By Greg Chandler
Zeeland Record
For the sixth time in the last 18 months, Consumers Energy’s J.H. Campbell power plant in Port Sheldon Township has been ordered to remain open – even though company officials say doing so has cost the utility $259 million in net expenses.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright last Friday issued the latest order for Campbell to remain open for another 90 days, ending Nov. 14. Consumers Energy had planned to decommission the plant in May of last year.
As it has with its previous emergency orders, the Energy Department claims keeping Campbell open is critical to addressing the reliability of the Midwest’s electric grid.
According to a recent operations report, the Campbell plant generated more than 1.4 million megawatt hours of power from January to May of this year, for an average output of 286,267 MWh per month.
“The historic data of consistent generation indicates the Campbell plant is providing vital generation capacity to the region,” Wright wrote in his order.
Wright further went on to write about the proliferation of data centers and the stress it is producing on the grid, citing a recent report by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).
The Campbell plant had been scheduled to shut down on May 31, 2025 under a 2022 settlement agreement between Consumers and the Michigan Public Service Commission. In that agreement, the utility agreed to shut down Campbell’s three units as part of an overall plan to move toward natural gas and renewable energy as sources of generating power. Wright said the planned closure came 15 years before the end of the plant’s useful life.
In a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Consumers said the net financial impact of the Campbell orders reached $259 million as of June 30 – that’s after applying revenues of $239 million from selling power to the grid.
“For all subsequent emergency orders, Consumers intends to seek recovery and allocation through FERC consistent with the recovery sought for the May 2025 emergency order,” Consumers said in its filing.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Monday she would file a request for rehearing challenging the order keeping Campbell open.
“After six so-called emergency orders, it is clear that DOE intends to stretch Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act to force an aging, obsolete plant to operate indefinitely,” Nessel said in a press release. “Hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs are stacking up, and Michigan families will be forced to foot the bill to keep online a plant that should have been retired more than a year ago.”
Nessel has filed five requests for rehearing with the Department of Energy and four petitions for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the prior orders to keep Campbell open. Nessel presented oral arguments challenging the original Energy Department order to the appellate court in May.
Environmentalists also continue to speak out against the Energy Department orders.
“Forcing this coal plant to stay online long past its retirement has proven one thing: It’s incredibly expensive for ratepayers to keep propping up coal,” said Ted Kelly, an attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund. “State and local leaders had a plan to replace this aging, polluting plant with cleaner, more affordable and reliable energy. If the Trump administration did not unlawfully intervene to keep the plant open, retiring it as planned would have lowered bills for families while cutting harmful air and water pollution in surrounding communities.”
Zeeland Record
For the sixth time in the last 18 months, Consumers Energy’s J.H. Campbell power plant in Port Sheldon Township has been ordered to remain open – even though company officials say doing so has cost the utility $259 million in net expenses.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright last Friday issued the latest order for Campbell to remain open for another 90 days, ending Nov. 14. Consumers Energy had planned to decommission the plant in May of last year.
As it has with its previous emergency orders, the Energy Department claims keeping Campbell open is critical to addressing the reliability of the Midwest’s electric grid.
According to a recent operations report, the Campbell plant generated more than 1.4 million megawatt hours of power from January to May of this year, for an average output of 286,267 MWh per month.
“The historic data of consistent generation indicates the Campbell plant is providing vital generation capacity to the region,” Wright wrote in his order.
Wright further went on to write about the proliferation of data centers and the stress it is producing on the grid, citing a recent report by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).
The Campbell plant had been scheduled to shut down on May 31, 2025 under a 2022 settlement agreement between Consumers and the Michigan Public Service Commission. In that agreement, the utility agreed to shut down Campbell’s three units as part of an overall plan to move toward natural gas and renewable energy as sources of generating power. Wright said the planned closure came 15 years before the end of the plant’s useful life.
In a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Consumers said the net financial impact of the Campbell orders reached $259 million as of June 30 – that’s after applying revenues of $239 million from selling power to the grid.
“For all subsequent emergency orders, Consumers intends to seek recovery and allocation through FERC consistent with the recovery sought for the May 2025 emergency order,” Consumers said in its filing.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Monday she would file a request for rehearing challenging the order keeping Campbell open.
“After six so-called emergency orders, it is clear that DOE intends to stretch Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act to force an aging, obsolete plant to operate indefinitely,” Nessel said in a press release. “Hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs are stacking up, and Michigan families will be forced to foot the bill to keep online a plant that should have been retired more than a year ago.”
Nessel has filed five requests for rehearing with the Department of Energy and four petitions for review with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the prior orders to keep Campbell open. Nessel presented oral arguments challenging the original Energy Department order to the appellate court in May.
Environmentalists also continue to speak out against the Energy Department orders.
“Forcing this coal plant to stay online long past its retirement has proven one thing: It’s incredibly expensive for ratepayers to keep propping up coal,” said Ted Kelly, an attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund. “State and local leaders had a plan to replace this aging, polluting plant with cleaner, more affordable and reliable energy. If the Trump administration did not unlawfully intervene to keep the plant open, retiring it as planned would have lowered bills for families while cutting harmful air and water pollution in surrounding communities.”
