President Donald Trump signed several executive orders Tuesday to keep coal-fired power plants open past their scheduled retirement dates, including the Cholla Power Plant in eastern Arizona.
The directives ensure some older plants are kept online to help meet demand amid growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars.
Trump specifically named the Joseph City facility owned by the utility company Arizona Public Service.
"I’m also instructing Secretary Wright to save the Cholla coal plant in Arizona, big plant, which has been slated for destruction," Trump says. "We're going to have that plant opening and burning the clean coal, beautiful clean coal, in a very short period of time.”
Cholla units 1 and 3 were previously scheduled to close this month.
A spokesperson for APS says the company stopped generating electricity at the Cholla plant last month because of increasing costs that’ve made the plant too expensive to operate as well as a previous agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency.
"APS is aware of a statement made by President Trump regarding the retirement of Cholla Power Plant, and we are evaluating what it means for the plant," an APS spokesperson says in an email. "We 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."
Northern Arizona Republican Congressman Eli Crane issued a statement praising Trump's decision, describing it as a "huge win" for Navajo County.
"By saving the Cholla Power Plant from imminent closure, hardworking Arizonans will maintain their jobs and livelihoods," Crane said in a statement. "For years, radical environmentalists tried to destroy the once-thriving coal industry. Under President Trump's leadership, those days are officially over."
But Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter Director Sandy Bahr said extending operations will harm public health and drive up costs.
"The utility itself has been planning to retire Cholla because it is no longer economical to continue operating since there are far cheaper, cleaner alternatives," Bahr said. "Arizonans overwhelmingly support clean energy and clean air — prolonging the life of this plant threatens both."
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, coal burning contributes to acid rain, respiratory illnesses, lung disease and other environmental and health problems.
Coal burning was responsible for 19% of all carbon dioxide emissions nationwide as of 2022.
