Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday issued an emergency order to keep a Michigan coal plant running, blaming the “ongoing energy emergency” and looming winter grid crisis on “dangerous” Biden-era reductions in reliable power sources.
The Department of Energy said the Midwest faces heightened blackout risks directly tied to policies that aggressively forced baseload plants offline.
Wright’s order directs the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), working with Consumers Energy, to ensure the J.H. Campbell coal-fired plant in West Olive remains available through the coldest months.
The plant had been scheduled to shut down May 31 — 15 years before its design life ended — because of decisions pushed under the Biden administration’s strategy to retire coal capacity.
“Because of the last administration’s dangerous energy subtraction policies, the United States continues to face an energy emergency,” Wright said.
He added that President Donald Trump’s team is now “reversing these subtraction policies” to prevent soaring costs and rolling outages in subzero weather.
“Americans deserve access to affordable, reliable and secure energy regardless of whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining, especially in dangerously cold weather,” he said.
The DOE noted that since its original May 23 emergency order, the Campbell plant has repeatedly been called into service during periods when wind and solar output collapsed.
A follow-up order was issued in August as reliability conditions continued deteriorating across the Midwest.
The department’s Resource Adequacy Report warns that power outages could jump 100-fold by 2030 if the country continues retiring coal, nuclear, and gas units at the pace set during Biden’s tenure.
Officials said the risks triggered by those closures remain active and severe.
Two recent NERC winter reliability assessments flagged the MISO region as an elevated risk zone, with the potential for insufficient reserves even under above-normal winter conditions.
The DOE said those findings underscore how fragile the grid has become after years of politically driven shutdowns.
The new emergency order takes effect immediately and runs through Feb. 17, 2026.
Wright said the extension ensures the Midwest retains the firm, dispatchable power “that cannot depend on whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.”
MISO has struggled for years to replace the capacity lost during the Biden administration’s push toward intermittent energy.
Its April 2025 Planning Resource Auction showed new additions were nowhere near enough to offset retiring units across Michigan and surrounding states.
The grid operator has repeatedly emphasized that reliability threats are now a year-round challenge, not just a summer issue.
Wright said the winter order reflects that long-term reality and the need to undo the policy decisions that created it.
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