Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a Petition for Review with the U.S. Court of Appeals on July 24, challenging an order from the U.S. Department of Energy that requires the ongoing operation of the Consumers Energy’s J.H. Campbell Power Plant.
The filing comes after the DOE failed to responded to Nessel’s request for a rehearing in June.
Ten public interest groups joined Nessel in the June rehearing request, including nationwide environmental nonprofit Earthjustice, 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.
Campbell was scheduled to shutter at the end of May, but Consumers Energy was forced to adjust after the DOE issued an emergency order requiring the plant to remain open for another 90 days. There are 38 days left, as of July 25.
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.
“(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.”
‘Save the Campbell’
A local 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.
— Cassidey Kavathas is the politics and court reporter at The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at ckavathas@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on X formerly known as Twitter @cassideykava.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Michigan AG escalates filing over Campbell Plant to U.S. Court of Appeals
Reporting by Cassidey Kavathas, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
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