Supreme court ruled fossil fuel companies could challenge a California emissions law, as White House moved to keep Michigan coal plants open. Key US politics stories from Friday 20 June
It was a day of environmental setbacks across the US on Friday after the Trump administration moved to keep two Michigan coal plants open and the US supreme court handed a win to fossil fuel firms in an emissions case.
Already, the US Department of Energy (DoE) has ordered the JH Campbell coal plant on Lake Michigan to remain open beyond its 31 May closure date, while the administration is expected to prolong the life of the Monroe power plant on Lake Erie, scheduled to begin closing in 2028.
The plants emit about 45% of the state’s greenhouse gas pollution.
Opponents say the order has little support in Michigan, could cost ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars and is ideologically driven. The state’s utilities have said they did not ask for the plants to stay online, and the Trump administration did not communicate with stakeholders before the order, a spokesperson for the Michigan Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities and manages the state’s grid, told the Guardian.
