A federal judge just told Trump there’s no “emergency” to justify keeping a Michigan coal plant open

A federal court has ruled that the Trump administration overstepped when it ordered a 64-year-old coal plant in West Olive, Michigan, the J.H. Campbell plant, to keep running past its planned retirement date last year. The Department of Energy had used emergency powers under the Federal Power Act, citing outage risks and rising demand from data centers. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit disagreed, saying the emergency law is meant as a narrow, last-resort tool, not a way to keep an old plant open indefinitely.

Since being forced to stay open, the plant has released 1,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, 2,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, and 140 tons of particulate matter, pollution that the Environmental Defense Fund says could cause about 100 new asthma cases among the 3,000 people living nearby. Keeping it running has cost $259 million, which the utility, Consumers Energy, is trying to recover from customers in Michigan and 10 other states, so the ruling could matter to anyone whose electric bill has been covering those costs.

The plant doesn't have to shut down immediately, and the administration could appeal to delay things further. But the decision sets a precedent that a real emergency, not just a declaration, is needed to keep aging fossil fuel plants open, and it could affect similar lawsuits over six other plants nationwide that were being forced to stay online under the same reasoning.