Craig native Clint Malvitz, a coal mining equipment operator for more than 20 years, loves where he lives and does not want to leave the Yampa Valley.

“Coal mines are slowing down extremely,” said 44-year-old Malvitz. “If I want to stay, I need to broaden the horizons. To stay in the valley, I need to make a decision on what’s going to be best for my family and community.”

Malvitz’s wife, Rachel, has lived in Craig for 20 years. The couple has raised three children. He currently works running equipment such as an electric shovel and hydraulic excavator at Colowyo Mine located between Craig and Meeker, and he previously worked at Trapper Mine in Moffat County. But, later this month, he is moving on.

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“I don’t want to be struggling to find jobs with hundreds of others people looking for the same kind of job opportunity,” Malvitz said.

With his wife, an experienced bookkeeping manager, the couple is leaping into the business world as co-owners of the 5,500-square-foot RC Pro Appliances store opening in mid-March in Craig.

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“The opportunity presented itself to become an entrepreneur, and we decided to jump in,” Malvitz said.

The greater Yampa Valley region has six official coal transition facilities, as classified by the Colorado Office of Just Transition, including Twentymile Mine and Hayden Station in Routt County, Trapper and Colowyo coal mines and Craig Station in Moffat County, and Deserado Mine in Rio Blanco County.

The coal-powered plants in Hayden and Craig are scheduled to close or begin conversion to other operations by the end of 2028, and the closing dates of the mines are projected to tie to the power stations they supply.

Wade Buchanan, director for the Colorado Office of Just Transition, said approximately 825 employees — including 616 workers in the four coal mines and 209 workers in the two coal-fired power plants across Routt, Moffat and Rio Blanco counties — may need employment transition assistance.

However, the number of impacted workers is a rough estimate, as some workforce attrition already has taken place, and conversion rather than closure of facilities could retain staff. In addition, business plans at the area coal mines may be subject to change with the markets.

Buchanan said the office also is required to serve supply chain workers, for “which we do not have precise numbers.”

“The bottom line is that, while we can speculate about how conditions may or may not change, our office needs to be preparing for the maximum potential impact,” Buchanan said Friday. “We would rather be over-prepared than under-prepared.”

The Malvitz family chose to skip employment insecurity and step up to fill a void in the community after the closing of Miller Family Appliance in Craig. The couple will be selling, delivering and installing clothes washers, dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers and ovens. They also plan to offer service, removal and recycling options for appliances.

Malvitz, a former heavy equipment operator, took advantage of reimbursement training funds provided through Tri-State Generation & Transmission, the owner of Colowyo Mine, to attend repair school to become a certified appliance technician.

Some coal industry workers have already moved out of Northwest Colorado to work, for example, in the phosphate ore mine in Vernal, Utah, or in coal mines in southern Wyoming, multiple colleagues said.

Other workers have moved into city, county, construction or excavating jobs in the Yampa Valley, while others continue to work toward opening or expanding businesses involved in everything from tree services to clean energy.

A review conducted in 2023 by the Office of Just Transition and Colorado Northwestern Community College surveyed 258 respondents from Craig Station and Colowyo and Trapper mines. The results showed 61% of those workers want to remain in Northwest Colorado if they can transition to a new career, 21% were unsure, and 18% said they did not plan to stay in the area.

Heavy equipment operator Matt Cooper grew up in Moffat County and has worked in the coal mining industry for more than 28 years as a state-certified surface mine foreman and as leadman at Colowyo mine.

After closure plans were announced in 2020, Cooper started thinking of ways to utilize his coal mining equipment operating experience coupled with maintenance skills gained while serving in the U.S. Navy. While currently still working at Colowyo, Cooper is planning ahead to put his skills to use in a forthcoming business called High Altitude Geothermal.

The geothermal energy installation company is expected to start operations in June and will be a family operation including Cooper’s wife, Kristine, and their three adult children. The family members are taking various training courses encompassing trench digging, earning a commercial driver’s license, and business start-up instruction through the Small Business Development Center.

“We will be drilling and installing vertical bore holes that will provide what is known as a heatsink to be used in conjunction with heat pumps for the heating and air-conditioning of homes and businesses on the Western Slope,” Cooper said.

High Altitude Geothermal received a variety of assistance to get started, Cooper said, such as participation in the state Rural Jump-Start Program that includes tax relief incentives and grants. The Coopers sought out assistance from other agencies ranging from the Moffat County Local Marketing District to the Routt County Economic Development Partnership.

Help for transitioning coal industry workers is available or ramping up from a number of entities on the local, regional and state levels, including significant efforts through the Office of Just Transition.

Colorado created the Office of Just Transition, or OJT, within the Department of Labor and Employment in 2019 to assist workers and communities that will be adversely affected by the loss of jobs and revenue due to the closure of coal mines and coal-fired power plants.

Buchanan started as Office of Just Transition director in spring 2020 and has grown his staff to six, with hiring underway for a seventh employee. Roughly half the staff is based in Craig.

OJT aims to “empower workers and their families to plan early for future success, prepare a detailed program to help displaced workers build skills, find good jobs or start businesses, explore strategies to protect family economic security through the transition and encourage the federal government to lead with a national strategy for energy transition workers.”

The focus of the office so far has been to fund millions of dollars in grants to community-level economic development efforts to support business growth and job creation in the coal-affected communities.

“It’s largely us giving grants to empower the community,” Buchanan said.

Most recently, for example, a Feb. 3 media release from Just Transition announced new coal transition community grants. As part of the funding, the city of Craig was awarded $1,051,000 toward purchase of property to develop a new business and industrial park. The park will be located with access to both the Union Pacific rail line and First Street in Craig, and city officials plan to collaborate with a private developer to begin master planning.

OJT is in the process of hiring a second coal transition navigator to help workers in Moffat, Rio Blanco and Routt counties. The position will work with the existing coal transition navigator Jennifer Pieroni to serve as a central point of contact for transitioning workers and their families.

The navigator job notice states, “The ideal candidate cares deeply about the impact of coal transition on families and communities, builds effective relationships and thinks creatively about how to best serve families through challenging times.”

With some services already offered by phone and in-person meetings, the OJT plans to house a variety of services in a physical, one-stop shop called the Northwest Colorado Innovation Center. The center, expected to open later this year, will offer services including financial counseling, career coaching, small business training and retirement planning, Buchanan said.

In the meantime, workers and family members are invited to investigate resources via the free, public and monthly Opportunity Expo with the next sessions set for 5-6:30 p.m. April 8 and May 20 at the Craig Chamber of Commerce, 775 Yampa St.

Buchanan said his office’s timing for efforts to help individual workers directly has been a balancing act because the strategy is to engage workers early but “not too early.”

“We don’t want to entice people to leave; we want to help them prepare for when those jobs go away,” Buchanan said. “Our sense is the closer to the closure, the more people will be on board to work with you.”

The director said ramping up direct services to coal industry workers is happening faster now with the October news that mining coal will stop at Colowyo this year.

“We are busy in the process of rolling out a series of services or strategies that will be available to workers based on feedback from workers through surveys and meetings and an advisory committee,” Buchanan said.

Lee Boughey, Tri-State’s vice president for strategic communications, confirmed this month that coal production at the Colowyo Mine, which employs approximately 160 people, will stop by year-end.

“With the retirement of Craig Station beginning with the closure of Unit 1 at the end of 2025 and Units 2 and 3 closing in 2028, we will complete coal production at Colowyo Mine by the end of 2025,” Boughey said. “We are currently evaluating the reclamation process, and that evaluation will continue into the summer.”

Boughey said Tri-State has not yet determined if existing workers will be employed during the reclamation process.

“To support our employees in the transition, we have expanded our educational reimbursement program for Colowyo and Craig Station employees to ensure their individual training and educational needs and goals are met,” Boughey said.

Buchanan noted that since most Northwest Colorado coal industry employees in mines and power plants are still working in their jobs, Just Transition legislation allows a spouse or family member to receive transition program assistance as resources are available.

“We think of this as a family challenge and not individual,” Buchanan said. “We are equally available to help a spouse go back and get training or start a family business or financial counseling.”

Wade Gerber is another coal worker moving toward a new career. Gerber, who has lived in Moffat County his whole life except for a four-year stint in the U.S. Navy, has worked 30-plus years in the coal industry. He first worked as a coal mine equipment operator and then as an electrician, electrical supervisor and mechanic supervisor at the Craig Station.

Gerber’s transition strategy is to open Bad Alibi Distillery, which is being developed in downtown Craig to produce whiskey, gin and vodka. With the distillery opening planned for early summer, Gerber said he hopes to be able to hire 12 to 18 full- and part-time employees.

“The fact that the coal industry is leaving Craig means there will be a large amount of change in the area,” Gerber said. “We were looking for something to help define Craig’s new future and provide me with a path to retirement and a new form of job in the community.”

Gerber utilized reimbursement training funding from current employer Tri-State to take classes through Moonshine University in Lewisville, Kentucky, covering topics such as fermentation, mixing, flavoring, distillation and aging. Since the business is in a remodeled old building, the spirits entrepreneur also tapped into the Craig Urban Renewal Authority.

Malvitz, Gerber and Cooper offered some advice for other Yampa Valley coal industry workers.

“If you want to stay here, you need to be thinking ahead of what you’re going to do,” Malvitz said. “You need to get help.”

“There are many opportunities to make Craig and the surrounding area a place to attract outside money and to build a new picture of what Craig can be,” Gerber said.

“Get started now with whatever it is you want to do, or see yourself doing, after the coal mines and power plants close,” Cooper said. “It takes time to get trained, whether it’s a new business or maybe a new career with another employer. There is help out there that is available for you to start prepping for your future now.”