Xcel: No more coal at Boulder power plant

The company stopped burning coal at the beginning of the month.

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Xcel Energy officials say a power plant in Boulder has burned its last trainload of coal.

The Daily Camera reports the company’s president in Colorado, David Eves, made the announcement last week at a Boulder City Council meeting. Spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo confirmed the company stopped burning coal at the Valmont plant March 3.

The move comes after Xcel announced its intention to stop burning coal in Boulder in 2010 to get into compliance with the Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act. The law was signed by then-Gov. Bill Ritter.

The coal-fired generator at Valmont had been in operation since 1964.

Aguayo says the unit can still run off natural gas this year but there are no plans to repower it with gas in the future.

Information from: Daily Camera, http://www.dailycamera.com/