Friday, 11 September 2026

A federal appeals court found that the U.S. Department of Energy exceeded its authority by directing the J.H. Campbell coal-fired station in Michigan to keep operating beyond the retirement date already set for it, Grist reported.

To extend the life of the 64-year-old unit, the Trump Energy Department leaned on a short-term emergency provision of the Federal Power Act, citing outage risk and rising electricity demand from data centers as its justification for emergency powers, per Grist.

That argument failed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Judge Cornelia Pillard described the statute as "essentially a narrow, last-resort backstop," Grist reported.

The Michigan unit falls within a group of seven fossil-fueled plants ordered by the Trump administration to remain online, according to Grist.

Grist put the bill for keeping the plant running since May last year at $259 million. Consumers Energy Company wants that sum back from customers across Michigan and 10 other states.

A proposed federal rule would require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to decide on applications for any "qualifying project" within 60 days of receipt, according to Inside Climate News, which reported the proposal was published in the Federal Register this week.

Inside Climate News reported that the Trump administration is moving to accelerate oil and gas drilling across the Western Arctic through the proposal, which would cut environmental review and public input.

The rule applies to the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, 23 million acres of public lands on the state's North Slope overseen by the BLM, according to Inside Climate News.

Environmental groups told the outlet there were few restrictions on which oil and gas projects would qualify, beyond a requirement that they lie within 25 miles of existing activity.

Ben Tettlebaum of The Wilderness Society said the rule would clear the way for Willow-sized massive oil and gas drilling projects, with no further review or public engagement for future drilling in the Western Arctic.

The BLM is accepting public comments on the proposal through Nov. 9, Inside Climate News reported.

A federal court has found that the Department of Energy overstepped its legal authority when it ordered a Michigan coal plant to keep operating, according to Canary Media.

The order at issue kept the plant running last year, Canary Media reported.

Canary Media reported that the decision could undermine the Trump administration's push to keep aging and costly fossil-fueled power plants from closing.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Trump administration's order requiring the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in Michigan to keep operating, according to Power Magazine.

Power Magazine reported that the decision could reach beyond the single plant, affecting other orders issued to hold U.S. coal-fired stations open past their scheduled retirement dates.

The U.S. District Circuit Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the Sierra Club and overturned the Department of Energy's emergency order that had overridden the decision to close the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in Michigan, CleanTechnica reported.

The order at issue was issued by Trump's Department of Energy in May 2025, according to CleanTechnica.

That directive overrode the state's and the utility's decision to retire the Campbell plant, CleanTechnica reported, and the court's ruling reverses it.

Lebanon has issued new permitting and safety provisions covering PV systems up to 1.5 MW, placing oversight with municipalities and setting technical requirements for installations, according to pv magazine.

Systems below the 1.5 MW threshold no longer need approval from the Ministry of Energy and Water, pv magazine reported, but developers must complete a defined municipal administrative and safety procedure instead.

Approvals granted under the framework are generally valid for one year, and installation must be finished within that period, according to pv magazine.

The rules land on a fast-growing installed base. Lebanon's cumulative solar capacity stood at 1,505 MW at the end of 2025, up from 1,081 MW twelve months earlier, according to figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) cited by pv magazine.