President Donald Trump signed a set of executive orders on Tuesday aimed at reviving the U.S. coal industry. During a speech announcing the orders, he specifically referenced the Cholla Generating Station located in Joseph City. Speaking at a White House ceremony alongside miners and energy officials, Trump said he had directed Energy Secretary Chris Wright to “save” Cholla, which has recently reached the end of its operational life.
“We’re going to keep those coal miners on the job and tell them to just remain calm,” Trump said. “Because we’re going to have that [Cholla] plant opening and burning the clean coal — beautiful, clean coal — in a very short period of time.”
Cholla, one of the largest coal-fired power plants in Arizona, is owned and operated by Arizona Public Service (APS), which has been gradually taking the plant offline for more than a decade. APS officially shut down its first unit in 2016 following a negotiated agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that allowed the utility to continue operating while phasing out coal. At the time, APS determined that the cost of upgrading the plant to meet environmental standards was too high to justify continued investment.
The utility has emphasized that the final closure of Cholla is not the result of the EPA’s 2025 coal-burning mandate, but rather a business decision. It was representative of a larger industry shift, as advances in technology continue to lower the cost of producing energy from renewable sources.
In response to the President’s statement, APS Senior Communications Consultant Michael Philipsen stated on behalf of the company, “APS is aware of a statement made by President Trump regarding the retirement of Cholla Power Plant, and we are evaluating what it means for the plant.”
He noted that APS stopped generating electricity at Cholla last month, in accordance with federal regulations and due to increasing costs that have made the plant uneconomical to operate. “We plan to preserve the site for potential future generation uses, including the possibility of nuclear power. At this time, APS has already procured reliable and cost-effective generation that will replace the energy previously generated by Cholla Power Plant. We remain committed to working with the administration to ensure we can continue serving Arizonans with reliable energy at the lowest cost possible.”
