ECONOMY

Some worried western Montrose County would fade after the coal plant closed. It hasn’t.

As Colorado’s coal industry takes its last gasp, the West End of Montrose County, which lost its coal plant and mine years ago, offers a glimpse of the future.

Shannon Najmabadi 5:30 AM MST on Dec 14, 2021



Traffic and pedestrians move along Main Street in downtown Nucla Colo., Friday November 5, 2021. (William Woody, Special to The Colorado Sun)

Nucla — Brad Campbell took the best job he could after graduating high school, working at the local coal-fired power plant for up to $42 an hour. He got married, bought a house and paid it off in three years.

When he learned Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association would close the Nucla plant early, in 2019, he transferred to the company’s plant in Craig, where he worked as a water chemical technician.

The decision was easy, said Campbell, now 27. It was a six-figure job with a pension and health benefits. Tri-State paid his moving expenses. His wife, a medical assistant, had recently given birth and wanted to stay home with their new child.

But three months after moving, Campbell learned the Craig plant would be closing, too, by 2028.

He returned to the West End, with the challenge of finding work in a region that had lost its biggest employers, the generating station and the coal mine that supplied it.

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