‘Once in a lifetime’: Hayden gets $5.2 million to diversify economy as plant closure looms
Plumes of water vapor rise from Hayden Station in 2017. On Jan. 4, Xcel Energy announced it would close the plant, Unit 1 in 2027 and Unit 2 in 2028.
The town of Hayden will receive $5.2 million in federal grant funding for a regional industrial park project that hopes to lesson impacts as the Hayden Station shutters by the end of the decade.
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday, Aug. 9, that Hayden and neighboring Craig — another community in the shadow of a soon-to-close coal-fired power plant — would receive a total of $8.5 million that was directed toward coal communities in the American Rescue Plan.
The award to Hayden is enough to bring the planned industrial park near the Yampa Valley Regional Airport to full funding, said town manager Mathew Mendisco.
“This business park, we believe, is going to be almost like the change agent for the valley,”…
