Several States Contest Federal Orders Keeping Coal-Fired Power Plants Open

The R.M. Schahfer Generating Station’s two-coal fired electricity generators in Wheatfield, Indiana, built in 1983 and 1986, were scheduled to close on Dec. 31, 2025, but remain operating under emergency orders issued by Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Northern Indiana Public Service CompanyA three-judge federal appeals panel is expected to issue a decision by year’s end on a lawsuit challenging Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s May 2025 emergency order that prevented a Michigan utility from closing a 64-year-old coal-fired power plant.How the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rules in Michigan v. DOE after hearing May 15 oral arguments could prove precedential in deciding three similar cases–including two before the same court. It could also resolve a May 9 lawsuit filed in Seattle’s U.S. District Court by 16 Democratic state attorneys general who claim the emergency that President Donald Trump declared in his January 2025 National Energy Emergency executive order doesn’t exist.