WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright renewed an emergency order to address critical grid reliability issues facing the Midwestern region of the United States. The emergency order directs the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), in coordination with Consumers Energy, to ensure that the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant (Campbell Plant) in West Olive, Michigan shall take all steps necessary to remain available to operate and to employ economic dispatch to minimize costs for the American people. The Campbell Plant was originally scheduled to shut down on May 31, 2025 — 15 years before the end of its scheduled design life.
“The energy sources that perform when you need them most are inherently the most valuable—that’s why beautiful, clean coal was the MVP of recent winter storms,” Secretary Wright said. “Hundreds of American lives have likely been saved because of President Trump’s actions saving America’s coal plants, including this Michigan coal plant which ran daily during Winter Storm Fern. This emergency order will mitigate the risk of blackouts and maintain affordable, reliable, and secure electricity access across the region.”
The Campbell Plant was integral in stabilizing the grid during the recent winter storms. The plant operated at over 650 megawatts every day before and during Winter Storm Fern, January 21-February 1, proving that allowing it to cease operations would needlessly contribute to grid fragility. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, coal plants across the country are reversing plans to shut down. In 2025, more than 17 gigawatts of coal-powered electricity generation were saved ahead of Winter Storm Fern.
Since the Department of Energy’s (DOE) original order issued on May 23, the Campbell Plant has proven critical to MISO’s operations, operating regularly during periods of high energy demand and low levels of intermittent energy production. Subsequent orders were issued on August 20, 2025 and November 18, 2025.
As outlined in DOE’s Resource Adequacy Report, power outages could increase by 100 times in 2030 if the U.S. continues to take reliable power offline. The emergency conditions that led to the issuance of the original orders persist.
MISO’s service area will continue to face emergency conditions both in the near and long term. Two recent winter studies (2024 – 2025 NERC Winter Reliability Assessment and the 2023 – 2024 NERC Winter Reliability Assessment) have assessed the MISO assessment area as an elevated risk, with the “potential for insufficient operating reserves in above-normal conditions.” NERC’s 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment warns “The continuing shift in the resource mix toward weather-dependent resources and less fuel diversity increases risks of supply shortfalls during winter months.”
This order is in effect beginning on February 17, 2026, and continuing through May 18, 2026.
Background
MISO’s Planning Resource Auction Results for the 2025-2026 Planning Year, released in April 2025, noted that for the northern and central zones, which include Michigan, “new capacity additions were insufficient to offset the negative impacts of decreased accreditation, suspensions/retirements and external resources.”
MISO’s resource adequacy problems are not limited to the summer months. In 2021, MISO filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for approval to revise its resource adequacy construct (including the Planning Resource Auction or PRA) to establish capacity requirements for each of the four seasons of the year rather than require capacity on an annual basis determined by peak summer demand.1
MISO justified this revision by explaining that, “Reliability risks associated with Resource Adequacy have shifted from ‘Summer only’ to a year-round concern.” 2
[1] Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc., FERC Docket No. ER22-495-000 (Nov. 30, 2021). This request was approved by FERC on August 31, 2022. Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc., 180 FERC ¶ 61,141 (2022).
[2] MISO Transmittal Letter at 3, FERC Docket No. ER22-495-000 (Nov. 30, 2021).
