{"id":1313124,"date":"2019-08-02T12:44:01","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T18:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/yampa-valley-communities-ponder-impacts-as-hayden-power-plant-to-begin-ending-operations-within-next-2-decades-craig-plant-within-6-years\/"},"modified":"2019-08-02T12:44:01","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T18:44:01","slug":"yampa-valley-communities-ponder-impacts-as-hayden-power-plant-to-begin-ending-operations-within-next-2-decades-craig-plant-within-6-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/yampa-valley-communities-ponder-impacts-as-hayden-power-plant-to-begin-ending-operations-within-next-2-decades-craig-plant-within-6-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Yampa Valley communities ponder impacts as Hayden power plant to begin ending operations within next 2 decades; Craig plant within 6 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
To feed the Hayden Station power plant, Xcel is proposing installing a railroad line that would go over U.S. Highway 40 near an existing bridge that crosses the Yampa River.<\/strong>
Matt Stensland photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

For nearly as long as settlers have lived in the Yampa Valley, they\u2019ve been mining coal. In the 1960s and 1970s, the coal-fired power plants followed, with the first unit of Hayden Station in place in 1965 and the first units of Craig Station built downstream in 1974.<\/p>\n

Within the next 20 years, Hayden Station will close. Within six years, a third of Craig Station will close.<\/p>\n

According to Xcel Energy\u2019s 2016 Electric Resource Plan filed with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, a regulatory filing required by the state, that without \u201csignificant new investment or maintenance expense,\u201d the company estimates Hayden Station will retire completely in 2036.<\/p>\n

Unit 1, the smaller and older of the two units at the power plant, is slated for closure in 2030. Completed in 1965, Unit 1 generates 179 megawatts of power.<\/p>\n

Unit 2, built in 1976, is slated for closure in 2036. It generates up to 262 megawatts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe facility is going to keep operating in full or in part through 2036,\u201d Xcel spokesperson Mark Stutz said. \u201cThat has always generally been the plan. We\u2019re going to be a part of the community for a decade-plus moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Yampa Valley communities, that means that the next 20 years will bring significant change as tax revenues, jobs and community identities shift.<\/p>\n

Stutz emphasized that Xcel has spent millions upgrading equipment that reduced its emissions in the past decade, and the company plans to continue to put that investment to use.<\/p>\n

Hayden Town Manager Mathew Mendisco said that\u2019s given the community a longer timeline to prepare for the closure.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of that, we have these dates that are a lot farther out than you see (in other communities),\u201d Mendisco said. Community leaders in Hayden and in Routt County have been attending conferences with other coal-reliant communities in the region and nation. Mendisco said all the other communities in these meetings are faced with unit closures within the next four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not facing that currently,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have time to plan, and that\u2019s the process of what we\u2019re starting. We support Xcel, and we support our workers here 100%, but as the council pointed out to me, we\u2019re not going to ignore the current trends that are happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it must be addressed at a regional level \u2014 Hayden doesn\u2019t have the capacity to take it on its own. That includes economic development work supported by Xcel.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Xcel announced that it planned to provide 100% carbon-neutral energy by 2050 and reduce its carbon emissions by 80% by 2030. In light of that fact, Mendisco said, \u201cwe\u2019re not going to bury our heads in the sand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just west on U.S. Highway 40, Craig Station\u2019s Unit 1 is set to retire in 2025. Xcel is a minority owner of units 1 and 2 at Craig Station, and according to Xcel\u2019s Electric Resource Plan, it estimates retirement of Unit 2 in 2039.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important for all of us to recognize that we all need to be in this together,\u201d said Routt County Commissioner Beth Melton. \u201cFor those who live in Steamboat, we can\u2019t just say \u2018Oh well, this is happening in Hayden.\u2019 We have to recognize how critical this is to the economy valleywide, and that\u2019s not just Routt County. It\u2019s also Moffat County. It\u2019s not just Hayden. It\u2019s also Steamboat, and it\u2019s also South Routt, and we have to have a mentality of collaboration around addressing these challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Xcel operates the plant, it\u2019s one of three companies that own the plant: Xcel, PacifiCorp and the Salt River Project. Stutz wrote in an email to Steamboat Pilot & Today that if these dates were to change, all owners would have to agree to it and file new documents with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing new has been filed since 2016, and we don\u2019t anticipate anything new,\u201d Stutz wrote.<\/p>\n

Looking to the future<\/p>\n

Through Xcel and PacifiCorps\u2019s shares of Hayden Station, Twentymile Mine and the Union Pacific trains that haul coal to the power plant, the coal industry made up four of the county\u2019s top five taxpayers in 2018, according to Melton. Xcel is the county\u2019s largest taxpayer, she said, though even in that position Xcel\u2019s contributions represent only about 4.7% of the county\u2019s total assessed value.<\/p>\n

In West and South Routt County, the impact is even more direct on the special districts that fund schools, libraries and cemeteries. Twentymile Mine drives budgets for these districts in South Routt, while Hayden Station does the same in West Routt.<\/p>\n

Mendisco said about 60% of the revenue that supports the West Routt Fire Protection District, Hayden School District, Hayden Cemetery District and The Solandt Memorial Hospital District comes from Hayden Station.<\/p>\n

But the coal industry isn\u2019t just dollar signs for the Yampa Valley. Community leaders are concerned for the people, too. Generations of Yampa Valley residents have dug and burned coal, and city and county Economic Development Director John Bristol said those are good jobs at the plant, which provide families with salaries, health insurance and retirement benefits. The money in those salaries also gets circulated to local businesses, pays mortgages and, through purchases, makes its way into other local pockets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt impacts the culture and the community spirit,\u201d Bristol said, adding that the power plant is a part of who people are.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we continue to support that and support the families that are employed there? It\u2019s a big issue for us as a community, and when I say \u2018us as a community,\u2019 I mean the entire valley,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe can\u2019t draw a line around the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of July, Hayden Station employs 64 people, Stutz wrote. As the plant moves closer and closer to retirement, Stutz said the company will rely on attrition as employees retire or move on to new jobs of their own accord.<\/p>\n

Those who remain in 2030 and 2036 will be allowed to transfer to other jobs within Xcel or might undergo training to operate solar or wind farms. In cases of closure, Stutz said, employees are given \u201cplenty of notice,\u201d years in advance of the plant\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Xcel shuttered Arapahoe Generating Station in Denver and announced last year that it planned to close two of Pueblo\u2019s Comanche Power Station\u2019s three units 10 years ahead of schedule in 2022 and 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have used a combination of natural attrition \u2014 employees retire during that period or choose to retire by the final date \u2014 we\u2019re able to relocate them to other facilities,\u201d Stutz said. \u201cThere are other facilities, whether natural gas or coal, that they can work at, or sometimes, they will go through retraining. In all but a handful of cases, in the several plants we\u2019ve shut down in the last couple years, the employees have found some other career path that met their approval. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve had but a handful that have not been able to find anything by the time of the plant closure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melton said that means having local jobs available for those who might not want to leave the valley as coal jobs decrease. Melton said, for some, it might be a better choice to leave than to stay in the valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr maybe they do want to stay here, and we want to make sure all those options are available to them,\u201d Melton said. \u201cAs for community resiliency, we want to make sure we have a diverse base of businesses. We don\u2019t want to be overly reliant on any single industry, whether it\u2019s energy or another industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mendisco said government can\u2019t create jobs, but it can set the stage on housing and business issues to encourage the private sector to step up to that plate.<\/p>\n

long-range planning<\/p>\n

Attracting and keeping businesses in the county can help achieve multiple goals, both in providing jobs and diversifying tax revenues in the county. Mendisco said Hayden is focused on growth, in building out the town under existing land use platform, but particularly in boosting commercial growth in the West Routt special districts.<\/p>\n

Under Colorado\u2019s Gallagher Amendment, commercial property assessments are about three times higher in value than residential property assessments. This means that to fill an eventual vacancy from the commercial assessments from the power plant, both Mendisco and Melton said the community must expand businesses in Hayden.<\/p>\n

Hayden\u2019s new school facilities, improved broadband access, technical and financial support from the state in creating strategic plans and steps to support small businesses will also benefit the community as it transitions, Bristol said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no silver bullet here,\u201d Bristol said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of golden buckshot, I suppose, that\u2019s doing a lot of different things. In Hayden, it\u2019s downtown beautification. It\u2019s working to attract small business and being willing to support them with small incentives to get them up and going. It\u2019s ensuring that you\u2019ve got a really good school system and good school facilities. \u2026 It\u2019s getting those pieces lined up and moving forward, so when there is more opportunity, you\u2019re able to move on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

One piece of this golden buckshot is a comprehensive planning effort the town of Hayden is launching later this year. This plan will include an economic development master plan, Mendisco said. It\u2019ll examine how much property tax revenue would be generated by buildout of available lots within town limits. It will also contribute to the community\u2019s understanding of how Hayden Station\u2019s closure and other shifts in the area\u2019s coal industry will actually impact the valley.<\/p>\n

Though the town is leading the effort, Mendisco said Xcel has expressed interest in helping fund development of the plan, and the county, city of Steamboat Springs, Steamboat Springs Chamber and Hayden School District have submitted letters of support for the plan as the town has pursued grants.<\/p>\n

He said this plan will help Hayden navigate its role within the future of Northwest Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cHayden will play its part,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to know how to play our part the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

ehasenbeck@SteamboatPilot.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To feed the Hayden Station power plant, Xcel is proposing installing a railroad line that would go over U.S. Highway 40 near an existing bridge that crosses the Yampa River.Matt Stensland photo For nearly as long as settlers have lived in the Yampa Valley, they\u2019ve been mining coal. In the 1960s and 1970s, the coal-fired […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1313124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 17:28:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}