By Leah Thayer COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO As a part of Colorado’s goal to reduce emissions and air pollution, the Martin Drake coal-run power plant is currently planned to be decommissioned by 2035. With this plan, comes uncertainty regarding the jobs of almost 1,800 people throughout the corporation. “It hurts a little bit, thinking about decommissioning,” said…
By Sam Bower COLORADO SPRINGS – Sitting in the conference room with its drop ceiling hiding evidence of the relic boiler that used to occupy the space, workers in Colorado Springs’ coal-fired Martin Drake Power Plant grappled with the impending 2035 decommissioning as part of a shift toward cleaner energy. “This is home,” plant manager…
By Mitchell Adams Employees at the coal-burning Martin Drake Power Station in Colorado Springs say they feel misunderstood by climate activists who view burning fossil fuels negatively due to their prolific emission of harmful greenhouse gasses. “We have the cards that we’ve been dealt,” said Ian Gavin, the manager of the power plant, while discussing…
By Mitchell Adams From being unable to play outside with friends as a child due to extreme heat in Botswana to losing the ability to jump off of a beloved pier on Lake Michigan because it became submerged due to lake rise, students at Colorado College have been grappling with the mental impacts of climate…
Photographers include Whitton Feer, Johnna Geick, Bruce Finley, Rainy Adkins, Auguste Voss, and Mitchell Adams
By Lili Weir Workers at Colorado Springs’ coal-fired Martin Drake power plant put on brave faces this month as a push for renewable energy threatens their jobs and makes their lives more precarious. “I really don’t have any concerns……..I will be in utilities somewhere,” plant operator David Bertrand said. Like other workers, he says his…
By Lili Weir The climate crisis is starting to affect people both physically and mentally. And according to a recent study, these effects often affect indigenous people more. Some on the Colorado College campus are suggesting indigenous practices could be a model for how to best deal with the mental health aspects of a changing…
By: Carly Valerious As Americans awaken to the harsh realities of greenhouse gas emissions, companies that use problematic energy sources, like coal, are changing. And workers inside the Colorado Springs coal fired Martin Drake Power Plant are wrestling with the implications of those changes. “Energy has flipped over on its head since I started. When…
By Johnna Geick With fossil fuel emissions driving global warming, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is pushing hard to transition to cleaner, renewable energy state-wide. But closer to home, workers at the coal-fired Martin Drake Power Plant under Colorado Springs Utilities challenged the practicality of immediate change. Colorado aims to cut emissions…
By Whitton Feer As the energy industry shifts away from burning coal, the people working in Colorado Springs’ Martin Drake power plant face a future in which their skills are growing irrelevant. The Drake plant is scheduled to be decommissioned by 2035, according to Colorado Springs Utilities officials. That threatens the jobs of the 87 employees.…
