Emergency order for West Michigan coal plant set to expire again

This story was originally published by Michigan Public.

The emergency order keeping a West Michigan coal-fired power plant open is set to expire this Saturday. The Trump administration has repeatedly issued new orders to extend the life of the plant since May of last year, when the J.H. Campbell plant was originally scheduled to close.

The Trump administration’s Department of Energy has claimed the nation is under an energy emergency and can’t afford to let the plant close.

But environmental and other community groups argued there is no emergency.

Sergio Cira Reyes is climate justice catalyst with Urban Core Collective, which has fought to overturn the orders. He says Consumers Energy, local energy regulators, and others in the community, carefully planned for the plant to close in 2025.

“And so there’s already experts in community — locally, at the state level and regionally — that have made assessments,” Cira Reyes said. “And they know what they’re doing.”

A federal judge agreed, and vacated the Energy Department’s initial emergency order in September. That ruling is now being appealed. The department has issued multiple emergency orders keeping other coal plants open as well.

The Michigan Attorney General’s Office said in September that keeping the J.H. Campbell plant open has cost an additional $295 million, a cost that could get passed on to electric customers in the state.

The Michigan plant is one of several in the country that the Trump administration has ordered to keep operating. Cira Reyes said customers are already facing bills that are too high.

“Michigan families can’t afford to pay this added cost of this stubborn Department of Energy’s stance to essentially do a favor for the coal industry and order these different coal plants across the country to stay open,” Cira Reyes said.