A federal court on Friday blocked the Trump administration's order to keep the J.H. Campbell Generating Plant, a 64-year-old coal-fired power facility in Michigan, operating past its scheduled retirement date. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with states and environmental groups, finding no legal emergency existed.
Appeals Court Judge Cornelia Pillard, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said the Federal Power Act's emergency order section serves as a "narrow, last-resort backstop." Emergency authority applies only when immediate, last-resort action is required by the Energy Department, not by states responsible for resource adequacy, Pillard wrote.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright had argued the Campbell plant was essential for regional electricity reliability. He invoked emergency powers to mandate its continued operation, despite the plant's long-planned closure.
President Donald Trump initiated these emergency powers with a January 2025 executive order, citing increased electricity demand from artificial intelligence and data center expansion.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, said the appeals court "threw out DOE's order that had zero basis in reality." Her office had opposed the action as an "unlawful political stunt," she said. Nessel added that the administration "does not get to invent fake emergencies to bypass the rule of law against the best interests of Michigan residents."
The J.H. Campbell plant was slated for closure as part of a transition to cleaner energy—a plan Consumers Energy spent years preparing. Michigan regulators and the regional grid operator had approved the retirement.
The Trump administration has issued similar orders to keep approximately six coal-fired plants operating in Indiana, Colorado, Florida and Washington state. An oil and gas plant in Pennsylvania also received an order to continue running turbines, aimed at hedging against potential electricity shortages in the mid-Atlantic grid.
Critics contend these mandates are increasing ratepayer bills and contributing to air and water pollution that could otherwise be avoided.
Energy Department spokeswoman Emily Matthews defended the administration's actions. The emergency orders, including the one for Campbell, "prevented blackouts and likely saved hundreds of lives during peak capacity events this past year," specifically during severe winter storms in late January and early February, she said. Matthews noted that during the peak of these storms, coal generation in affected regions saw a 25 percent increase compared to the previous year.
Ted Kelly, U.S. clean energy director at the Environmental Defense Fund, called the court's rejection a blow to the administration's push to force "unreliable, aging coal plants that are bleeding money and polluting communities to stay online." The Energy Department's "unlawful actions attempted to make families and businesses in the Midwest wastefully pay hundreds of millions of dollars for a coal plant that should have been shut down over a year ago," Kelly said.
