Trump Administration Issues Another Mandate to Extend Expensive, Polluting Michigan Coal Plant Past Retirement

(WASHINGTON – Aug 21, 2025) Yesterday, the Trump administration issued another illegal emergency order for the J.H. Campbell power plant in Michigan to operate past its planned retirement for another 90 days, until November 19.

In May, the Department of Energy ordered the Campbell plant to remain online past its planned May 31 retirement, even though the regional grid operator found no reliability concerns with shutting it down. In just the first five weeks, that order cost $29 million. According to a recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decision, ratepayers in Michigan and 10 other states (IL, IN, IA, KY, MN, MO, MT, ND, SD, and WI) will pay the costs of that extension.

“Mandating this half-a-century-old coal plant to stay open will drive up electricity bills and pollution even higher for families and businesses,” said Ted Kelly, Director and Lead Counsel for U.S. Clean Energy at Environmental Defense Fund. “It already cost nearly $30 million to keep the J.H. Campbell coal plant running for the first five weeks this summer – imagine the price shock for ratepayers after several months. This unlawful decision confirms what we already knew: utility and state leaders’ original plan to shift to cleaner, more affordable energy sources was a far better deal for people’s wallets and health. EDF and allies will continue to fight this unnecessary and illegal action in court.”

Last month, nine public advocacy groups, including EDF, filed a petition for review at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in response to the Department of Energy’s unlawful and unreasonable extension of the J.H. Campbell coal plant, and the department’s failure to respond to the groups’ earlier request for rehearing on the department’s emergency order.

The Campbell plant’s planned retirement is not an anomaly – it follows a broader national trend of coal plant retirements in the last decade. According to Energy Innovation, 99% of the nation’s coal fleet is more expensive to keep running than to replace with new local wind, solar and battery storage.

A recent independent report from Grid Strategies found that if the Trump administration continues these mandates to keep aging coal power plants online, it could cost U.S. electricity consumers as much as $6 billion per year.