A watchdog organization is warning people in eastern Montana could see their energy bills go up to keep a Michigan coal plant online.

The Trump administration has ordered several extensions for the J.H. Campbell plant in West Olive, Michigan, allowing it to keep operating past its retirement date, which was May of last year. Consumers Energy, the plant’s primary owner, wants to recover the $180 million cost of running the plant by charging consumers in 11 states, including Montana.

Anne Hedges, policy director for the Montana Environmental Information Center, said the move is undoing years of work.

“It is mind-numbing to me that this administration is ignoring years’ worth of work by these states to transition away from a dirty, expensive, unreliable coal plant,” Hedges stressed.

The charges would affect customers on the Midcontinent Independent System Operator grid, which includes up to 40,000 ratepayers in Montana. Consumers Energy projected closing the plant would save customers $30 million a year.

The U.S. energy secretary issued a fifth emergency order last month, saying the plant is needed to address “critical grid reliability issues” heading into the summer. The latest extension runs through Aug. 16.

The grid’s operators said there was an adequate energy supply without the coal plant last summer, after the first emergency order was issued. The Environmental Defense Fund said the Trump administration has ordered plants in four other states to stay open after they were supposed to go offline.

Hedges noted because the operations were winding down, their owners have not invested in their upkeep.

“What we’re forcing to keep open is coal plants that are truly on their last leg that have not been maintained,” Hedges pointed out. “It’s like saying you have to continue to drive a car that barely runs.”

Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois and several environmental groups sued the federal government over the emergency orders. A federal appeals court heard arguments in the case in mid-May.

Source: Public News Service