{"id":605072,"date":"2026-05-20T23:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=605072"},"modified":"2026-05-20T23:15:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:15:00","slug":"several-states-contest-federal-orders-keeping-coal-fired-power-plants-open-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=605072","title":{"rendered":"Several States Contest Federal Orders Keeping Coal-Fired Power Plants Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several States Contest Federal Orders Keeping Coal-Fired Power Plants Open<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

A three-judge federal appeals panel is expected to issue a decision by year\u2019s end on a lawsuit challenging Energy Secretary Chris Wright\u2019s May 2025 emergency order that prevented a Michigan utility from closing a 64-year-old coal-fired power plant.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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The R.M. Schahfer Generating Station\u2019s two-coal fired electricity generators in Wheatfield, Indiana, built in 1983 and 1986, were scheduled to close on Dec. 31, 2025, but remain operating under emergency orders issued by Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Northern Indiana Public Service Company<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

How the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rules in Michigan v. DOE after hearing May 15 oral arguments could prove precedential in deciding three similar cases\u2013including two before the same court<\/strong>. It could also resolve a May 9 lawsuit filed in Seattle\u2019s U.S. District Court by 16 Democratic state attorneys general who claim the emergency that President Donald Trump declared in his January 2025 National Energy Emergency executive order doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

Wright has issued five 2025 emergency orders under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act mandating that decades-old coal-fired generators in Michigan, Washington, Indiana, and Colorado, slated to be shut down by utilities, must continue operating or, at least, remain operable. This would assure that regional transmission electrical grids have the baseload capacity to provide enough power during extreme winter and summer weather stresses, the orders say.<\/p>\n

The secretary maintains he has the authority to do so under the president\u2019s National Energy Emergency declaration and his April 2025 executive orders supporting the coal industry and strengthening the nation\u2019s electrical grid.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wright, in public comments and in Fiscal Year 2027 budget hearings, maintains that the orders\u201490-day emergency mandates he\u2019s repeatedly reissued\u2014have prevented the retirement of more than 17 gigawatts of coal-powered generation, enough electricity to power up to 17 million homes. He has said that renewable energies encouraged by the Biden administration and some Democrat-led states are weather-dependent, costly, and reliant on imported materials, including from China.<\/p>\n

Had he not issued the emergency orders to keep the Michigan and two Indiana coal-fired plants open through this winter, \u201cPeople would have died\u201d during January and February storms, he said during an April 21 Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pushed the grid to the edge. Coal kept things alive,<\/strong>\u201d Wright said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t extend the life of these coal plants, we will continue to have ruinous rises in our electricity prices [and] will not be able to meet the challenge of re-shored manufacturing and winning the AI race against China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congressional Democrats say those orders have cost the nation\u2019s electricity customers more than $500 million, noting the five aging plants are not operating at significant capacity. Among the claims made in lawsuits challenging the mandates\u2014including by Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota in the case heard May 15\u2014is that the federal government is exceeding its authority by dictating to local utilities which energy source they choose.<\/p>\n

While each plant and closure is different, they share similarities, and the fallout from the rulings could boost or derail the Trump administration\u2019s campaign to revive the nation\u2019s coal industry.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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The J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in Ottawa County, Mich., was scheduled to close on May 31, 2025, but remains operating at least through June 2026 under emergency orders issued by Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Consumers Energy<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Michigan: J.H. Campbell<\/h2>\n

The J.H. Campbell power plant in West Olive, Michigan, operated by Consumers Energy, a subsidiary of CMS Energy, opened in 1962. It was scheduled to shut down on May 31, 2025, and be replaced by a plant fueled with a combination of natural gas, renewable energies, and battery storage in Covert, Michigan.<\/p>\n

Eight days before the closure, Wright issued an emergency order directing Consumers Energy and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO),<\/strong> which provides electricity for 223 utilities serving 45 million people across 15 states, to keep the plant open for 90 days. It was the first of a succession of 90-day orders that have kept the three-unit plant open since.<\/p>\n

Wright\u2019s order said that keeping the plant open was necessary \u201cto minimize risk of blackouts and address critical grid security issues in the Midwestern region of the United States ahead of the high electricity demand expected this summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2,000-acre coal-fired plant was being shuttered 15 years before the end of its \u201cscheduled design life,\u201d the order stated, citing a North American Electric Reliability Corporation 2025 Summer Reliability Assessment warning that MISO\u2019s grid was at \u201celevated risk\u201d of shortfalls during summer peaks. It also cited MISO\u2019s own forecast that acknowledged \u201cpotential for elevated risk during extreme weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Michigan Public Service Commission and Michigan Attorney General\u2019s office, along with national environmental groups and local consumer advocates, maintain that the aging plant is unnecessary and imposes higher costs on utility customers. The state and consumer organizations, along with Illinois and Minnesota, faced off with federal regulators in the May 15 hearing in Washington.<\/p>\n

According to CMS Energy\u2019s regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company maintains that between June 1 and Dec. 31, 2025, it cost $290 million to pay for coal shipped from Wyoming\u2019s Powder River Basin, along with maintenance and salaries to keep the plant open, often at single-digit capacity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That expense was offset by selling $155 million in electricity to utilities across 11 states within MISO\u2019s grid. Overall, CMS Energy tabulates that it has incurred $180 million in operating losses\u2014about $631,000 per day.<\/p>\n

Consumers Energy has petitioned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for permission to recoup $135 million from MISO ratepayers and is seeking to recover $43 million from the Department of Energy in costs incurred to comply with the federal order.<\/p>\n

Wright maintains that the costs of keeping Campbell and other coal-fired plants open are outweighed by the risks, including potential loss of life, when electricity goes out, especially in winter.<\/p>\n

He said Campbell \u201cwas integral in stabilizing the grid,\u201d providing 650 megawatts a day of electricity\u2014enough power for 600,000 homes\u2014during Winter Storm Fern, from Jan. 21 to Feb. 1.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBeautiful, clean coal was the MVP of recent winter storms,\u201d he said in a February statement. \u201cHundreds of American lives have likely been saved because of President Trump\u2019s actions saving America\u2019s coal plants, including this Michigan coal plant, which ran daily during Winter Storm Fern.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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Canada-based TransAlta planned to convert its coal-fired Centralia Generating Station Unit 2 in Centralia, Wash., to natural gas by 2028, but cannot begin the process until at least June 2026 under an emergency order requiring it to continue operating the plant with coal. TransAlta<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Washington: Centralia<\/h2>\n

Wright issued an emergency order on Dec. 16, 2025, mandating that TransAlta keep its coal-fired Centralia Generating Station Unit 2 operating beyond its planned Dec. 31 closure.<\/p>\n

The Centralia plant is \u201cessential\u201d for the Northwest\u2019s grid stability, he said in the order, referring to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation\u2019s 2025-26 Winter Reliability Assessment, which determined that the region was at \u201celevated risk\u201d of power shortages during extreme weather, including cold snaps. Wright extended the order in March by another 90 days through June 14.<\/p>\n

Canada-based TransAlta in April filed a cost recovery application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, <\/strong>claiming it cost between $20 million and $23 million to purchase and ship coal from Peabody Energy\u2019s Spring Creek Mine in Montana and Rawhide Mine in Wyoming to keep the 53-year-old plant operating during the 87 days before March 16.<\/p>\n

The company said the order derailed its plan with Puget Sound Energy to convert the plant to natural gas by 2028.<\/p>\n

Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, in March, asked the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals to reject Wright\u2019s order while also filing a lawsuit in Seattle\u2019s U.S. District Court challenging the legality of the action and claiming no grid emergency in the region.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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Two Indiana utilities are incurring millions in costs operating aging, coal-fired power plants under a federal emergency order. Saul Loeb\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Also in March, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed House Bill 2367, which eliminates \u201cpreferential treatment related to coal-fired electric generating plants,\u201d revokes cap-and-invest exemptions for coal plants, and ends tax exemptions on coal used at the Centralia plant.<\/p>\n

Indiana: Schahfer, Culley<\/h2>\n

On Dec. 23, 2025, Wright issued an order preventing the planned Dec. 31, 2025, closures of two coal-fired units at the R.M. Schahfer power plant in Wheatfield, Indiana, operated by Northern Indiana Public Service Co., and the coal-fired F.B. Culley power plant near Newburgh, Indiana, operated by CenterPoint Energy.<\/p>\n

That 90-day emergency order was renewed in March, requiring Schahfer\u2019s two coal-fired units\u2014built in 1983 and 1986\u2014and Culley to remain operable at least through June 21.<\/p>\n

Among the reasons Wright cited in the emergency order for keeping the plants operable, if not fully operating, was the same strain on MISO\u2019s grid to which he referred in his Michigan order.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The December order also noted that it\u2019s difficult for coal-fired generators \u201cto resume operations once they have been retired.\u201d<\/p>\n

During a March 24 hearing before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, Northern Indiana Public Service Co. President Vince Parisi said that keeping Schahfer\u2019s two coal-fired units open cost the utility \u201cin excess of $100 million.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the two coal-fired units ordered to remain operable had been shuttered since summer and remained offline, he said.<\/p>\n

CenterPoint President Michael Roeder said during the hearing that it had cost his utility at least $18 million to keep its F.B. Culley Unit 2 plant operating during the first three months of the year.<\/p>\n

In his March 23 order extending the emergency another 90 days, Wright said that during Winter Storm Fern, Schahfer generated more than 285 megawatts daily and Culley pushed 30 megawatts a day into MISO\u2019s stressed grid.<\/p>\n

R.M. Schahfer gets its coal primarily from Wyoming\u2019s Powder River Basin and, to a lesser extent, the Illinois Basin. Culley\u2019s coal is shipped from Oaktown mines southwest in Indiana\u2019s Knox County.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sierra Club, among other environmental groups and local consumer advocate organizations, in April filed a lawsuit in Washington arguing that Wright\u2019s orders are federal overreach. The suit is similar to Michigan\u2019s challenge, and, as with that case, the attorneys general of Illinois and Minnesota have also signed on.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Craig Station Units 1 and 2 coal-fired electricity generating plants in Craig, Col., were built in 1974. Unit 1 was set to close on Dec. 31, 2025, but will be operating at least through June under a federal emergency order. Platte River Power Authority<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Colorado: Craig<\/h2>\n

On Dec. 30, 2025, Wright issued an emergency order directing Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the Platte River Power Authority, Salt River Project, PacifiCorp., and Xcel Energy\u2019s Public Service Company of Colorado to ensure that the Craig Station Unit 1 coal-fired plant in Craig, Colo., \u201cremains available to operate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citing the North American Electric Reliability Corporation\u2019s 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment for Colorado and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, Wright said, \u201cI determined the [council\u2019s] area faced a significant amount of retiring baseload generation resources and has concerns in meeting demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keeping Craig Unit 1 online \u201cwould help prevent the loss of power to homes and businesses that would otherwise pose a risk to public health and safety,\u201d he wrote.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The plant, built in 1974, was scheduled to shut down on Dec. 31. On March 30, the order was extended for another 90 days.<\/p>\n

Craig, around 200 miles northwest of Denver with a Census 2020 population of about 9,000, was a major energy hub in the 1970s-80s for the Western Area Power Administration\u2019s Rocky Mountain Region and Southwest Power Pool regional grid because of its nearby coal mines, including Trapper Mine.<\/p>\n

The four owners of the two coal-fired plants within the three-unit power complex in north-central Colorado had planned the closures since 2016.<\/p>\n

Tri-State, a not-for-profit electricity wholesaler owned by the 43 cooperatives and municipal power districts, and Platte River, a nonprofit utility operator, said the coal-fired plants were no longer needed, their generation exceeded by new solar and wind developments.<\/p>\n

They filed a Jan. 29 petition asking the Department of Energy to reconsider the order, claiming they\u2019re being forced to impose costs on ratepayers. They called the federal action an \u201cuncompensated taking\u201d of their property in violation of the Constitution\u2019s Fifth Amendment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A December 2025 analysis by Grid Strategies calculates that it could cost $85 million to $150 million annually to keep Craig 1 operating, in addition to concurrent expenses in operating new wind, solar, and transmission projects.<\/p>\n

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and a coalition of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Earthjustice, have challenged the emergency order, filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., claiming it is an abuse of emergency authority and will unjustly inflate Coloradans\u2019 electric bills.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 05\/20\/2026 – 19:15<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several States Contest Federal Orders Keeping Coal-Fired Power Plants Open Authored by John Haughey via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), A three-judge federal appeals panel is expected to issue a decision by year\u2019s end on a lawsuit challenging Energy Secretary Chris Wright\u2019s May 2025 emergency order that prevented a Michigan utility from closing a 64-year-old… Continue reading Several States Contest Federal Orders Keeping Coal-Fired Power Plants Open<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":605042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,10,21,12,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-605072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancel-culture","category-censorship","category-civil-liberties","category-election-integrity","category-equal-justice","category-free-speech","category-religious-freedom","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=605072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/605042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=605072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=605072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=605072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}