DOE forced Michigan's J.H. Campbell coal plant to keep running past its planned retirement, citing a claimed emergency

On May 23, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy invoked Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, an emergency provision, to order Consumers Energy to keep its J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in West Olive, Michigan running past its planned May 31, 2025 retirement, citing a claimed national energy emergency. The retirement had been years in the making: Consumers Energy announced the plan in 2021, and both the Michigan Public Service Commission and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the regional grid operator, signed off, with MISO determining the shutdown would not threaten grid reliability.

DOE applied the same Section 202(c) emergency authority to extend operations at five other plants in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Washington. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel challenged the Campbell order from the start, arguing it invoked a fabricated emergency to advance a policy agenda "by means outside its normal authority." DOE renewed the order five more times, ultimately extending forced operation of the plant through November 14, 2026, nearly 18 months past its approved retirement date.

Keeping the plant running carried a real cost: Consumers Energy reported $259 million in expenses tied to the forced operation through June 30, 2026, against $239 million recovered by selling the plant's power into MISO's market, and the company has sought to recover the remaining cost from ratepayers across ten states in the region.

Updates

2026-09-11 — D.C. Circuit vacated DOE's order as unlawful [1, 2, 3]

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated DOE's May 23, 2025 order, ruling that Section 202(c)'s emergency authority does not extend to ordinary long-term resource-planning disputes and that states, not DOE, bear responsibility for planning power-plant retirements. Writing for the panel, Judge Cornelia Pillard said DOE's reading of "emergency" "invites frequent federal interventions that are unsupported by the statute." Consumers Energy said it was reviewing the ruling while continuing to comply with DOE's most recent 90-day extension order.