Ten public interest groups are challenging the U.S. Department of Energy’s mandated extension of operations at the J.H. Campbell Power Plant in Port Sheldon Township.
The plant, owned by Consumers Energy, was scheduled to shutter at the end of May, but the utility provider was forced to adjust after the DOE issued an emergency order requiring Campbell remain “available for operation” for another 90 days.
The order, issued May 23, cited a need to “minimize the risk of blackouts and address critical grid security issues” in the Midwest ahead of “the high electricity demand expected this summer.” The order was directed to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, the grid on which the plant operates.
MISO is responsible for power across 15 states and one Canadian Province. In 2024, 26% of the authority’s energy came from coal. Campbell is the final coal plant open under Consumers Energy.
“(We) are actively working to determine how to both comply with the federal order and then how those costs should be shared,” Consumers Director of Media Relations Katie Carey told The Sentinel on June 3. “We believe it should be shared by all customers within MISO, not just … (customers of) Consumers Energy.”
According to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, MISO is listed as “high risk,” meaning shortfalls to the energy supply could occur at normal peak conditions. That’s the worst ranking on NERC’s Risk Area Summary for 2025-2029 — and MISO is the only grid that’s earned it.
Who is challenging the mandated extension at Campbell?
Earthjustice, a nationwide environmental nonprofit, filed a request for rehearing with the DOE on June 18. The group is joined by the Sierra Club, the Environmental Law and Policy Center, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Michigan Environmental Council, the Environmental Defense Fund, Vote Solar, Public Citizen, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Ecology Center, and Urban Core Collective.
“The (DOE)’s unprecedented last-minute interference with the orderly plan to retire and replace the aging Campbell (Plant) will harm the wallets and lungs of Michiganders,” wrote Shannon Fisk, attorney and director of state electric sector advocacy at Earthjustice.
“No amount of baseless fearmongering by the federal administration changes the fact that the entities charged with ensuring the lights stay on in (Michigan) agree (there’s) no energy emergency. We urge the DOE to rescind this unlawful, unreasonable, and unnecessary order. If they don’t, we will see them in court.”
According to the Michigan Public Service Commission, keeping the plant online for even 90 days could cost nearly $100 million, in part because Consumers has been winding down investments in the plant over the past four years. The order, officials argue, doesn’t include any federal funding to keep the plant operational.
‘Save the Campbell’
An effort to “Save the Campbell” has been underway since Consumers announced the facility was slated for an early retirement in 2021. Initially, at least one portion of the plant was meant to stay online until 2040.
“It’s voluntary for the Campbell Plant to be closing (this) early,” Ottawa County Commissioner Allison Miedema said in February. “That was a voluntary decision. This wasn’t a mandate that was put on them.”
The decision was spurred by Consumers’ Clean Energy Plan, which calls for eliminating coal as an energy source in 2025. The plan was released in the wake of state law requiring Michigan to produce all of its energy from clean sources by 2040.
The plant began operations in 1962, generating nearly 1,500 megawatts of electricity on a 2,000-acre property.
Retirement and restoration of the property was expected to begin later this year and last until 2030. Work includes the removal of coal residuals, backfilling the cold pile with clean fill, ash remediation with Ashcor, removal of a warm water discharge pipe and relocation of multiple bird boxes.
Ottawa County commissioners passed a resolution Feb. 25, making a “formal appeal” to the MPSC to reconsider shutdown plans for the Campbell Plant; but officials said the decision was already made. T
The board voted against taking legal action at Miedema’s insistence in April, and said the previous resolution had been shared with the federal government, which some officials hoped would spur action.
“I’m appreciative of the Trump Administration stepping in and putting a pause on the closing of the J. H. Campbell Plant,” Miedema said during a meeting May 27.
— Cassidey Kavathas is the politics and court reporter at The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at ckavathas@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @cassideykava.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Campbell Plant extension threatened by possible legal challenge from environmental groups
Reporting by Cassidey Kavathas, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
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