Xcel Energy, Gov. Polis Petition to Walk Back Comanche 2 Retirement

Denver, CO -- Xcel Energy and the Polis administration filed a petitionto the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) today asking for a lifeline to the Comanche 2 coal unit in Pueblo until the end of 2026, backpedalling on a long-standing commitment to retire the plant in 2025 and pushing for unnecessary pollution and costs to ratepayers.

The petition would allow Xcel to operate Comanche 2 with no meaningful guardrails on operation, and with the potential to extend its life even beyond 2026. In 2018, the PUC approved Xcel's proposal to retire Comanche 2 in 2025, as the evidence showed that retiring Comanche 2 early would save customers hundreds of millions of dollars and significantly reduce emissions.

Comanche Unit 3, which has a long history of reliability issues and cost overruns, is expected to be offline until at least June 2026. Sierra Club argues that any decision to keep a coal plant for reliability reasons must be strictly monitored and narrowly tailored to avoid more unnecessary costs and pollution.

The petition comes as the Trump administration attempts to artificially prop up the dying coal industry with "emergency" 202(c) orders and favorable rules. The Department of Energy ordered Michigan to keep the J.H. Campbell coal plant running, costing customers $80 million with no clear benefits.

In response, Director of Sierra Club Colorado Chapter Margaret Kran-Annexstein said:

"The administration and Xcel's proposal would guarantee only one thing: Comanche 2 will run for another year, which means more air pollution in Pueblo and higher electricity bills for everyone. Xcel's continued mismanagement of Comanche 3 has been a one billion-dollar-plus disaster and this proposal fails to protect customers from spending yet more money on Comanche 3. The PUC should put Xcel on notice that customers should not be charged one more dollar for the notoriously unreliable and polluting Comanche 3 coal unit and the PUC should impose strict guardrails on any use of Comanche 2 after 2025."

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.