6 days ago
Consumers CEO addresses J.H. Campbell Plant's future
MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. (WOOD) — The Consumers Energy CEO says it will be a challenge keeping the company's last coal-fired power plant open.
'There's a number of pieces that have to play out for the continued operation of that plant that make it challenging, but that's what we're going to do over the next 90 days to make it available for dispatch,' CEO Garrick Roscow said.
On Friday, Consumers was ordered by the Trump administration to keep the plant open for 90 days. It was originally scheduled to close May 31, which would have been 15 years before its lifespan was scheduled to end. Demolition would have taken place next year.
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Speaking with News 8 on Thursday at the Mackinac Island Policy Conference, Rochow cited a number of challenges in keeping the plant open, including that many of the coal contracts have expired and that the plant doesn't have rail cars, so the utility will need to review leases now that the plant is set to stay open.
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Consumers is tasked with keeping the plant open with uncertainty on how exactly long it will keep operating.
'It's very challenging to continue operation, if you might imagine the people piece of it,' Rochow said.
'We had people that were going to retire at closure, we had people that were going to move on to other jobs,' he said. 'And so you're asking people to stay on another 90 days. Well, is it just 90 days, or is it more than 90 days? We can't answer that question.'
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