Michigan’s battle against federally mandated coal plant operations heats up as Attorney General Dana Nessel takes a stand against the Department of Energy’s most recent order. The DOE insists that Consumers Energy’s J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in West Olive should keep running under the guise of an energy emergency, according to the Michigan Attorney General.
Despite planning ahead for a cleaner future, Michigan is now stuck dealing with an order, according to an announcement by AG Nessel shared by the Michigan Attorney General’s website, that requires the J.H. Campbell Plant to continue operations beyond its scheduled retirement date. This move has not, as intended, to relieve a dire energy crisis, but rather, to fuel controversy over what Nessel delegitimizes as a “fabricated crisis.”
The calculus once promised savings for Michiganders, now soured by more than $135 million in unplanned expenses related to the coal plant’s operations after its designed obsolescence. This figure excludes the costs accumulated since the end of 2025 to the current day, running a tab that falls unfairly on the ratepayers…