Court rejects Trump emergency to keep Michigan coal plant open — SkimNews
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- D.C. Circuit Court ruled the Department of Energy overstepped when it ordered the J.H. Campbell coal plant in West Olive, Michigan to stay open past its planned retirement, with Judge Cornelia Pillard writing the emergency statute "is essentially a narrow, last-resort backstop."
- Trump's Energy Department invoked Federal Power Act emergency powers last May to keep the 64-year-old plant running, citing outage threats and the need to power data centers — one of seven fossil fuel plants the administration has forced to stay in operation.
- The ruling represents one of the first successful legal challenges to the "national energy emergency" Trump declared on his first day in office in 2025, though it does not overturn the existence of that emergency — only the practical use of those powers.
- The J.H. Campbell plant emitted 1,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, 2,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, and 140 tons of particulate matter since being forced to stay open (as of end of June), with the Environmental Defense Fund estimating that mix could contribute to roughly 100 new asthma cases among the 3,000 residents living nearby.
- Consumers Energy Company is seeking to recover the $259 million cost of keeping the plant running from customers in Michigan and 10 other states.
- The Trump administration had committed about $4 billion by mid-August in payouts to companies to stop offshore wind projects that could have powered more than 15 million homes — a contrast environmental litigators flagged as evidence of pretext favoring coal industry supporters over ready-to-deploy clean energy.
Why it matters: Consumers Energy's 11-state customer base could absorb $259 million in stranded costs while litigation drags on, since the administration may still seek a rehearing or Supreme Court review. For the other six fossil fuel plants the Trump team has propped up, the D.C. Circuit's "narrow, last-resort backstop" framing gives environmental groups a legal template — several pending lawsuits had been waiting on this ruling. The decision doesn't kill Trump's energy-emergency declaration, but it constrains which statutes can actually be used to act on it.
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