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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
World
Brittany Peterson and Jennifer McDermott

In Colorado town built on coal, some families are moving on, even as Trump tries to boost industry

Climate Coal Town Transition - (Copyright 2025. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The Cooper family knows how to work heavy machinery. The kids could run a hay baler by their early teens, and two of the three ran monster-sized drills at the coal mines along with their dad.

But learning to maneuver the shiny red drill they use to tap into underground heat feels different. It's a critical part of the new family business, High Altitude Geothermal, which installs geothermal heat pumps that use the Earth’s constant temperature to heat and cool buildings. At stake is not just their livelihood but a century-long family legacy of producing energy in Moffat County.

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