Groups Challenge Illegal Order Halting the Retirement of Indiana Power Plants

Groups Challenge Illegal Order Halting the Retirement of Indiana Power Plants

Forcing the polluting coal power plants to remain open is unnecessary and threatens to increase electricity bills and pollution

Contacts

Kathryn McGrath, [email protected]

Today, public interest groups filed a challenge in the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to overturn illegal "emergency" orders issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) forcing two coal-fired power plants in Indiana to continue operating past their scheduled retirement dates.

In December 2025, the DOE halted the planned retirement of the last coal units at the R.M. Schahfer power plant and one of the coal units at the F.B. Culley generating station. The 90-day federal "emergency" orders override the decisions made in the interest of customers by power companies, grid operators, and state utility regulators to retire the plants. Experts estimate the cost to ratepayers to operate the Schahfer and Culley coal units for just the initial 90 days would exceed $20 million(not including the costs of any repairs necessary for the units to even be operational).

NIPSCO is now seeking to charge ratepayers across most of the regional grid for the costs of repairing and operating the Schahfer plant, suggesting the costs be paid across 11 states in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) electric grid. NIPSCO had previously estimated that operating Schahfer beyond 2025 would require spending more than one billion dollars - the aging coal units have been plagued with mechanical issues. CenterPoint has made a similar request to charge MISO ratepayers for the net costs of running the Culley plant in compliance with DOE's unlawful order.

For nearby communities, burning more coal means harmful air and water pollution. The groundwater at Schahfer is highly contaminated by its leaking coal ash pond. Last year, NIPSCO securedfrom the Trump EPA a delay in requirements to dispose of coal ash safely, allowing the utility to continue dumping coal ash for three additional years in its unlined "Waste Disposal Area" that is known to be leaching toxic chemicals into groundwater. There are at least 60 groundwater wells near the Schahfer plant.

Earthjustice, representing Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Just Transition Northwest Indiana, and Hoosier Environmental Council, joined Sierra Club and the Environmental Law and Policy Center to challenge the illegal orders. See the petitions for review for R.M. Schahfer and F.B. Culley.

"Federal law simply doesn't permit the federal government to manipulate power sector assets in this way without a true emergency. The plant owners and everyone with responsibility for grid stability planned several years ahead for the orderly retirement of these aging units. Now the Trump Administration is forcing continued and unnecessary burning of coal, which will mean more air and water pollution as well as higher electricity bills. We're asking the Court to curb this abuse," said Sameer Doshi, Earthjustice senior attorney.

"Trump's illegal emergency order to keep Indiana's last coal plant running is yet another effort by the administration to bolster the coal industry and shift energy costs onto Hoosiers," said Sierra Club Senior Attorney Greg Wannier. "Indiana families and small businesses are experiencing the highest increase in energy prices in two decades. Propping up expensive, polluting coal will only exacerbate the affordability crisis families are facing. Hoosiers deserve a cleaner, more affordable energy future, and we'll continue our fight to deliver one."

"The D.C. Circuit should reverse this illegal DOE Order," said Howard Learner, ELPC CEO & Executive Director."Midwestern families and businesses should not be forced to pay millions of dollars in higher electricity charges to keep running the uneconomic Schahfer and Culley coal plants, which are not needed for reliability. That's especially true when cleaner, more affordable alternatives are readily available. The Trump administration's unlawful mandate to keep running these old coal plants worsens electricity affordability, lacks legal justification, and overruns reasonable decisions made by state officials, the utility and the affected communities."

"These illegal orders rob CenterPoint and NIPSCO ratepayers of the savings promised them from the closure of these antiquated and climate wrecking coal units," said Kerwin Olson, Executive Director of the Citizens Action Coalition. "They already face the highest electric bills in Indiana. They simply can't afford it."

"We proudly join this challenge to push back against these unethical and unlawful emergency orders that disproportionately harm our coal-impacted communities. As the statewide affordability crisis balloons with no end in sight, we cannot let these plants burn away our future while we fund our own demise," said Ashley Williams, Executive Director of Just Transition Northwest Indiana. "Northwest Indiana is home to some of the most biodiverse, thriving ecosystems on the planet. Yet we shoulder the burden of legacy industrial pollution, specifically due to plants like the NIPSCO Schahfer Generating Station. We must protect our region from further sacrifice. We will not allow these orders to go through without a fight!"

"Cleaner power sources are available and these plants were ready to stop burning coal, so the federal order is unwarranted. It creates additional air pollution, coal ash pollution, and expense for Indiana communities," said Indra Frank, Coal Ash Advisor at Hoosier Environmental Council.

Background

The Trump administration continues to issue successive sham "emergency" orders to prevent the long-planned retirement of some of the oldest, dirtiest, most expensive and unreliable coal-burning power plants across the country. These orders are part of a Trump policy to support the expensive and failing coal industry. Similar orders have been issued for coal plants in Michigan, Washingtonand Colorado and are being challenged by Earthjustice and public interest groups, as well as state attorneys general.

The Trump administration is unlawfully using Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, which allows DOE to order power plants to operate for short periods of time in response to imminent and unexpected shortfalls.

In Michigan, the J.H. Campbell coal plant received its fourth successive "emergency" order forcing the plant to operate for nearly a year. According to Consumers' filings with the SEC, complying with the DOE's orders cost $135 million from the end of May through December 2025, which the utility intends to recover from billpayers in 11 MISO states.

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