Brantley Baird is never short of stories to tell. From how his great-grandmother helped establish the town of Snowflake before Arizona became a state, to the tales about riding to school bareback and tethering his horse outside the one-room schoolhouse.
The family watched as the cattle empires rose and fell, and the railroads came and went. Then, coal-fired plants were built in northern Arizona and northwest New Mexico to provide power for distant Western cities.
The plants could play a significant role in the future of the region.
The Cholla Power Plant is located just down the street from Baird’s museum, which will feature covered wagons, old farm implements, and other remnants from frontier times. The plant was a major employer in the area, generating jobs and taxes for Joseph City and its surrounding towns. But now, the smoke from the stacks has dissipated.
Change is the current air. Cholla, the latest coal-fired plant to close in the United States, was shut down in March. Arizona Public Service stated that it was too expensive to operate because of strict environmental regulations. The mandates were designed to rein in coal-burning utility companies, which scientists have long considered major contributors to global warming.
The President reversed his course last month and signed new executive orders to bring “clean, beautiful coal” back into the forefront of U.S. Energy supplies. He asked his administration to find a way to reopen Cholla and to delay the retirement of other plants. Trump, as part of his drive for energy independence, has pledged that he will tap into domestic sources, including coal, to fuel a wave of new domestic manufacturing and technology. This includes innovations in artificial intelligence.
Baird, and his many neighbors in the West, where politicians’ visions sometimes clash with reality, were encouraged by Trump’s decision to put Cholla on the map. However, there is some doubt about what utilities will do with these plants.
We hope that the Cholla Plant will return to the area, and that the jobs it creates, the help it provides to the school district, and the other benefits it brings will also be returned. Baird was a former employee of the Cholla Company, serving on the Joseph City Board of Education.
He and others still wonder if coal is too late.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted that coal-fired power plants would be retired at a rate of 65% more than last year by 2025.
The largest plant in this list is the Intermountain Power Project, a 1,800 megawatt facility located in Utah. The plant is being replaced with a new one that can burn natural gas and hydrogen.
Utilities are already looking to expand capacity and aren’t certain that Trump’s order will bring them back to coal.
Todd Snitchler is the CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association, which represents owners of power plants. He said, “It’s safe to assume that those plants scheduled to retire will still move in this direction for a few reasons.” It’s difficult to plan for multi-million or billion-dollar investments in environmental retrofits and other things, on the basis of an executive order.
Republicans from the Arizona Legislature wrote to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, warning that the economic impact of the 2019 closure of the Navajo Generating Station will still reverberate. The mine that supplied this plant was closed, and all the stacks were destroyed.
The San Juan Generating Station, located in the northwestern part of New Mexico, will cease operations in 2022.
Joseph City and other towns where life revolves around an electric plant are stuck in the middle. Residents hope Trump will help them stay in the race to produce energy for another generation. They’ve been preparing for major losses in the jobs market, school enrollment, and tax rolls from Joseph City to Springerville. In Apache and Navajo Counties, two of Arizona’s most impoverished counties, options are limited.
Utility executives recently told Arizona regulators that reopening Cholla could be expensive for their customers, and that they intend to move forward with renewable energy. The infrastructure of the plant would be preserved for future gas- or nuclear-fired generation. Springerville Generating Station, which is currently being retired in 2032, could also be repurposed.
Natural gas is also being considered by the utility that operates the Coronado Generating Station in St. Johns. It’s only 30 miles (48 km) away.
Springerville is incensed by the idea of 112 turbines that would ruin the grasslands and ancient volcano fields around it. The blades are taller than Seattle’s Space Needle. Posters and banners opposing the plan are displayed all over town.
“They know this won’t be a success, and that we cannot rely on solar or wind,” said Doug Henderson. Henderson is a retired Springerville plant worker who sits now on the Town Council. He claims that coal-fired power generation can handle fluctuations in demand regardless of the weather.
Springerville Mayor Shelly Reidhead, along with others, is fighting against the wind farm. They say that repurposing Springerville’s coal plant will create more jobs and preserve its surrounding landscape.
Reidhead, who lives in the area, said that people would not want to visit and see the turbines.
Outside, the Western Drug and General Store has tiny American flags. Locals joke about the sign advertising canning products, but they can also get everything here – from slippers and rifles.
Andrea Hobson is the cashier and knows everyone’s name. She moved from California to Springerville around 20 years ago and says that it is hard to imagine Springerville without the power station.
It would be a ghost city. She said, “It would be a ghost town.” “That’s where the heart of this city is.”
Springerville leaders have been up all night trying to find a way to fill the gap. About 350 jobs are at stake, as well as dozens of contract workers and the businesses that they support – from the local church and hospital to the general store and new frozen yogurt shop.
Randel Penrod is a former crew leader at the Springerville Plant. He said that some workers drive up to an hour each day to get there, which means other communities will also lose out. The plant has reduced its staff as retirement is looming.
Henderson, a member of the Springerville Town Council, is concerned that it may take many years before a new factory can be approved.
Reidhead has become more optimistic after meeting with Arizona’s congressional delegation, as well as utility executives. She believes that the Trump administration will reduce “red tape” to get new plants running. The rise of artificial intelligence and its desire for power gives this mission an urgency.
She said, “I believe our state politicians have realized that AI needs power, and if we do not get on board soon, we will be left behind.”
Energy analysts claim that Trump’s support for coal is largely symbolic because utilities are the ones who control it. Diversifying energy sources, say others, is essential as power demand in the U.S. is predicted to increase for the first decade.
“AI is artificial, but it requires electricity that’s very real. In some areas, coal keeps the lights on even when other sources aren’t working,” Scott Segal of Bracewell LLP, a Washington, D.C. firm, said.
He said that power markets are not concerned with politics, but only reliability, affordability, and sustainability.
Crews are building one of Arizona’s largest solar and storage battery projects just outside Joseph City. Solar panels will be placed on private land, such as Baird’s sprawling ranch.
Baird is not a big fan of the dust that’s being kicked up. But he knows solar energy is one of the many changes that he’s seen throughout his life. He has no idea how the next hundred years will look.
He replied, “Hell, who knows?” When it’s all said and done, we will just have to wait and see.
