The U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright renewed an emergency order to keep NIPSCO’s R.M. Schahfer generating station in operation — one week after a federal court decision brought hope that it wouldn’t be renewed.
On Saturday, Wright issued the emergency order renewal for Schahfer and CenterPoint Energy’s F.B. Culley generating station in Newburgh in southwestern Indiana. Both stations were scheduled to retire at the end of 2025, and this is the third time the DOE has extended the order.
The orders went into effect Sunday and will end Dec. 18, according to a DOE news release. The department claims that both plants are needed to maintain energy reliability, and the order “is necessary to address elevated reliability risks in that region during extreme weather and reduce the risk of power outages that could threaten public health and safety.”
“Forcing reliable, dispatchable coal generation off the grid would compromise energy reliability and needlessly raises energy costs for Americans,” Wright said in the release. “Midwestern families should not be forced to pay the price for misguided energy subtraction policies of the past. They deserve affordable, reliable, and secure energy, regardless of the wind blowing or the sun shining.”
In a statement to the Post-Tribune, a NIPSCO spokesperson said Monday that the company will continue to follow the government’s orders.
“NIPSCO continues to comply with the U.S. Department of Energy’s 202(c) orders regarding R.M. Schahfer Generation Station and to assess the impact of these orders on our operations, customers and employees,” NIPSCO’s statement said.
According to Post-Tribune archives, a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filing earlier this year revealed that Schahfer’s coal units 17 and 18 had been broken. In its statement, NIPSCO said the units are offline while inspections, maintenance and repair work continue, which includes turbine and boiler work.
“Following the orders, these units will continue to support reliability across the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO) Northern and Central Zones,” the statement said. “The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has authorized MISO to adopt a tariff to permit NIPSCO to seek recovery of costs to comply with the 202(c) orders. As this process continues, NIPSCO remains focused on operating safely and providing reliable energy to its customers and the MISO Northern and Central Zones in compliance with the 202(c) order.”
Before the emergency orders, NIPSCO was in the middle of a multiyear initiative to close its coal-fired generating stations, and the utility plans to replace the sites with more cost-effective, efficient and sustainable sources, including wind, solar and battery storage.
NIPSCO plans to convert the Schahfer station into a natural gas plant as part of a plan to provide energy for data centers, including a $15 billion that will be invested by Amazon Web Services in the region, including Hobart, according to Post-Tribune archives.
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Environmental and energy experts have expressed frustrations with the department’s renewal, especially following a Sept. 11 federal court decision.
According to Post-Tribune archives, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found that it was unlawful for the DOE to keep Michigan’s J.H. Campbell Plant online, finding that the department had exceeded the emergency authority granted by the Federal Power Act.
Nick Wallace, senior associate attorney at the Environmental and Policy Center, previously told the Post-Tribune that Midwest ratepayers pay a total of $1 million per day to keep both Campbell and Schahfer open. Numbers for Culley are not clear, according to the ELPC.
Wallace expressed his frustration with the renewal in a Monday statement. The ELPC has challenged the Campbell, Culley and Schahfer orders in a federal court.
“The administration is ignoring the law and ordinary households are paying for it. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals made it clear that the administration cannot force its expensive, pro-coal agenda on the public with bogus emergency orders…” Wallace said. “It’s time for the Department of Energy to obey the law.”
Kerwin Olson, executive director of the Citizens Action Coalition, said in a statement to the Post-Tribune that there’s no grid emergency, and NIPSCO and CenterPoint “have adequately planned for the replacement” of both the planned retirement units at Schahfer and Culley.
“We continue to believe that the Department of Energy’s actions here are unlawful,” Olson said in his statement. “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the (D.C.) Circuit confirmed earlier this month in a similar challenge involving the Campbell coal plant in Michigan that DOE is acting way beyond its legal authority and undermining state planning processes. We will continue to challenge these illegal orders that only stand to exacerbate both the affordability and the climate crisis.”
Ashley Williams, executive director of Just Transition Northwest Indiana, said in a statement Monday that the renewal is another “extremely shortsighted and uneconomic decision” by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“While our state is cowering before the Trump administration and praising them for keeping polluting and outdated coal plants online, Michigan and other states are showing courage and winning against these illegal orders,” Williams said. “These orders only serve to benefit Big Tech and the reckless (artificial intelligence) data center boom. Indiana needs to step up and stop failing Hoosier communities.”
The third renewal comes after months of complaints from Northwest Indiana residents about high utility bills, with NIPSCO being found to have the highest statewide.
Local, state and federal officials, including Gov. Mike Braun and Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, have also criticized NIPSCO’s high bills after a devastating Aug. 11 derecho left more than 300,000 Northwest Indiana NIPSCO customers without power, some for about two weeks.
In August, Braun asked the Indiana Office of the Utility Consumer Counselor to file a complaint and petition with the IURC to investigate NIPSCO following prolonged power outages. The IURC has confirmed they plan to investigate NIPSCO.
In a previous statement to the Post-Tribune, a NIPSCO spokesperson said the utility company was aware of the call for investigation and will continue to communicate with Braun’s office and the IURC.
“NIPSCO values the regulatory process and will cooperate fully if the Commission were to open an investigation,” the previous statement said. “We are committed to transparency and cooperation in providing information regarding our operations and ongoing efforts to serve our customers safely and reliably.”
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In June, Mrvan said in a letter to Wright that he’s opposed to the emergency order’s renewal, citing high energy costs for the region’s residents. Mrvan previously said NIPSCO has estimated losses of $11.5 million to keep Schahfer operable. He also cited the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, which found the cost to keep coal-fired power plants operating past retirement dates nationwide is $300 million, and the number is expected to rise by $30 million each month.
On Monday, State Rep. Carey Hamilton, D-Indianapolis, said in a statement that she wants the state to challenge Wright’s order, saying it’s a nonpartisan issue, and they need to stand up for the ratepayers who will face costly consequences.
“Hoosier families are already stretched thin, and now they’re being asked to foot the bill for a decision they had no say in,” Hamilton said. “Last month, NIPSCO requested approval from state regulators to recover $38 million from ratepayers — the cost of complying with a federal order that forces the utility to keep the aging Schahfer coal plant running. Estimates suggest this order could cost NIPSCO customers as much as $174,000 every day.”