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Washington, D.C. — Today, Sierra Club and Earthjustice presented oral arguments before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in the legal challenge against the Department of Energy’s illegal application of Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act.
In May 2025, DOE claimed there was an “energy emergency” and forced the J.H. Campbell power plant to remain online past its scheduled retirement. Since then, the “emergency” order has been re-issued four times. According to Consumers Energy, who owns the Campbell plant, these emergency orders cost over $600,000 a day.
According to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s most recent capacity auction, the region saw an increase in capacity independent of the DOE’s forced extensions. Out of the 5.6 GW of new capacity in the region, more than half was provided by solar-powered generation. This further shows that the region J.H. Campbell serves does not have an “energy emergency,” and the DOE lacks justification for these illegal extensions. Despite this added capacity, the states in MISO’s footprint will have to continue to pay for these arbitrary and costly extensions.
