GoKawiilCourt strikes down DOE emergency order keeping Michigan coal plant open
A DC Circuit Court of Appeals panel unanimously ruled that the Department of Energy's use of emergency wartime powers to keep the J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan running past its scheduled closure was unlawful. The DOE had issued five consecutive 90-day emergency declarations under the Federal Power Act to prevent the plant from shutting down, despite no actual power shortage.
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The ruling undercuts a key Trump administration tactic for propping up coal generation nationwide, since the same legal reasoning applies to other coal plants kept open under similar emergency declarations. It reaffirms that the DOE cannot invoke wartime-style emergency powers absent a genuine supply shortfall, limiting the executive branch's ability to override grid operators' and states' closure plans.
- A federal appeals court found the DOE's emergency declaration for the J.H. Campbell coal plant violated the Federal Power Act.
- The decision sets a precedent likely to affect other coal plants the DOE has ordered to stay open under similar emergency claims.
- It represents a setback for the Trump administration's broader push to slow coal's long-term decline on the US grid.
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Published there as: “Court rejects government's energy "emergency" that kept coal plant open”
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