Arizona communities bank on Trump's push for coal to ensure they're not
forgotten
[May 05, 2025] By
SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
JOSEPH CITY, Ariz. (AP) — Brantley Baird never misses a chance to talk
history, from how his great-grandmother helped settle the town of
Snowflake long before Arizona was granted statehood to tales of riding
to school bareback and tethering his horse outside the one-room
schoolhouse.
His family worked the land and raised livestock, watching the railroad
come and go and cattle empires rise and fall. Then came the coal-fired
power plants, built throughout northern Arizona and northwestern New
Mexico to power progress in distant Western cities.
The plants would play their own role in the history of the region and
could wind up at the center of its uncertain future.
The Cholla Power Plant stands just down the road from where Baird, 88,
has been building a museum to showcase covered wagons, weathered farm
implements and other remnants of frontier days. For years the plant
powered the local economy, providing jobs and tax revenues for the
unincorporated community of Joseph City, its schools and neighboring
towns, but now the vapors from its stacks have dissipated.
These days, change is in the air. Cholla is the latest in a long line of
U.S. coal-fired plants to retire, shutting down in March. Arizona Public
Service said it had become too costly to operate due to strict
environmental regulations. The mandates were aimed at reining in
coal-burning utilities, long viewed by scientists as major contributors
to warming the planet.
Last month, however, President Donald Trump reversed course, signing new
executive orders aimed at restoring “ beautiful, clean coal ” to the
forefront of U.S. energy supplies. He urged his administration to find
ways to reopen Cholla and delay the planned retirements of others. As
part of his push toward energy independence, Trump has pledged to tap
domestic sources — coal included — to fuel a new wave of domestic
manufacturing and technology, namely innovations in artificial
intelligence.
In the West, where the vision of far-off politicians sometimes crashes
against reality, Baird and many of his neighbors were encouraged that
Trump put Cholla in the spotlight, but there's some skepticism about
what the utilities will do with the plants.
“As many jobs as it gives people, as much help just to our school
district right here that we get out of there, we’re hoping that it will
come back, too,” said Baird, who used to work at the Cholla plant and
has served on the Joseph City School Board.
Yet, he and others wonder if it's too late for coal.
Coal-burning plants retiring
Just weeks before Trump announced his plans, the U.S. Energy Information
Administration projected a 65% increase in retirements of coal-fired
generation in 2025 compared with last year.
The largest plant on that list is the 1,800-megawatt Intermountain Power
Project in Utah. It’s being replaced by a plant capable of burning
natural gas and hydrogen.
Utilities, already looking to increase capacity, aren't sure Trump's
orders will lead them back to coal.
“I think it’s safe to say that those plants that are scheduled or slated
to retire are probably still going to move in that direction, for a
couple of reasons," said Todd Snitchler, CEO of the Electric Power
Supply Association, which represents power plant owners. "One of which
is it’s very difficult to plan multimillion- or billion-dollar
investments for environmental retrofits and other things on an executive
order versus a legislative approach.”
Last month, Republicans in the Arizona Legislature sent a letter to U.S.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum warning that the economic fallout from
the 2019 closure of the Navajo Generating Station is still
reverberating. The stacks were demolished, and the mine that supplied
the plant closed.
At the San Juan Generating Station in northwestern New Mexico,
operations ended in 2022.
Stuck in the middle are Joseph City and other communities where life
revolves around a power plant. Residents hope Trump can help keep them
in the energy race for another generation. From Joseph City to
Springerville, they've been preparing to absorb major hits to the job
market, tax rolls and school enrollment. Options are slim in Apache and
Navajo counties — two of Arizona’s poorest.
Utility executives told Arizona regulators recently that reopening
Cholla would be costly for customers and that they plan to push ahead
with renewable energy. The plant’s infrastructure would be preserved as
a possible site for future nuclear or gas-fired power generation, and
the Springerville Generating Station could be repurposed once the last
units are retired in 2032.
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Rancher Brantley Baird speaks at his pioneer museum in Joseph City,
Ariz., Wednesday, April 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan)
 The utility that runs the coal-fired
Coronado Generating Station, just 30 miles (48 kilometers) away in
St. Johns, also has plans to convert to natural gas.
Wind resistance
In Springerville, the idea of spoiling the surrounding grasslands
and ancient volcanic fields with 112 wind turbines — with blades
standing taller than Seattle's Space Needle — provokes outrage.
Banners and posters objecting to the proposal are plastered around
town.
“They all know that this won’t work, that we can’t rely on wind and
solar,” said Doug Henderson, a Springerville plant retiree who now
sits on the town council. He says coal-fired generation can
accommodate swings in demand, regardless of whether there’s sunshine
or wind.
Springerville Mayor Shelly Reidhead and others are fighting to keep
the wind farm from happening, saying repurposing the Springerville
coal plant would mean more jobs and preserve the surrounding
landscape.
“We also survive on tourism and people don't want to come here and
look at that,” Reidhead said of the turbines.
The Western Drug and General Store is adorned with tiny American
flags tacked up outside. A sign advertises canning supplies, but
locals joke that you can get anything here — from slippers to
rifles.
Andrea Hobson works the register and knows everyone by name. She
moved to Springerville about 20 years ago from California and says
it's hard to imagine the community without the power plant.
“It would be a ghost town. It really would,” she said. “That’s the
heart of this town.”
Filling the economic void
Springerville’s leaders have lost sleep trying to figure out what
industries might fill the void. At stake are about 350 jobs, dozens
of contract employees and the businesses they support — from the
general store and the new frozen yogurt shop to the hospital and
local churches.
Some workers drive an hour to the Springerville plant every day,
meaning other communities also will lose out, said Randel Penrod, a
former crew manager at the plant. With retirement looming, the plant
has trimmed its workforce.
Henderson, the Springerville town council member, fears it could
take years to permit a new plant.
Reidhead is more hopeful after attending meetings with members of
Arizona’s congressional delegation and utility executives. She
thinks the Trump administration can reduce the “red tape” and get
new plants up and running. The development of artificial
intelligence and its thirst for power gives the mission a sense of
urgency.
“I think our politicians at a state level have realized with AI’s
need for the power, that if we don’t get on board and get on board
soon we’re going to be left behind,” she said.
Some energy analysts say Trump’s support of coal is mostly symbolic,
since utilities hold the keys. Others say diversifying energy
sources is a must as the U.S. sees increases in power demand
predicted for the first time in decades.
“AI may be artificial, but the electricity it needs is very real —
and in some regions, coal still keeps the lights on when other
sources may blink,” said Scott Segal, a partner with the Washington
D.C.-based firm Bracewell LLP.
He said power markets don’t care about politics — just reliability,
affordability and sustainability.
Just outside of Joseph City, crews are building what will be one of
the largest solar and battery storage projects in Arizona. The solar
panels will be installed on leased private land, including Baird’s
sprawling ranch.
While not a fan of all the dust being kicked up, Baird knows the
advent of solar is just another of many changes he has seen in his
lifetime — and he has no idea what the next 100 years might look
like.
“Hell, who knows?” he said. “You know, when it comes right down to
it, we’ll just wait and see.”
___
Associated Press writer Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,
contributed to this report.
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