Trump administration officials also used emergency powers to protect coal-powered electricity generation. … The recent flare-up relates to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issuing an emergency order to keep open a Michigan coal power plant that had been scheduled for retirement. Michigan regulators and grid officials, however, deny the existence of an emergency or shortage of power.

The emergency order is particularly odd. Typically, the Department of Energy is responding to a request from the locality in question, but that did not happen in this case. This particular Michigan facility, the J.H. Campbell plant, had been deferring maintenance as it was expecting permanent retirement on May 31, 2025. It also had not been placing orders for coal to burn, and many of its workers had been reassigned, since everyone had expected the plant to be shut down.