NIPSCO's R.M. Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield is shown. John Luke, file, The Times
Seven environmental and consumer advocacy groups filed rehearing requests Thursday in response to the U.S. Department of Energy's December order to extend the life of NIPSCO's R.M. Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield and another coal-fired power plant in southern Indiana.
Just Transition Northwest Indiana, the Sierra Club, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Earthjustice, Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Hoosier Environmental Council and Public Citizen are challenging the Department of Energy's order mandating Merrillville-based NIPSCO keep Unit 17 and Unit 18 operating for 90 days past retirement that had been planned for the end of 2025, and that CenterPoint Energy keep running its 103.7 MW Unit 2 at the F.B. Culley Generating Station in Warrick County near Evansville in southern Indiana.
“This is a needless, last-ditch effort to resuscitate a dying industry to power the AI boom,” said Ashley Williams, executive director of Just Transition Northwest Indiana. “Our communities are organizing and confronting the Trump administration’s shameful actions. This order will have irreversible consequences, locking in generations more of climate-devastating pollution and toxic coal ash waste contaminating the waterways of Jasper County and beyond. It exacerbates an affordability crisis where families are sacrificing their basic needs to pay escalating utility bills, a reality Hoosiers know all too well.”
U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright declared in late December that there was an emergency in portions of the Midwest due to energy shortages and ordered NIPSCO to keep Unit 17 and Unit 18 operating for 90 days past the end of 2025. Unit 18 has already been down since July and would likely need six months to get back online, NIPSCO has disclosed. A spokeswoman last week said the company had no updates on how it is working to carry out the federal order.
"As coal-fired facilities, it would be difficult for the Schahfer Units 17 and 18 to resume operations once they have been retired," the Department of Energy said in its order. "Specifically, any stop and start of operation creates heating and cooling cycles that could cause an immediate failure that could take 30-60 days to repair if a unit comes offline."
It added that other practical issues, such as employment, contracts and permits, may greatly increase the timeline for resumption of operations. There would be significant challenges if Schahfer were to begin disassembling the plant or other related facilities.
The R.M. Schahfer plant has been operating since 1976, and the F.B. Culley generating station has been running since 1966.
Environmental groups are challenging the emergency orders by contending the plants are old, outdated and expensive to run.
"The federal government has invented a grid reliability crisis in a transparent and illegal attempt to commandeer uneconomic, dilapidated power plants, force them to operate and stick us with the bill," said Ben Inskeep, program director at Indianapolis-based Citizens Action Coalition. "We are fighting back against the federal government's unprecedented overreach that will cause our utility bills to soar and choke Hoosier communities with more toxic pollution from coal."
The DOE order said that there was not enough electric generation capacity to keep up with demand.
"Large quantities of existing generation capacity are projected to be retired each year while, at the same time, the demand for electricity is projected to increase at an accelerating pace," according to the order. "Although the survey projects generation capacity to continue to increase in the coming years with the addition of new potential generation assets, the increase in capacity is largely offset by the projected retirements, and does not keep up with the growth in demand."
Environmental groups say that wind, solar and other energy sources can generate enough electricity without as much pollution and carbon emissions.
“Cleaner power sources are available, and Schahfer and Culley were ready to stop burning coal, so the federal order for them to continue burning coal is an unwarranted extension of coal and coal ash pollution in Indiana,” said Indra Frank, coal ash advisor at Hoosier Environmental Council.
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