Trump emergency order halts second power plant from closure

(June 1): The Trump administration ordered another power plant to remain operational by invoking emergency powers for a second time, a day before the facility in Pennsylvania was scheduled to close. Constellation Energy Corp’s Eddystone Generating Station, which was set to shut down its last remaining units on Saturday, will be required to remain online under an Energy Department order, which invoked a section of federal law typically reserved for emergencies such as extreme weather events and war. The plant located just south of Philadelphia began operations in 1960, and has two remaining units that can burn either natural gas or oil during periods of high power demand, according to Constellation. The Energy Department said the decision followed recent testimony from the area’s grid operator that its system faces a “growing resource adequacy concern” because of increasing power demand, plant retirements and other factors. The department last Friday ordered the aging JH Campbell coal-fired power plant in West Olive, Michigan, to remain operating past its May 31 shutdown date. The move, which the Trump administration said was necessary due to factors that included a shortage of electricity, drew criticism from analysts as well as the chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission, who said no emergency existed. “The Department of Energy’s move to keep these zombie plants online will have significant public health impacts and increase electricity costs for people in Michigan and Pennsylvania,” said Kit Kennedy, a managing director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “These dirty and expensive fossil plants were slated to close because they could not compete with cheaper, cleaner alternatives.” The Energy Department’s second order Friday came after PJM Interconnection LLC, the region’s grid operator, accepted Constellation’s retirement notice for its Eddystone plan after studying if such a move would threaten grid reliability. But in a statement Saturday, PJM, which manages the largest US grid roughly spanning from Washington DC to Illinois, said it supported the Energy Department’s order. Constellation said in a statement Saturday it was taking immediate steps to continue to operate the remaining units at its Eddystone power plant throughout the summer and would “investigate the possibility” of operating them for longer until it can complete work to restart Pennslvania’s shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant. The company said it was working with PJM to accelerate the restart of that nuclear reactor, with a goal of putting it online in 2027. Previously, Constellation has said it expected the reactor to be online in 2028. Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja