Attorney General Nessel Files Appeal Challenging DOE Order Mandating Continued Operation of Consumers Energy Coal-Powered Electric Plant

LANSING – Yesterday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a Petition for Review (PDF) with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit challenging the U.S. Department of Energy ‘s (DOE) arbitrary and illegal order forcing the continued operation of Consumers Energy’s J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in West Olive, Michigan, under the pretense of a fabricated energy emergency. 

The retirement of the Campbell Plant, originally built in the 1960s, has been the matter of extensive planning and analysis by state regulators and the broader inter-state power grid. This has included the procurement of replacement power resources, and the planning for future resources, to more than account for the removal of the Campbell Plant. In fact, the retirement was initially sought by Consumers Energy in its June 30, 2021, integrated resource plan application. Parties in that case, including Attorney General Nessel, signed a settlement that included the retirement of the Campbell Plant, and the settlement was approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission in June of 2022. The retirement of the Campbell Plant and its replacement with more cost-effective resources were elements of a carefully considered plan that was expected to save Michigan ratepayers nearly $600 million.  

The Attorney General filed a request for a rehearing with the DOE last month along with a collective group of public interest organizations, Minnesota and Illinois, Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, and the Organization of Midcontinent Independent System Operator States. DOE did not respond to any of the rehearing requests and thus parties must seek judicial review in order to further challenge the DOE’s unlawful emergency order. 

“This unprecedented order by the Department of Energy declares an emergency without evidence, completely ignores state and federal regulators that approved the plant’s retirement, and will potentially put enormous costs onto utility customers who receive no real benefit,” Nessel said. “I will continue to fight to protect Michigan customers from unreasonable costs imposed by the federal government.” 

Attorney General Nessel argues in her petition that DOE’s May 23, 2025, order to cancel the Campbell retirement disregards all prior planning and regulatory approvals, in yet another example of the Trump administration arbitrarily declaring a false emergency as a pretext for advancing its policy agenda by means outside its normal authority. The order states that the plant will continue to run through August, though it is possible the DOE could issue another order at that point extending again the plant’s producing lifetime. Never before has the DOE delayed the retirement of a power plant absent a request from the operating utility or local governmental body, and only ever in response to concrete, particularized emergencies, and subject to limitations to ensure that the order extends no further than necessary to address the emergency at hand.  

The Attorney General’s request for rehearing challenges the DOE’s order on its inability to show an actual emergency, as well as for several other violations of the DOE’s authority under the Federal Power Act, which grants the DOE’s emergency powers. The Attorney General’s challenges include that the order as issued exceeds the authority granted to the DOE, and that the DOE failed to take required steps to limit the amount of operation to only when necessary and to minimize environmental impacts.  

Last month, the Attorney General also filed a pleading before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in response to Consumers Energy Company’s request to recover the costs from running the Campbell Plant beyond its initial retirement date. That proceeding is still ongoing. 

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