DOE Continues To Require Certain Coal Plants to Remain Operational

Beginning in May 2025, the United States Department of Energy (DOE) began issuing orders delaying the retirement of specific coal-fired generation facilities throughout the United States. Each order purports to exercise DOE’s emergency authority under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 U.S.C. § 824a(c), to “require by order…such generation, delivery, interchange, or transmission of electric energy as in its judgment will best meet the emergency and serve the public interest.” In support of its position that an emergency exists, the DOE variously cites Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) reports or North American Electric Reliability Corporation assessments of reliability situations, as applicable. In December 2025 alone, DOE issued four such orders directing certain coal-fired generation facilities to continue to operate in Washington, Indiana (Schahfer and Culley), and Colorado.

Although each order can remain effective for no more than 90 days under the FPA, so far, DOE has chosen to renew each order before it expires, suggesting that DOE may continue to require these generating plants to operate past their planned retirement date. For instance, DOE ordered Consumers Energy and MISO on May 23, 2025, to continue to operate the Campbell plant past its planned May 31, 2025, retirement date. DOE renewed that order on August 20, 2025 and again on November 18, 2025, ordering the plant to continue to operate until February 17, 2026. Each order directs the subject of the order to file with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) any necessary tariff revisions or waivers to effectuate the order and states that cost recovery is available pursuant to FPA section 202(c). PJM and MISO have since amended their respective tariffs to allow for the recovery of costs related to the continued operation of these coal plants.

DOE’s orders are being challenged by some states, clean power groups, and customer advocate groups. Challenges to several orders are pending before the United States Court of Appeals. Each order, along with the requests for rehearing and related pleadings, can be found on DOE’s website: https://www.energy.gov/ceser/2025-doe-202c-orders.