Trump administration issues another illegal mandate to keep Orlando area coal plant open past retirement

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) The Trump administration issued an illegal emergency order to keep the Stanton Coal Plant in Orlando, Fla., open past its scheduled retirement date for 90 days. The order is the latest in a string of orders keeping old coal-fired plants running well past their planned retirements and costing ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars when there is no clear need.

The Department of Energy order comes as the Orlando Utility Commission was finalizing its wind-down of the coal-fired unit and mirrors orders that have kept plants in Michigan, Indiana, Colorado and Washington open past their scheduled retirements. DOE has repeatedly claimed the extensions are necessary to meet growing electricity demand, but analysis from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and the Commission’s own public filings have emphasized the coal plants aren’t necessary to meet near or long-term energy needs. Orlando Utility Commission financial reports also highlight that coal has been its highest cost fuel in recent years.

“Forcing this coal plant to remain open past retirement will needlessly jack up electricity bills for Central Florida families and businesses, right as they’re struggling with high energy costs,” said Ted Kelly, Director and Lead Counsel for U.S. Clean Energy at Environmental Defense Fund. “We’ve seen the results of other illegal and unnecessary coal mandates over the last year – propping up these plants past their retirements is costing ratepayers a fortune. And often, these plants aren’t even running or broken down when the administration is claiming they are needed.”

“Ultimately, these coal plants are scheduled to retire for a reason: They are uneconomic and cheaper, cleaner and more reliable energy options exist.”

The high costs of keeping aging coal plants online are becoming clear: the continued operation of the J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan, one of the coal plants mandated by DOE to remain online since May 2025, is costing families and businesses over $180 million dollars  –  over $600,000 a day. An independent analysis by Grid Strategies found that, if the administration forces coal plants across the country to continue operating, it could cost ratepayers more than $3 billion per year.

In Florida, a majority of voters said their electricity bill has caused at least some financial stress over the past year, a recent poll found.

Coal plants are also unreliable and highly-polluting:

• According to NERC, coal plants break down more than any other type of electricity in the United States, and many of the plants extended by the Trump administration have either partially or completely failed multiple times.
• The Campbell plant in Michigan partially failed in June 2025, weeks after DOE first extended the operation of the plant in the name of grid reliability.
• Two coal-fired units at an Indiana power plant are currently broken down, one of which has been completely broken for the entirety of the illegal “emergency” mandate extending their operation.
• Coal plants are also extremely harmful to our health—as of 2019, nearly 3,000 deaths per year were attributable to fine particle pollution from coal. The pollution from these plants causes asthma, heart attacks, lung cancer, neurological damage and other serious health problems.