Both coal units at the R.M. Schahfer power plant in Indiana are broken down. Yet the Department of Energy issued federal emergency orders forcing them to stay online past their scheduled retirement dates. The units are not able to produce electricity.
In December, following the breakdown at the Schahfer plant, DOE halted the retirement of the two coal units and one of the units at the F.B. Culley generating station. Two months later, CenterPoint Energy’s Indiana Region President Mike Roeder wrote a letter to the DOE reiterating the challenges of keeping the coal plant operational. He stated that maintaining it “will require substantial investment to support an inefficient and increasingly unreliable asset, rather than advancing affordable and reliable service for customers in southwestern Indiana.” Roeder also asked the DOE to “abstain from issuing subsequent…Orders for Unit 2.”
The CenterPoint letter laid bare the conditions of the coal plant, built in 1966, during the first 48 days of the initial DOE order. It was on outage for 54 percent of the days because of equipment problems. The plant operated on a limited basis for 35 percent of that time due to maintenance issues. However, the DOE claims that the unit operated “almost every day from January 21 to February 1.”
Continuing this trend, in March, the DOE issued another order to CenterPoint to keep the unit open through June 21, 2026. The next 90-day Department of Energy order is expected to be issued on June 21.
Keeping the broken coal units online is costly. According to Earthjustice, operating after 2025 will cost over $1 billion as the coal units have had a history of mechanical problems. CenterPoint stated in its letter that continuing to operate Culley Unit 2 past March will cost up to $18 million.
“The coal-fired units couldn’t produce electricity for an emergency even if one existed, which it doesn’t. The coal plant should obviously be retired to save Hoosiers money, but this administration would rather add billions to our electricity bills.” Sameer Doshi, Earthjustice Senior Attorney.
Trump to Coal Industry: Mine, Baby, Mine
Trump’s coal policies began with an executive order last year titled “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry.” The order directs federal agencies to remove “regulatory barriers…ensuring that Federal policy does not discriminate against coal production or coal-fired electricity generation.”
The order states that coal is “cost-effective.” However, experts say that coal-fired power plants are expensive to run. An analysis by Energy Innovation found that 99 percent of U.S. coal power plants are more expensive to run than wind, solar, and energy storage. Transitioning coal plants to renewables would generate $589 billion in new investment and fund almost 150 gigawatts of four-hour battery storage, more than 60 percent of the current coal capacity.
In the order, the Trump administration mentions that the coal industry “has historically employed hundreds of thousands.” And yes, in April 1985, the coal industry produced 178,300 jobs. However, a decade later, there were 98,500 jobs. In March 2005, the coal industry’s jobs decreased to 72,100, and then to 67,000 in April 2015. As of May 2026, there are only 38,000 jobs.
Will Trump’s investment increase coal-powered energy generation in the short term? Probably not. The Energy Information Administration forecasts that coal generation will decline by two percent from last summer. Yet the forecast for renewables is sunny and windy, with solar increasing by 19 percent and wind by 10 percent.
Ultimately, the Trump administration is merely “prolonging America’s farewell to coal plants,” as the World Resources Institute proclaimed. With coal power plants being costly to operate, utilities forced to keep them online will pass the costs onto their customers. Indeed, that is already happening during a time of inflation and midterm elections this year.
