AG Nessel is announcing her intent to file a request for rehearing with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), challenging the Department’s latest 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. Earlier this week, DOE issued its fifth order under Federal Power Act Section 202(c) forcing Consumers Energy to run the J.H. Campbell coal plant until August 16, 2026, more than a year beyond its previously approved retirement date of May 31, 2025. 

“We are nearly a year into these so-called emergency orders designed to keep an aging coal plant on life support at the expense of Michigan ratepayers. Never before has DOE hijacked a plant’s retirement without a real, short-term crisis. Now the costs are stacking up, and my office will continue to fight these unlawful extensions.” -AG Nessel