n

<\/P>\r\n

Note: This story originally appeared on Cronkite News<\/a>. It is published via a Creative Commons license<\/A>. Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication<\/A> at Arizona State University<\/A>.<\/EM>
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