Trump’s DOE Issues Additional Orders to Illegally Force Indiana Coal Plants to Keep Burning Coal

Trump's DOE Issues Additional Orders to Illegally Force Indiana Coal Plants to Keep Burning Coal

The Trump Administration delivers coal for the holidays and higher electricity bills

Contacts

Kathryn McGrath, [email protected]

Today the Department of Energy (DOE) issued 90-day emergency orders preventing two coal power plants in Indiana from retiring as planned by December 31.

These orders by the Trump Administration are an unprecedented power grab to override the decisions made in the interest of customers by power companies, grid operators, and state utility regulators. Coal is not only the most polluting and carbon-intensive source of electricity, it's also expensive. The costs of operating these power plants will unnecessarily drive up household electricity bills.

The two remaining coal-fired generators at the aging Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield, IN have been plagued with mechanical issues, and one unit cannot operate without major repairs. The groundwater at Schahfer is highly contaminated by its leaking coal ash ponds, and its owner NIPSCO has done little to clean up the toxic mess. Unit 2 at F.B. Culley Generating Station in Warrick County, IN was constructed in 1966 and is one of two remaining coal units at the plant. CenterPoint Energy, the plant's owner, said that the retirement of coal units was expected to provide aggregate savings of $80 million to its customers and reduce carbon emissions by as much as 95% over the next 20 years.

Public advocacy groups led by the Sierra Club and Earthjustice recently filed the first-ever challenge in court to DOE's abuse of Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, following the DOE's three consecutive 90-day orders forcing the aging J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan to continue burning coal. Section 202(c), which is intended to temporarily alleviate certain imminent emergencies on the grid, allows the DOE to order power plants to operate for short periods of time, up to 90 days. The DOE has already acted unlawfully to prevent the planned retirement of additional coal plants, most recently the TransAlta coal plant in Centralia, WA on December 16th.

As families struggle with rising electricity bills, the Trump Administration is delivering coal for the holidays and forcing households to pay more for coal's deadly air and toxic water pollution. In an earnings report, the majority owner of the J.H. Campbell plant in Michigan estimated that it cost more than $80 million to comply with prior DOE orders from May 23 through September 30, an average of more than $615,000 per day.

"The Department of Energy is overriding decisions already considered by power companies, grid operators, and state utility regulators. The plants at issue here were marked for retirement because coal is expensive and unreliable. These aging power plants emit deadly air pollution, contaminate water with toxic metals, harm our climate, and increasingly break down when we need them most - and the Trump administration is now asking ratepayers to pay more to keep burning coal. Congress gave DOE a narrow, limited role to address actual, imminent emergencies. An event carefully planned for years is not an 'emergency.' " - Sameer Doshi, Earthjustice Senior Attorney

"The federal government's order to force extremely expensive and unreliable coal units to stay open will result in higher bills for Hoosiers who are already reeling from record-high rate increases in 2025. We can't afford this costly and unfounded federal overreach." - Ben Inskeep, Program Director of Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana

"We condemn this order that will have sweeping ramifications for Indiana communities in Jasper County and beyond. The NIPSCO R.M. Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield is already one of the most notorious polluters in the country. On-site coal ash contamination of groundwater, along with a proposed massive gas plant and AI data center, compounds an extremely dire situation and creates an unconscionable environmental burden. The Trump administration is trying to steal away our futures by keeping us tethered to the dirty coal energy of the past. We will not be silent in the face of this injustice." - Ashley Williams, Executive Director of Just Transition Northwest Indiana.

Additional Resources

• About the Clean Energy Program

About Earthjustice

Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.