Michigan taxpayers may end up footing the bill to keep an aging coal plant open.
The JH Campbell plant in West Olive was scheduled to close on May 31, but a last-minute order from the Department of Energy is forcing it to stay open. The owner of the plant, Consumers Energy, says it wants the facility shuttered, but its hands are tied.
Dennis Wamsted, an energy analyst with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, says the Trump administration can use the Federal Power Act to force aging coal plants to stay open under emergency conditions.
“A really severe winter storm requires plants to continue to operate above what might be their normal generation levels,” Wamsted said. “So there are provisions to operate plants or order them to remain online if there’s a real emergency. This was not a real emergency.”
Since 2021, Consumers Energy has built new solar and wind generation resources and purchased a natural gas-fired power plant. The moves were made to replace energy produced by the JH Campbell plant and for a complete transition from coal production by the end of 2025.
President Trump issued an executive order in April authorizing the Department of Energy to keep plants open using the Federal Power Act. Trump said he wants to meet a rise in electricity demand due to an anticipated surge in domestic manufacturing and the construction of artificial intelligence data processing centers.
Wamsted says he is not aware of any legal action taken to force the plant’s closure, move upkeep expenses out of taxpayers’ hands, or recover the money at a later date.
