SRP plans St. Johns open houses on Coronado plant conversion

As Salt River Project turns Coronado Generating Station from coal to natural gas, St. Johns households are being asked to judge more than a power-plant upgrade. The real stakes are whether electricity stays reliable, whether air quality improves or just changes shape, what happens to local jobs and tax revenue, and whether future bills rise as Apache County adjusts to the loss of coal-era employment and the costs of keeping an aging plant online.

The City of St. Johns pointed residents to SRP open houses in town and said the sessions were designed for the public, with both in-person and virtual access. SRP has repeatedly brought the project back to St. Johns, listing community meetings on its project page for Oct. 25, 2022, Sept. 14, 2023, Sept. 24, 2025 and Dec. 16, 2025, underscoring how long the county has been living with the question of what comes after coal.

The utility board approved the coal-to-gas conversion on June 24, 2025, and the Arizona Corporation Commission approved the amendment to Coronado’s existing Certificate of Environmental Compatibility on March 4, 2026 in a 5-0 vote. SRP now says it expects the work to be finished by late 2029, years earlier than its original plan to keep coal generation at Coronado no later than 2032. SRP says the conversion is the lowest-cost way to preserve the plant’s capacity, which it says is enough to serve more than 150,000 homes, as peak customer demand is projected to grow 50% by 2035.

That leaves Apache County residents with practical questions that matter beyond the plant fence line. SRP’s Coal Communities Transition work says it is trying to help St. Johns, Springerville and Eagar build a more sustainable economy through entrepreneurship, tourism, site development, workforce development and community improvements. SRP also says the transition team discussed a $9.7 million Arizona Commerce Authority broadband grant for Apache County, a reminder that the shift away from coal is already spilling into infrastructure, training and small-business prospects.

The environmental ledger is unsettled. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency denied Coronado’s alternate-liner demonstration for the evaporation pond on Jan. 16, 2025, then approved SRP’s request on March 20, 2025 to extend the deadline to stop using the pond because of grid reliability and resource adequacy concerns. On Feb. 13, 2026, EPA proposed rescinding that denial after receiving more technical information from SRP about geologic and hydrogeologic conditions.

Sierra Club welcomed the accelerated 2029 coal retirement but criticized the move to gas and urged SRP to pursue cleaner alternatives. For St. Johns, the conversion is not an abstract energy debate. It is a decision about power costs, local employment, water use, groundwater risk and how much leverage residents still exert as Coronado moves toward a new fuel and a new future.