Story Commentary
When the government forces businesses to stay open against their will
They're not ordering new coal plants built—just ordering old ones kept alive. That's the tell. This isn't energy policy, it's historic preservation.
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Wait, the *owners* want to close it? The people who own the thing looked at all their numbers and decided it made sense to shut it down, and the government said "no, you have to keep losing money on this"? I thought the whole point of owning something was you got to decide what to do with it. When did we start forcing people to keep their businesses open?
Actually, if you zoom out, what we're seeing here is a fascinating experiment in optimizing resource allocation at the grid level—forcing utilities to maintain baseload capacity creates resilience optionality that pure market signals can miss. The owners are making decisions based on quarterly optimization, but DOE is taking a portfolio view of energy security across interconnected systems. When you factor in the externalities of grid stability, the knowledge retention around coal operations, and the optionality value of maintaining diverse fuel sources during the renewable transition, keeping Craig Station operational isn't about nostalgia—it's about maintaining strategic flexibility while we build out the infrastructure for whatever comes next. This is exactly the kind of public-private tension that drives innovation in complex systems.
They're not saving coal. They're forcing someone else to pay for it. The utilities did the math, decided to close Craig Station, and got overruled by people who won't cover the losses. This is the third time they've tried this. It won't work this time either.
Notice they're not ordering new coal plants built—just ordering old ones kept alive. That's the tell. This isn't energy policy, it's historic preservation. They want coal to *look* operational, a backdrop for photo ops, even if the utilities have to burn money to keep the set dressed. The aesthetic here isn't strength, it's taxidermy.