Court rules that Trump can't force a Michigan coal plant to keep running
Canary Media
The article reports that a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled unanimously that the Department of Energy acted outside its legal authority when it invoked emergency powers under Section 202(c) of the 1935 Federal Power Act to keep Michigan's J.H. Campbell coal plant running past its scheduled 2025 closure. Under President Trump, the DOE has used these emergency powers, historically reserved for acute grid crises, to force seven fossil-fuel plants to stay open despite decisions by utilities and state regulators that closing them was prudent and safe. Energy Secretary Chris Wright argued the agency had sole discretion to prevent reliability emergencies, but energy experts and the facts in Michigan disputed that any emergency existed, noting the Campbell retirement was planned back in 2021 to secure lower-cost replacements and was expected to save customers hundreds of millions of dollars. The court was unpersuaded by the DOE's sweeping conception of its emergency authority and emphasized that states have long regulated in-state power plants for their citizens' economic and environmental benefit. The ruling addresses only the first Campbell order but is expected to strengthen parallel legal challenges to similar must-run orders in other states... Click below to read more
