A new report from Grid Strategies, a consulting firm focused on the energy sector, has found consumers in Michigan and 38 other states could end up paying between $3 billion and $6 billion more for electricity between now and 2028, if the Trump administration orders dozens more coal plants in the U.S. to stay open.
In May, a last-minute order from the U.S. Department of Energy forced Michigan's Consumers Energy to cancel its planned retirement of an aging coal-burning plant, and the Trump administration has signaled it may stop other coal burning plants in the U.S. from shutting down as well.
Consumers has already planned to replace the J.H. Campbell coal plant in West Michigan with a less polluting and less costly natural gas facility. The Trump administration ordered the utility to keep the coal plant operating for 90 days.
Michael Lenoff is a Senior Attorney with Earthjustice, one of the environmental groups that commissioned the Grid Strategies report.
He said grid operators across the country have been meeting higher demand for electricity largely by adding more solar, wind, battery storage and natural gas to the grid, while simultaneously allowing the retirements of old, polluting coal-burning units.
"We don't need DOE blundering in to prop up old, dirty, expensive and unneeded power plants to advance an ideological agenda," Lenoff said.
Lenoff said the burning of coal for electricity causes thousands of premature deaths every year. In West Michigan, he said, the Campbell plant caused multiple premature deaths annually, dumped heated water and toxic chemicals into Lake Michigan, and added to coal ash deposits near private drinking water wells.
The U.S. Department of Energy did not respond to Michigan Public's request for a response to the Grid Strategies report, but its May 23rd order to keep the Campbell plant open claimed there was an energy emergency.
The order ends on August 21. Consumers Energy and the Michigan Public Service Commission said they had not heard anything from the Department of Energy about whether the order will be allowed to expire, and the plant to shut down.
Consumers Energy is one of Michigan Public's corporate sponsors.
