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Craig, one of Colorado’s last coal towns, grapples with its future as its power plant and mine shut down
AP ^ | Jan 22, 2022 | Patty Nieberg

Posted on 01/27/2022 7:53:20 AM PST by george76

The coal plant is closing, along with the mine that feeds it and has nearly 115 more employees, and all the workers will lose their jobs over the next decade

...

The same scenario is playing out in other small towns across the U.S. After decades of relying on coal for their workforce, tax base and way of life, the towns face uncertain futures as new state and national legislation forces the retirement of fossil fuels

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The impact spreads beyond the plants workers and is felt by the rest of the community, too. In Craig, much of the infrastructure of the county is supported by the coal plant workers.

...

Moffat County is made up of millions of acres of public lands, and its mineral deposits of high-volatility and low-sulfur coal brought the industry to town and sustained families for decades.

...

As the coal industry goes, so will nearly half of Moffat County’s gross domestic product, Peterson said. It could affect services like healthcare, fire departments, infrastructure and upkeep for neighborhoods and roadways.

According to Ray Beck, former Moffat County commissioner and mayor of Craig, the county’s biggest source of revenue is property tax. Moffat County’s 2020 assessed value was nearly $430 million with 62% coming from the top 10 taxpayers, all energy-related businesses.

“We can’t recover from that,” Beck said.

...

The loss of coal jobs in a community like Craig also will hurt small businesses whose customers are primarily coal workers and have disposable income

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Many coal workers are frustrated and angry at the decisions made by Denver-based politicians that affect rural communities. They see other nations like China and India continuing to build new coal mines and think it’s hypocritical.

Two-thirds of the world’s coal is used for electric power

(Excerpt) Read more at coloradosun.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Colorado; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: agenda21; agw; china; climatechange; coal; coalmine; coalmines; colorado; earthjustice; economy; ecoterrorists; electric; electricity; electricpower; farmers; farming; farmland; gas; govtabuse; greenagenda; greenenergy; india; jobs; mine; mineshutdown; newcoalmines; power; powerplant; ranchers; ranching; rewilding; ruralcleansing; shutdown; tyranny; un21; unagenda21; waroncoal; wildearthguardians
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To: All

I’ve drove by Craig before. pretty isolated. Not much business opportunities I would think for a replacement. I feel bad for those people the liberals hurt. Meanwhile my electric bills keep going up. Going Green makes me mean.


21 posted on 01/27/2022 9:43:07 AM PST by BipolarBob (BipolarBob's your uncle.)
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To: george76

I know that plant.


22 posted on 01/27/2022 9:54:14 AM PST by marron
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To: george76

Sad story, good summary. Thanks for making a good effort.


23 posted on 01/27/2022 10:07:35 AM PST by Sequoyah101 (Politicians are only marginally good at one thing, being politicians. Otherwise they are fools.I ha)
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To: Sequoyah101

Thanks


24 posted on 01/27/2022 10:23:47 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: marron

Hayden power plant down the road , too. is not near any towns.. and no pollution from the clean coal plant .. looks like only water vapor.


25 posted on 01/27/2022 10:30:52 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

Living close to the state of Colorado, we used to really enjoy going there to see the mountains as well as many other fine attractions. Now, it seems the liberals are taking over & ruining everything. Is it the people moving in from California or other liberal states? I don’t know. I know this, tho...I don’t even want to cross that state line anymore. All the joy of visiting a once beautiful state has been pretty much sucked out of it now. It’s a shame, but the politicians in Denver & a few other places seem to have been at the bottom of it. Somebody must have voted for them though, so who is really guilty?


26 posted on 01/27/2022 12:25:27 PM PST by oldtech
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To: oldtech

Trump won Colorado. We know because democrats / Mohamed Enab’s wife : Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold banned election audits..

Dominion used Colorado as their “model” .. Dominion went to other states to promote their “relationship” with Colorado.


27 posted on 01/27/2022 12:29:04 PM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

YES!


28 posted on 01/30/2022 12:08:56 PM PST by The FIGHTIN Illini (Wake up fellow Patriots before it's too late)
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To: george76

“Warning to the Rest of America About Reliance on Wind and Solar Energy”

bttt


29 posted on 01/30/2022 12:12:06 PM PST by linMcHlp
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To: george76

How about getting rid the the nutcase Governor and their congressional reps?


30 posted on 03/12/2022 9:04:52 PM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper (Figures )
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To: Red Badger
Cowboy Junkies, “The Last Spike”
31 posted on 07/09/2022 10:39:21 PM PDT by gundog ( It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: george76

This is close to home for me. My mother grew up on a ranch owned by my Grandfather in Moffat County about 15 miles south of Craig. She said that coal was all over the place and could just go out and get it when they needed it. Politically Moffat is a Republican county and always has been except in 1992, when the county voted for Perot. I am not surprised the Communist executive branch behaves like this


32 posted on 08/11/2022 2:20:02 AM PDT by BigEdLB (Let’s go Brandon!)
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To: BigEdLB

PS This is also in Lauren Boebert’s district


33 posted on 08/11/2022 2:21:43 AM PDT by BigEdLB (Let’s go Brandon!)
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