Trump is forcing this dirty, costly coal plant to stay open
An emergency order last month from Washington rattled Michigan regulators: The Trump administration reversed the state’s plan to retire an aging power plant, forcing it to remain open and continue burning coal.
Michigan and the plant’s operator have mounds of evidence that closing the 63-year-old J.H. Campbell plant on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan won’t create a shortage of electricity. But the Trump administration adopted a different view, claiming the Midwest is overly dependent on intermittent wind and solar power. Energy Secretary Chris Wright exercised rarely used federal authority to block the closure, which had been scheduled for May 31. His order requires the plant to continue operating for three more months — and possibly longer.