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Trump Administration Uses Emergency Power to Rescue Another Dying Fossil Fuel Plant
The Energy Department's order "will result in American households paying even higher electricity bills," warned one consumer advocate.
Jun 02, 2025
Consumers are set to foot the bill after the Trump administration intervened late last week to prevent the closure of the fossil fuel-powered Eddystone Generating Station, a Pennsylvania plant owned by Constellation Energy that was set to shut down its remaining units on Saturday.
The order from U.S. President Donald Trump's Energy Department marked the second time the administration has invoked emergency authority to rescue a dying fossil fuel plant. Last month, Energy Secretary Chris Wright stepped in to halt the closure of the J.H. Campbell power plant in West Olive, Michigan.
The authority cited in the orders is "typically reserved for emergencies such as extreme weather events and war," Bloombergobserved.
Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's Energy Program, warned in a statement following the Energy Department's latest order that "extending the life of the unit will force ratepayers to shell out money to cover expensive maintenance and overpay for expensive power that will result in American households paying even higher electricity bills, as Trump's emergency order requires consumers to pay 100% of all costs to get the plant up and running, including a guaranteed profit for Constellation."
"Trump's last-minute emergency order—issued literally on the last day these power plants were set to operate—causes significant, expensive complications," said Slocum. "Old units like Eddystone require both minor and major maintenance—maintenance that was deferred because of its planned retirement on May 31."
In December 2023, Constellation informed PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator, that it would be retiring Eddystone Units 3 and 4, which ran on either fracked gas or oil. Constellation said at the time that "continued operation" of the units was "expected to be uneconomic."
PJM Interconnection signed off on Constellation's decision to retire the units in a letter dated February 27, 2024. But in the wake of the Energy Department's emergency order on Friday, PJM praised the Trump administration's intervention as "prudent."
Public Citizen slammed PJM's statement as a "craven, politically motivated about-face."
The order rescuing Eddystone Generating Station came days after the Trump Energy Department moved to save the coal-fired J.H. Campbell Generating Plant, stunning Michigan officials.
“It came as a surprise to everybody, and it was baffling why they chose this plant," Dan Scripps, chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission, told The Washington Post. "Nobody asked for this order. The power grid operator did not. The utility that owns the plant did not. The state regulator did not."
Citing state officials, the Post noted that "the move will collectively increase electric bills forratepayers in the Midwest by tens of millions of dollars." The J.H. Campbell plant is "the largest source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in West Michigan," according to the Sierra Club.
Trump laid the groundwork to save the fossil fuel plants earlier this month with an executive order instructing the Energy Department "to develop a process for using emergency powers to prevent unprofitable coal plants from shutting down in order to avert power outages."
Bryan Smigielski, organizer of the Sierra Club's Michigan campaign, called the administration's J.H. Campbell plant rescue a "blatant act of federal overreach" that "is being imposed against the wishes of Michigan consumers, businesses, regulators, and elected leaders."
"Don't be fooled: There is no 'energy emergency' here—just a payday for the coal industry that leaves us with higher bills and dirtier air," Smigielski added.
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Government Watchdog: Trump Administration Illegally Withheld EV Charger Funds
"These bipartisan investments need to start flowing immediately," the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee said of the GAO finding as a lawsuit over the funding got a boost from green groups.
May 22, 2025
Key congressional Democrats on Thursday welcomed a government watchdog's finding that the Trump administration unlawfully withheld appropriated funds for building electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the United States‚ a decision that came as advocacy groups joined a related lawsuit filed by state attorneys general.
Shortly after returning to office in January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing agencies to pause disbursement of funds appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, specifically mentioning the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program.
In response, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and one of its agencies, the Federal Highway Administration, in February canceled previously issued guidance for the NEVI program and suspended plans that states had submitted for grant money—which led to calls for Congress to stand up to the administration's "illegal attempts to halt legally mandated funding."
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in its Thursday decision that the department violated the Impoundment Control Act: "DOT is not authorized to withhold these funds from expenditure and DOT must continue to carry out the statutory requirements of the program. While DOT cannot withhold these funds under the ICA, DOT could propose funds for rescission or otherwise propose legislation to make changes to the NEVI Formula Program for consideration by Congress."
"The Trump administration didn't just break the law—it shortchanged the American people."
Politicoreported that "the GAO could issue similar rulings in the coming months, as the independent, nonpartisan watchdog agency works through at least 39 investigations into whether the Trump administration violated the Impoundment Control Act. GAO rulings are nonbinding but could influence Congress' response to... Trump's freezing of billions of dollars lawmakers intended to flow to specific programs and projects, as well as the many ongoing lawsuits challenging the president's tactics."
In a Thursday statement about the GAO findings, U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said, "This legal decision affirms what we've long known: The president is breaking the law to block funding Congress passed on a bipartisan basis and that is owed to the American people—simply because he disagrees with it. This plain fact is unacceptable—and it cannot stand any longer."
"Congress passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law by wide margins and specifically provided funding for every state to build out a network of chargers for the electric vehicles that families are increasingly turning to and that are being made right here in America, she continued. "These investments should be getting out the door—creating new jobs and helping Americans get where they need to go without interruption—but President Trump has illegally choked this funding off."
"These bipartisan investments need to start flowing immediately—as do the hundreds of billions of dollars in other investments President Trump is holding up," she added, taking aim at his Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director. "I don't care about Russ Vought's personal interpretation of our spending laws; the Constitution is clear, and President Trump simply does not have the power of the purse—Congress does."
House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) released a similar statement welcoming the GAO's new legal opinion that "the Trump administration broke the law when it blocked funding that Congress had already approved."
"That money was supposed to build and maintain a nationwide EV charging network—and with it, create good-paying jobs in communities across the country," he stressed. "Instead, the administration stalled economic growth, delayed critical infrastructure, and undermined job creation—all without a shred of legal authority."
"This wasn't just a legal violation. It was an economic setback for American workers, and a direct hit to the communities counting on these investments," Boyle added. "The Trump administration didn't just break the law—it shortchanged the American people."
According to Politico, while the DOT could not be reached for comment, an OMB spokesperson called GAO's opinion "wrong" and said the department is "appropriately using the authority granted to it by statute to review state plans."
Standing up for cleaner vehicles and clean air. @sierraclub.org @climatesolutions.org @earthjustice.org and allies sue Trump Admin for illegally impounding funds that Congress appropriated for EV charging. www.sierraclub.org/press-releas...
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— Ross Macfarlane (@rossmacfarlane.bsky.social) May 22, 2025 at 3:53 PM
The attorneys general of 16 states and the District of Columbia disagree, and have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The Sierra Club, CleanAIRE N.C., Climate Solutions, Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council, Plug In America, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the Southern Environmental Law Center, and the West End Revitalization Association joined that legal challenge on Thursday.
"Donald Trump is trying to cut jobs, increase pollution, and endanger our health. We refuse to let him," said Sierra Club executive director Ben Jealous in a statement. "NEVI benefits everyone, whether you drive an EV or not, and the only people who benefit from blocking it are Big Oil and auto executives seeking to keep us hooked on fossil fuel-powered cars, while communities in every corner of the country lose out on infrastructure investments in our growing clean energy economy."
"The NEVI program is working and states are legally entitled to the money allocated to them by Congress," Jealous added. "Once again, we are taking the Trump administration to court over its reckless and illegal actions."
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After Marathon Markup, House GOP Advances 'Most Extreme Anti-Environment Bill in American History'
"Donald Trump and his allies in Congress are working like mad to hand over our public lands to billionaires and corporate polluters to drill, mine, and log with the bare minimum oversight or accountability," said one critic.
May 07, 2025
Leading up to and after an early Wednesday morning vote by a key GOP-controlled committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic lawmakers and conservationists renewed their criticism of "a corporate polluter's wish list" that Republicans aim to include in the next reconciliation package.
Republican President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to "drill, baby, drill" and raked in cash from the climate-wrecking fossil fuel industry. While House Committee on Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) celebrated the new vote that advanced legislation intended to deliver on the president's "agenda to make our nation energy dominant," Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) has called the effort to pass the polluter-friendly bill "corruption in broad daylight."
"House Republicans' budget cuts national park funding, slashes clean air and water protections, and pushes the most extreme anti-environment bill in American history as the cherry on top," Huffman said on social media Tuesday, when the committee held a markup for the legislation. "Today, while Democrats called out this billionaire giveaway, Republicans hid in their offices."
Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Md.), a panel member who proposed amendments during markup, said in a Tuesday statement that "House Republicans are once again putting polluters over people. But as a mother, I refuse to let my children's future be auctioned off to Big Oil."
"I offered commonsense amendments that range from blocking funds to agencies that refuse to comply with the courts to stopping oil and gas drilling near schools and hospitals," said Dexter. "This bill is a giveaway to Big Oil and billionaires. My amendments demand House Republicans choose: people or polluters?"
We’re more than 8 hours into this Reconciliation markup in the House Natural Resources Committee and the GOP has completely stopped engaging on answering basic questions about their own bill. We have never seen anything like it. It’s going to be a long night.
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— Rep. Melanie Stansbury (NM-01) (@repstansbury.bsky.social) May 6, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Earthjustice has specifically sounded the alarm over proposed lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska; reinstatement of flawed management plans for both locations; additional lease sales in Cook Inlet; and mandates that the U.S. Forest Service enter into long-term timber contracts in each U.S. region annually for the next decade.
"Here in Alaska, temperatures are rising four times faster than the rest of the planet. We're facing warmer and wetter winters, and communities [are] already facing forced relocation because of climate change," Earthjustice Alaska office managing attorney Carole Holley said Monday. "This bill, if passed without drastic changes, would make things worse by doubling down on reckless oil and gas extraction in the Arctic, maximizing mining and logging on lands valued by the public for recreation and subsistence activities, and halting clean energy projects."
"It amounts to a giveaway of some of our most cherished public lands to bolster corporate profits, all based on wildly speculative assumptions about revenue generation," Holley added. "At the same time, the language includes an attempt to throw away commonsense safeguards like judicial review and public participation in the resource decisions that affect our state."
The House Natural Resources Committee released its portion of the Republican House reconciliation bill late last Thursday. It doesn't look good for the wild. More information: biodiv.us/3GHS6cM
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— Center for Biological Diversity (@biologicaldiversity.org) May 6, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Ahead of the vote, Public Citizen research director Alan Zibel issued an ominous warning about Republicans' "radical budget plan."
"Welcome to the American petrostate," Zibel said. Like Holley, he blasted the proposed lease sales and "an absurd 'pay to play' permitting provision allowing wealthy corporations to pay a fee to speed up permitting and exemptions from judicial oversight."
"The plan is fiscally reckless, returning royalty rates to what they were in 1920, and half of what New Mexico and Texas charge," he argued. "Rolling back reforms to the antiquated federal oil and gas program would prevent taxpayers from receiving a fair return for the extraction of our public resources. Doing so would also impede sensible requirements that oil and gas companies clean up their messes."
After the vote, Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program, said Wednesday that "public lands shouldn't have a price tag on them. But Donald Trump and his allies in Congress are working like mad to hand over our public lands to billionaires and corporate polluters to drill, mine, and log with the bare minimum oversight or accountability."
"These lands belong to all Americans, they shouldn't be given away to pad corporate bottom lines," Manuel added. "Congressional Republicans have made it clear that this is their plan, and our public lands, our clean air and water, critical habitat, and our communities will be threatened by unchecked industrial development. The American people will not tolerate it."
Food & Water Watch managing director of policy and litigation Mitch Jones put out a similarly critical statement on Wednesday.
"Selling public lands to pay for tax cuts to billionaires is a horrible idea," Jones said. "Fossil fuel corporations have been chomping at the bit to exploit federal protected lands for oil and gas drilling—House Republicans appear all too willing to pave the way. This partisan move to sell off federal lands is a betrayal of public trust. The spending bill must be dead on arrival."
This article has been updated with comment from Food & Water Watch.
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