The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday shot down an effort from the Trump administration to keep a Michigan coal plant open past retirement.
The J.H. Campbell coal plant in West Olive, Michigan, just west of Grand Rapids, was scheduled to shut down last year. In preparation, the company that owns it worked to replace the facility with cleaner energy sources and had closure plans approved by state officials and grid authorities. But an emergency order from the Department of Energy directed the plant to continue running, using short-term federal emergency authorities.
The administration’s use of “emergency” authorities went too far, the federal judges wrote.
The Energy Department’s interpretation of an “emergency” would invite “frequent federal interventions” that could threaten the stability of the energy market, including by discouraging the development of new resources, Circuit court judges wrote in their decision.
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The ruling could have larger implications for the Trump administration, which has used that same emergency authority to force several other coal plants to stay open in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Washington, Colorado and Florida. The Energy Department has re-issued those emergency orders as they expire every 90 days.
“The DOE needs to stay in its lane and use its emergency powers only in actual emergencies,” said Michael Lenoff, an attorney with Earthjustice, which petitioned the court to set aside the DOE’s order along with other advocacy groups. “Preventing the market-driven retirements of coal plants to advance a coal-friendly agenda is not a proper use of emergency powers.”
He said the group would continue to challenge those orders if the Trump administration continued to issue them.
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