Sierra Club and Earthjustice Argue Against Illegal Coal Plant Extensions in Court

Today, Sierra Club and Earthjustice presented oral arguments before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in the legal challenge against the Department of Energy’s illegal application of Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act.

In May 2025, DOE claimed there was an “energy emergency” and forced the J.H. Campbell power plant to remain online past its scheduled retirement. Since then, the “emergency” order has been re-issued four times. According to Consumers Energy, who owns the Campbell plant, these emergency orders cost over $600,000 dollars a day.

According to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s most recent capacity auction, the region saw an increase in capacity independent of the DOE’s forced extensions. Out of the 5.6 GW of new capacity in the region, more than half was provided by solar-powered generation. This further shows that the region J.H. Campbell serves does not have an “energy emergency”, and the DOE lacks justification for these illegal extensions. Despite this added capacity, the states in MISO’s footprint will have to continue to pay for these arbitrary and costly extensions.

“The administration is breaking the law to prevent the retirement of coal power plants. And the rising cost of those unlawful orders — already hundreds of millions of dollars — is poised to break the bank as Americans pay electric bills inflated by the administration’s fixation on propping up the failing coal industry,” said Earthjustice Senior Attorney Michael Lenoff.

“The Sierra Club will not stand by and let the administration illegally force coal plants to stay online while American families pay the price,” said Sierra Club Senior Attorney Greg Wannier. “The Trump administration is using made-up emergencies to throw unpopular, expensive, and archaic coal plants a life line. These orders have already cost families far too much of their hard-earned money, and we will put an end to them.”