On August 20, the Department of Energy issued an emergency order to keep the JH Campbell coal-fueled power plant in Michigan open for another ninety days.
The emergency action is typically reserved for wartime and other forms of disaster. Energy Secretary Chris Wright lied that it was a necessary action to prevent power outages and avoid a strain on the regional grid; Michigan’s grid operator, Miso, stated that it had the capability to “meet peak demand this summer” without the plant.
Despite the Trump administration’s calls to diminish waste, fraud, and abuse, the maintenance of the plant is a clear example of waste. Maintaining it costs $1 million per day; closing the plant can save taxpayers $600 million by 2040. The health risks associated with coal plants would also be a concern of the past if closed.
Earlier in the summer, at an unknown date, the Department of Energy forced the JH Campbell plant, as well as another plant, Monroe, to remain open. The Monroe plant “is responsible for more arsenic water pollution than any other power plant in the US.”
