Appeals Court Rejects Emergency Order to Keep Michigan Coal Plant Open
A federal appeals court ruled that the Department of Energy overstepped its authority by using emergency powers to force a Michigan coal plant to remain operational. The unanimous decision rejected the administration's claim that closing the plant would cause blackouts. Michigan's attorney general called the ruling a victory against an unlawful political stunt.
The D.C. Circuit's unanimous ruling marks the first judicial setback for Energy Secretary Chris Wright's strategy of invoking Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act to prevent fossil fuel plant closures. That Depression-era authority, previously reserved for extraordinary events like hurricanes and wartime mobilization under Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941, has been applied to seven plants nationwide since May 2025.
The Department of Energy defended its actions by citing Winter Storm Fern in January, when the Campbell plant operated above 650 megawatts daily for nearly two weeks and regional coal generation rose 25 percent. The agency may now seek a full-court rehearing or appeal directly to the Supreme Court, while the ruling casts doubt on similar emergency orders affecting other facilities.
This ruling could reshape how federal emergency powers are applied to energy infrastructure, potentially limiting the executive branch's ability to override state-level decisions about plant closures. Utilities and grid operators may face renewed pressure to plan for reliability without relying on emergency orders. Communities near aging coal plants could see closures proceed, affecting local employment and tax bases, while ratepayers may experience shifts in electricity costs depending on how replacement capacity is developed.