"Emergencies" Requiring Coal Plants To Stay Open Need Not Be Imminent, DOE Tells Court

"Emergencies" Requiring Coal Plants To Stay Open Need Not Be Imminent, DOE Tells Court By Ethan Howland of UtilityDive The U.S. Department of Energy’s secretary has broad authority under the Federal Power Act to declare emergencies to keep power plants from retiring, and those emergencies don’t have to be imminent, DOE told a federal appeals court last week in response to challenges over its orders keeping a Michigan coal plant online. “The statute’s text grants the Secretary discretion to determine that an emergency exists,” DOE said in a March 17 brief...