The U.S. Department of Energy has reupped a coal-fired power plant in West Olive, Mich., for another 90-day period, preventing its planned retirement for a third time.

DOE issued another emergency order to MISO and by extension, plant owner Consumers Energy, to keep the 1,420-MW J.H. Campbell plant running from Nov. 19, 2025, to Feb. 17, 2026.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright once again said that an “emergency exists in portions of the Midwest region …  due to a shortage of electric energy, a shortage of facilities for the generation of electricity and other causes.” He directed MISO and Consumers Energy to take “all measures necessary to ensure that the Campbell Plant is available to operate” and told MISO to write DOE by Dec. 3 to describe its efforts to keep Campbell running.

Consumers Energy originally planned to wind down operations at the plant in late May 2025, but DOE delivered its first emergency order on the eve of its retirement date. A second order in August followed on the heels of the first. The newest order brings prolonged operations to 270 days past the plant’s planned retirement date.

DOE framed its order as strengthening Midwestern grid reliability as MISO enters winter weather. The department also argued that Campbell would have retired “15 years before the end of its scheduled design life” if it were allowed to power down.

As of the end of September, the plant’s extended operations cost about $80 million, according to Consumers Energy’s financial disclosures. (See J.H. Campbell Bill Rises to $80M on DOE’s Stay Open Orders.)

The Environmental Defense Fund and Earthjustice continued to call the series of orders illegal and vowed to keep fighting them in the courts.

“Consumers Energy committed to retire the plant in 2022 under a settlement approved by Michigan state regulators, finding that replacing the plant with a variety of cleaner resources — including wind, solar and storage — would reduce costs for Michigan customers. DOE’s series of emergency orders ignore those decisions and are now putting consumers across the Midwest on the hook to keep this aging, expensive and highly polluting plant online,” EDF lead counsel Ted Kelly said in a statement.

Kelly said keeping the plant open is a “guaranteed way to needlessly” raise customer bills and worsen air pollution and pointed out the plant has “burned through over $600,000 in losses every day.”

DOE claimed that Campbell has been “critical” to MISO operations during its deferred retirement. It said it operates “regularly” during high demand and low renewable energy output.

But EDF said the plant suffered a partial breakdown in June, and Campbell Units 1 and 2 were completely offline when demand peaked during the month. What’s more, the nonprofit said NERC’s annual winter reliability assessment, released Nov. 18, concludes MISO is resource adequate “even in situations with extreme levels of demand and generator outages.”

Michael Lenoff, Earthjustice senior attorney, called the plant a “jalopy” that’s “prone to breaking down.”

During a third-quarter earnings call at the end of October, Consumers Energy CEO Garrick Rochow said he expects the emergency orders to continue in the long term and Consumers to comply with them.

Rochow said the utility has “a very flexible workforce that is committed … [to] following through with this order through the Department of Energy.”

Rochow said Consumers agrees with FERC that costs of the plant should be allocated across MISO Midwest. He said the region benefits from the continued operation of the plant, not just Consumers ratepayers. Consumers has “great confidence in our ability to recover” costs and will “continue to invest in the plant thoughtfully,” Rochow said.

Rejji Hayes, CFO of Consumers parent CMS Energy Corp., said Consumers is treating all costs associated with Campbell’s extensions as a regulatory asset. He said so far, there has been “minimal” capital investment. Hayes said once Consumers starts receiving cost recovery from MISO Midwest customers, the company would refund Michigan customers.

“We’re trying our best to make sure that Michigan customers are held harmless as we continue to operate the plant to the benefit of the region as noted,” Hayes said during the earnings call.