Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued an emergency order May 23 that seeks to keep Consumers Energy’s 1,560-MW J.H. Campbell coal plant in West Olive, Mich., running past its May 31 retirement date.
“Today’s emergency order ensures that Michiganders and the greater Midwest region do not lose critical power generation capability as summer begins and electricity demand regularly [reaches] high levels,” Secretary Wright said in a statement. “This administration will not sit back and allow dangerous energy subtraction policies to threaten the resiliency of our grid and raise electricity prices on American families.”
The Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response issued the order under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, which is in accordance with President Trump’s Executive Order Declaring a National Emergency. (See Trump Seeks to Keep Coal Plants Open, Attacks State Climate Policies.)
Section 202(c) effectively is a federal backstop for reliability-must-run deals to keep power plants needed for reliability open, overruling environmental laws in the process. Recently, it has been invoked for brief periods. The Trump administration’s order signals a more aggressive use of the authority.
The rule was used in 2005 to keep power flowing to the White House by preventing the closure of coal plant across the Potomac River in Alexandria, Va.
Consumers signed a deal with Michigan regulators in 2022 that it would stop burning coal by the end of 2025. (See Michigan PSC Oks CMS Plan to End Coal Use by 2025.)
“We’re officially retiring our J.H. Campbell Complex beginning in early 2025,” the utility’s website said. “This will allow us to get closer to end coal use by 2025, lower our carbon footprint and add more renewable energy for us to deliver.”
DOE cited NERC’s recent Summer Reliability Assessment that listed the Midcontinent ISO (and several other regions) at an elevated risk for outages this summer due to a narrow reserve margin. The order declares an emergency on the grid to keep the J.H. Campbell plant open.
“Its retirement would further decrease available dispatchable generation within MISO’s service territory, removing additional such generation along with the other 1,575 MW of natural gas and coal-fired generation that has retired since the summer of 2024,” the order said.
The retirement was in MISO’s and Consumer’s summer forecasts, as was a new 1,200-MW natural gas plant it purchased, which expected sufficient capacity to meet peak demand, the order said.
“For the duration of this order, MISO is directed to take every step to employ economic dispatch of the Campbell Plant to minimize cost to ratepayers,” the order said. “Following conclusion of this order, sufficient time for orderly ramp down is permitted, consistent with industry practices. Consumers Energy is directed to comply with all orders from MISO related to the availability and dispatch of the Campbell Plant.”
The secretary’s order directs Consumers to file waivers needed for compliance with FERC. It also directs the plant to follow environmental laws while producing power.
