Attorney General Dana Nessel says she will ask the U.S. Department of Energy to reconsider using its emergency powers to keep open a western Michigan coal-fired power plant.
This is no surprise since the Democratic attorney general has challenged earlier, similar orders from the Trump administration. President Donald Trump is an enthusiastic backer of coal as an energy source even as many utilities are voluntarily turning to alternatives.
An order issued earlier this week is the fourth time the energy department has extended operations of the Consumers Energy J.H. Campbell power plant in Ottawa County. This latest order cites an ongoing energy capacity “emergency” to justify keeping the plant open at least through mid-May.
“The energy sources that perform when you need them most are inherently the most valuable—that's why beautiful, clean coal was the MVP of recent winter storms,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.
“Hundreds of American lives have likely been saved because of President Trump’s actions saving America’s coal plants, including this Michigan coal plant which ran daily during Winter Storm Fern. This emergency order will mitigate the risk of blackouts and maintain affordable, reliable, and secure electricity access across the region," Wright said.
But Nessel, the state’s Democratic attorney general, called the continued extensions “arbitrary” and “illegal.” She says the energy emergency to keep the plant operating is a “fabricated crisis” that will cost Michigan ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
“The Department of Energy has once again failed to show any legitimate energy emergency after almost a year of unlawfully forcing the J.H. Campbell Plant to remain operational,” Nessel said in a statement issued by her office. “Instead of respecting Michigan’s careful planning and the rule of law, this administration is propping up an aging coal plant at a staggering and completely unnecessary cost to ratepayers.”
Nessel’s office declined to say what the next steps might be if the DOE refuses to reconsider its order. But she has already filed petitions asking the federal appeals court in Washington D.C. to review the case.
