Trump administration orders Consumers Energy to keep Michigan coal-fired power plant open

The Trump administration has ordered Consumers Energy to continue operating a coal-fired power plant in west Michigan that was slated for shutdown May 31, citing the potential for an energy emergency due to heightened summer demand. But the chairman of the Michigan Public Service Commission says no energy emergency exists and the move will increase customer costs.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced the emergency order May 23, calling for Consumers Energy's J.H. Campbell plant in Ottawa County's West Olive to remain open beyond its slated closure May 31. The Campbell plant is the last coal-fired power plant operated by Consumers and one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the state.
"(The) emergency order ensures that Michiganders and the greater Midwest region do not lose critical power generation capability as summer begins and electricity demand regularly reach high levels," he said. "This administration will not sit back and allow dangerous energy subtraction policies (to) threaten the resiliency of our grid and raise electric prices on American families."
But Michigan Public Service Commission chairman Dan Scripps said there is no existing energy emergency either in Michigan or with MISO, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, the regional energy transmission organization that includes Michigan, 14 other U.S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba.
"We currently produce more energy in Michigan than needed," Scripps said.
"The unnecessary recent order from the U.S. Department of Energy will increase the cost of power for homes and businesses across the Midwest."
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The J.H. Campbell Complex began operating in 1962 and generates up to 1,450 megawatts of electricity — enough to serve a million people. The 2,000-acre facility was named after James H. Campbell, a former president of Consumers Energy from 1960 to 1972.
The utility in recent years announced plans to provide coal-free power generation and reduce its carbon emissions by 90% by 2025, 15 years faster than earlier projections. By 2040 Consumers Energy officials expected 90% of their electric generation to come from cleaner energy sources.
Consumers Energy officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Trump administration cited its emergency authority under the Federal Power Act, which allows the secretary of energy to require temporary connections of facilities and generation, delivery, interchange or transmission of energy as the secretary determines will best meet an emergency and serve the public interest during a time that the U.S. is engaged in a war "or when an emergency exists by reason of a sudden increase in the demand for electric energy, or a shortage of electric energy, or of facilities for the generation or transmission of electric energy" or other causes.
Greg Wannier, senior attorney for the nonprofit environmental group Sierra Club, said in a statement that the emergency order "is an illegal abuse" of Trump's presidential authority.
'If Trump's made-up energy emergency had an ounce of truth to it, he wouldn't be banning wind energy and canceling renewable energy projects," Wannier said. "This so-called energy emergency is a sham and we will not stand by and let this administration prop up a dying industry so Trump's fossil fuel buddies can make more money at the expense of Americans."
Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Trump orders Consumers Energy to keep coal-fired plant open

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