The Washington state attorney general’s office and environmental advocates filed separate administrative appeals Wednesday, challenging a U.S. Department of Energy emergency order that required the state’s last coal plant to continue being available for operations.
The emergency order was filed in December, just two weeks before the coal plant in Centralia had been scheduled to close. The agreement to close the facility between the owner, power generation company TransAlta, the state and climate and energy advocates had been in place since 2011.
The order also clashes with the state’s ban on utilities buying coal-fired electricity, which went into effect this month.
Now the federal government has 30 days to consider the two “requests for rehearing” from the state and the advocates. Inaction or a denial on the requests would clear the way for a lawsuit.
The political and legal fight mirrors situations across the country. Since last year, the Department of Energy has used the Federal Power Act to extend the life of fossil fuel plants, including the one in Centralia, as well as others in Pennsylvania, Indiana and Michigan.
In December, the federal order stated that the Centralia coal plant “shall be made available for operation” in order to “meet the emergency arising from increased demand, determined shortage, and other causes.”
The order also cited a report commissioned by the region’s largest utilities that has raised concern that the risk of rolling blackouts during extreme weather events like cold snaps — while still low — is increasing.
In a news release, the Washington attorney general’s office called the emergency order “illegal” and “clumsy,” for forcing the coal power plant back into production “despite not having the staff, buyers or coal.”
The release also argues that the DOE order has thrown “chaos and confusion” into plans to convert the facility to using natural gas and that the move will likely drive up energy costs.
The environmental groups that have filed a separate administrative appeal include Earthjustice, NW Energy Coalition, Washington Conservation Action, Climate Solutions, Public Citizen, the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund. The groups argue that emergency orders of this kind should only address “imminent and unexpected shortfalls” and that the DOE order “exceeds that authority.”
The DOE said in a statement Wednesday that “the Trump Administration is committed to preventing the premature retirement of baseload power plants and building as much reliable, dispatchable generation as possible to achieve energy dominance,” alleging that the U.S. is at risk of blackouts and needs more energy to “win the AI race and onshore manufacturing.”
Recent data suggests that the Centralia plant has not burned coal for electricity since Dec. 19, said Lauren McCloy, a utility and regulatory director of the NW Energy Coalition.
“It’s in what we would call ‘a cold standby.’ They’re ready to turn it on when they get the dispatch instructions from someone to turn it on, but it’s not totally clear in the order who is going to do that and under what conditions,” she said.
According to the language of the DOE order, TransAlta is to ensure the second unit of the coal facility is “available to operate at the direction of either” the federal Bonneville Power Administration or the California Independent System Operator.
According to the BPA, the coal plant is part of a grid operator called Gridforce Energy Management, which, according to the U.S. Environmental Information Administration, hasn’t dispatched coal-fired electricity since Dec. 19.
BPA deferred questions over the plant’s operations to TransAlta and Gridforce Energy Management, which both declined to comment Wednesday.
In December, TransAlta said it was evaluating the order and “will work with the state and federal governments.” TransAlta also said the gas conversion project “remains a priority.”
While the Centralia plant may not be burning coal, it has also not been fully shut down or decommissioned, which was the expectation of the original agreement, McCloy said.
It’s unclear who would buy the coal-fired electricity if the plant were to run.
All Washington state utilities were required to stop using coal-fired electricity this year, under the state’s Clean Energy Transformation Act. The landmark climate law also calls for utilities to become greenhouse gas “neutral” by 2030 and have emission-free electricity by 2045 or risk steep fines.
What is happening in Centralia is different from what has happened after the DOE ordered the J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan to continue operating past its planned retirement in May.
In that case, the plant has continued burning coal at the cost of ratepayers, and the DOE has reissued the 90-day emergency order twice. The attorney general in Michigan has filed administrative appeals to each of the three emergency orders.
The federal order over the Washington coal plant will lapse on March 16, unless the DOE reissues it. Even during its lifetime, the Centralia coal plant has typically not operated between April and June due to flush spring hydropower, McCloy said.
