Contact: Nora Naughton, nora.naughton@sierraclub.org
West Olive – Sierra Club, along with a coalition of 10 other interest groups, is challenging the Department of Energy’s illegal extension of operations at the dirty and deadly J.H. Campbell coal plant.
On May 23, the Department of Energy issued an order forcing Consumers Energy to continue operations of Campbell past its planned May 31 expiration date. The DOE’s order falsely invokes emergency powers to upend the usual legal and regulator decision-making process. The retirement of Campbell, which sits on the Lake Michigan shoreline outside of Grand Rapids, was first announced in 2021 after a lengthy review process. The retirement plan was approved after the Michigan Public Service Commission, Consumers, and other regional entities confirmed that Campbell’s retirement would have no effect on grid reliability.
This action today is a continuation of the Sierra Club’s yearslong fight to shut down Campbell. The Michigan Chapter worked closely with residents, state regulators, utilities, the Attorney General, and numerous other parties to negotiate the approved settlement to retire the aging coal-fired power plant. The owner of the power plant, Consumers Energy, has already secured more than adequate replacement power, including another power plant, extending the lives of two other generating units, and building or acquiring significant amounts of solar and storage resources, which utility customers are already paying for.
MPSC Chair Dan Scripps has said that keeping the plant online for even 90 days could cost close to $100 million because Consumers had been winding down investments in the plant over the past four years. DOE’s order does not include any federal funding to keep the Campbell plant operational, and the additional costs associated with this extension may be passed onto ratepayers in Michigan and the Midwest.
When operating, the Campbell plant was one of the largest sources of toxic pollution in Michigan, releasing many millions of pounds of health-harming pollution and over ten billion pounds of climate-harming carbon dioxide into the air each year in recent years. The plant also released roughly 100,000 pounds of water pollution into Lake Michigan every year, including 10,000 pounds of toxic metals. The Clean Air Task Force’s ‘Toll from Coal’ analysis estimates the plant is responsible for 44 premature deaths and 455 asthma attacks every year.
Earthjustice filed the request for rehearing with the DOE today. The groups signing the motion include the Sierra Club, Environmental Law and Policy Center, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), Michigan Environmental Council, Environmental Defense Fund, Vote Solar, Public Citizen, Union of Concerned Scientists, the Ecology Center, and Urban Core Collective. The DOE must respond to today’s motion within 30 days. If the DOE does not respond, the public interest groups will challenge this order in court.
Statement of Jan O’Connell, Senior Energy Issues Organizer in Michigan: J.H. Campbell is a clear threat to the health, safety, and wallets of Michiganders, who already pay the highest utility bills in the Midwest. Let us be clear: there is no energy emergency in Michigan. The Department of Energy’s made-up emergency is not only illegal – it also stands to increase our utility bills while Campbell’s toxic fossil fuel emissions continue to exacerbate the real energy crisis: climate change.