On July 24, 2025, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a petition for review 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, MI, under the pretense of a fabricated energy emergency.   

The retirement of the Campbell Plant, originally built in the 1960s, has been subject to extensive planning and analysis by state regulators and the broader inter-state power grid. This has included procuring replacement power resources and planning for future resources to compensate for the removal of the Campbell Plant. Consumer Energy planned to retire the plant on May 31, 2025, in accordance with state and regional resource determinations. Despite these plans, DOE Secretary Chris Wright issued an order in May 2025 that claimed that the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) faces a capacity shortfall and that Campbell’s closure would further decrease available capacity. The order requires the J.H. Campbell plant to run around the clock — regardless of conditions on the electric grid.   

Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act gives the DOE secretary authority to take temporary control of the nation’s electricity system during emergency situations. Until now, that authority has predominantly been invoked during wartime or natural disasters. 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.    

Attorney General Nessel’s request for rehearing challenges the DOE’s order on its inability to show an actual emergency, as well as 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.  Attorney General Nessel requests that the court set aside the unlawful 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. I will continue to fight to protect Michigan customers from unreasonable costs imposed by the federal government.Attorney General Dana Nessel