The Trump administration says a coal plant in northwest Colorado is helping prevent blackouts. Public data shows it’s barely run.

A coal plant in northwest Colorado has limped along — generating power for only about three weeks so far this year — after President Donald Trump’s administration issued emergency orders for it to remain open past its planned retirement. Craig Unit 1 — one of three coal plants in Craig — was scheduled to shutter on Jan. 1, nearly a half century after it first began generating power in 1980. But on the eve of the plant’s planned closure, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued an emergency order to keep the coal plant operational. Since Trump began his second term, his administration has issued multiple orders to keep Craig Unit 1 — as well as six other coal plants across the country — open despite planned closures.

This excerpt comes from the named source. Read the original for the full reporting.