VICTORY: Court Rules Against Trump’s Michigan Coal Bailout

A federal court in Washington, D.C. has sided with the Sierra Club and the State of Michigan, striking down a Trump administration order that forced the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in Michigan to keep running past its scheduled retirement. The Department of Energy had issued an "emergency order" last year, days before the plant was set to close, claiming an energy emergency existed. The court found there was no such emergency and that the order misused federal law.

Keeping the aging plant online has been costly. Sierra Club estimates it has added $600,000 a day in costs for families across the Midwest since the order took effect, and the plant has also blocked newer, cheaper clean-energy projects from moving into its site. The group's tracker puts the total cost of similar unlawful extension orders issued nationwide at more than $546 million so far. Sierra Club has challenged every one of these orders in court.

For homeowners, this ruling doesn't come with a rebate or a new program to apply for. But it matters for anyone in the Midwest region served by this plant, since utility costs tied to keeping old coal plants running longer than planned can show up in electricity bills. It's also a sign that regulators and courts are pushing back on efforts to delay the retirement of expensive, aging power plants in favor of newer generation. The Sierra Club says it will keep fighting similar orders elsewhere, so more rulings like this one may follow in other states.