"Trump's Department of Energy, citing a "national energy emergency," ordered the J.H. Campbell coal plant on the shores of Lake Michigan, slated for June 1 closure, to remain open. "What was surprising about this order is that nobody was asking for it," said Dan Scripps, chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission, in an interview with The New York Times."
"These actions are an extraordinary and unprecedented federal intervention in state-level utility regulation-and a Trump era payback to the fossil fuel oligarchs who helped get him elected. How is it possible that zombie coal plants, costly and polluting dinosaurs of a bygone era, could be resurrected for a second life? Only with the interventions of "coal-i-garchs" like Jim Grech, CEO of Peabody Energy, can these energy relics remain."
The Department of Energy ordered Consumers Energy's J.H. Campbell coal plant to remain open, citing a "national energy emergency," though neither the utility nor Michigan requested the action. Michigan officials estimate the additional cost to consumers at $279 million annually. The Trump administration extended the emergency order by 90 days, deploying an unprecedented federal intervention in state utility regulation that benefits fossil fuel interests. Industry figures such as Peabody Energy and CEO Jim Grech are positioned to gain from keeping aging coal plants operational. Coal generation has declined for decades due to rising costs and its status as the most polluting fossil fuel, accounting for roughly 40 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
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