Even with Trump Administration pressure to keep coal-fired power plants online, DTE Energy has no plans to veer from its published schedule of retiring the first two units of its mammoth coal-fired power plant near Monroe in 2028 and the second pair in 2032.\n\n\"DTE’s plan for the Monroe Power Plant is unchanged,\" according to a company statement provided to The Blade by Dana St. Coeur, DTE Energy senior communications strategist. \"As laid out in our MPSC [Michigan Public Service Commission]-approved integrated resource plan, we are on track to retire two units in 2028 and the last two units in 2032.\"\n\nThough a lot could change over the next three years, President Trump called for a renewed emphasis on coal-fired power as part of an executive order he issued on April 8.\n\nIt called upon the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal agencies to revisit past actions downplaying coal, and to make appropriate changes aimed at increasing its use.\n\nThe executive order, called \"Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241,\" is on the White House website.\n\nDTE’s Monroe plant is one of the nation’s largest coal-fired power plants.\n\nAnother Michigan-based utility, Consumers Energy, was eight days away from shuttering its J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant this spring when its regional grid operator got a DOE order to keep it in service another 90 days, per the Trump Administration.\n\nAn Energy Department website said that order was issued on May 23 to minimize \"any potential generation shortfall that could lead to unnecessary power outages\" during summer, when demand for electricity peaks.\n\nThe J.H. Campbell plant is in West Olive, Mich., west of Grand Rapids and near the Lake Michigan shoreline.\n\nIt was scheduled to be taken offline permanently on May 31, but was ordered by the DOE to keep operating it until at least Aug. 21.\n\nThe administration declared an emergency to impose the 90-day extension.\n\nBut the Michigan Public Service Commission, along with other groups and individuals, claim there was no emergency or urgent need to have that plant keep producing electricity.\n\nBrian M. Wheeler, Consumers spokesman, told The Blade the company \"is complying with the Department of Energy order.\"\n\n\"We are pausing decommissioning activities at the Campbell plant and are operating it in compliance with the order,\" he said.\n\nMr. Wheeler said he is not sure what happens after Aug. 21.\n\n\"We are focused on complying with the federal order,\" Mr. Wheeler said.\n\nNo new shutdown date has been scheduled, said Matt Helms, Michigan Public Service Commission spokesman.\n\n\"Any potential new shutdown date for the Campbell plant is unclear, and we’re not aware of discussions the Trump administration may have had with DTE Energy,\" Mr. Helms said.\n\nThe extension cost Consumers an additional $29 million from May 31 through June 30, Mr. Wheeler said.\n\nThat information is also in a 120-page report that Consumers has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.\n\n\"Between the start of the emergency order and June 30, 2025, the net financial impact of complying with the order was $29 million, for which recovery will be sought through FERC in a subsequent proceeding after a modification to the MISO Tariff is established,\" the SEC filing states.\n\nOn July 31, Consumers filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, for \"a mechanism to recover and allocate those costs through MISO,\" Mr. Wheeler said.\n\nMISO stands for Midcontinent Independent System Operator, a Carmel, Ind.-based electrical grid operator that serves 15 states, including Michigan, and the Canadian province of Manitoba.\n\n\"Actual costs will depend on a number of factors, including offsetting revenue from plant operations, and are still being determined,\" Mr. Wheeler said. \"The cost of operating the plant will be shared by customers across the north and central MISO region, consistent with the DOE order. We will continue to work with MISO and with federal and state regulators to ensure compliance with the order and appropriate cost recovery.\"\n\nMike Soules, a senior attorney with Washington-based Earthjustice, said his group and others contend the Trump Administration overstepped its authority in declaring an emergency to justify a three-month extension.\n\n\"We're actively challenging that,\" Mr. Soules said. \"We think the order is unlawful. These units were literally on the cusp of being retired.\"\n\nHe said it’s hard to predict what will happen three years from now, when the first pair of DTE’s Monroe units are to be retired.\n\nBut he added the $29 million in additional costs incurred by Consumers during its first month of the extension is \"hard evidence\" that there’s a big economic cost when the administration \"interferes with a planned retirement.\"\n\nBryan Smigielski, the national Sierra Club’s Michigan campaign organizer, agreed.\n\nHe said it’s hard to imagine what DTE might do three years from now if it faces the same kind of pressure that Consumers Energy did this spring. \n\n\"The facts are very clear this is costly,\" Mr. Smigielski said. \"It’s not clear how much analysis was done on the DOE’s part [before issuing the order].\"

DTE resists Trump push to delay coal

DTE Energy has maintained its commitment to retire two units of its Monroe coal-fired power plant in 2028 and the remaining two units in 2032, despite pressure from the Trump Administration to delay coal plant closures. The administration issued an executive order on April 8, 'Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry,' urging federal agencies to support coal use. This led to a 90-day extension for Consumers Energy’s J.H. Campbell coal plant in West Olive, Michigan, which was scheduled to shut down on May 31, 2025. The extension, declared as an emergency by the Department of Energy on May 23, cost Consumers Energy an additional $29 million between May 31 and June 30, 2025. The company has filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to recover these costs through the MISO tariff system. Environmental groups, including Earthjustice and the Sierra Club, argue the extension was unlawful and economically damaging, as it interfered with planned retirements and imposed significant financial burdens on utilities.