D.C. Circuit vacates DOE emergency order that kept Michigan coal plant open
NEW · Fri. 6:05 p.m. EDT
A unanimous D.C. Circuit panel on Friday vacated the Energy Department’s first Federal Power Act §202(c) emergency order forcing Consumers Energy’s J.H. Campbell coal plant in West Olive, Mich., to stay online past its May 2025 retirement. Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote that §202(c) is a “narrow, last-resort backstop” for risks needing immediate DOE action—not a tool to override state and MISO resource-adequacy planning. Michigan A.G. Dana Nessel, Illinois, Minnesota, and environmental groups challenged the order; Consumers said it is reviewing the ruling while still complying with a later 90-day extension through Nov. 14. DOE said the broader emergency-order campaign prevented blackouts and “likely saved hundreds of lives,” citing Campbell’s winter output.
File photograph of the John Amos coal-fired power plant in West Virginia, July 12, 2023. Not the J.H. Campbell plant in Michigan that was the subject of Friday’s D.C. Circuit ruling.
U.S. Geological Survey / Tim F. Smith (public domain)
Center-left view
Reuters, Bridge Michigan, and Utility Dive cast the ruling as a rebuke of DOE’s expansive “emergency” reading—highlighting Nessel’s “fake emergencies” line, Earthjustice’s rebuke of a coal-friendly agenda, hundreds of millions in ratepayer costs to keep an aging unit online, and the court’s warning that top-down generator picks threaten energy-market stability.
Sources: Reuters · Bridge Michigan · Utility Dive
Center-right view
DOE statements and Energy Department fact sheets, echoed in Utility Dive’s DOE comment and AP coverage of Secretary Chris Wright, frame the §202(c) campaign as grid insurance amid soaring demand—citing Campbell’s >650 MW daily run through Winter Storm Fern, claims the orders prevented blackouts and saved lives, and pledges to keep defending energy security even as the first order was vacated.
Sources: U.S. Department of Energy · DOE Fact Sheet · Utility Dive · AP News