DETROIT — Environmental groups and Michigan’s attorney general filed separate challenges Wednesday against a federal order that is keeping a coal-fired power plant open this summer.
The environmental coalition said there’s no energy emergency that would justify keeping Consumers Energy’s J.H. Campbell plant alive in Ottawa County, near Lake Michigan.
The U.S. Energy Department “has no authority to compel Consumers to rehabilitate — and effectively reconstruct — the increasingly unreliable plant, nor to override the state’s and utility’s decision to replace the plant with less expensive and cleaner sources,” the 54-page petition says.
Consumers Energy had planned to close the power station by May 31 as part of a transition to cleaner energy. But the Energy Department intervened just days earlier, saying the plant must remain open, at least until late August, because of possible electricity shortfalls in the central U.S.
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, known as MISO, manages the flow of electricity in 15 U.S. states and Manitoba in Canada. MISO has said there should be enough electricity this summer though it cited the potential for “elevated risk” during extreme weather.
“This type of order is fairly unprecedented,” said lawyer Shannon Fisk of Earthjustice. “It’s a fabricated emergency.”
There was no immediate response to an email seeking comment from the Energy Department. Consumers Energy said it is complying with the federal order.
“The first coal delivery arrived at the plant before the original May 31 decommissioning date,” spokesperson Brian Wheeler said.
It’s unclear whether the challenges by Attorney General Dana Nessel and environmental groups would be settled by the end of August when the order expires. Fisk said the order could be extended. A lawsuit also could be pursued.
In Pennsylvania, an oil-and-gas plant was also ordered to keep its turbines running as a hedge against electricity shortages in the 13-state mid-Atlantic grid. The Eddystone plant is just south of Philadelphia on the Delaware River.