WASHINGTON-U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright today issued emergency orders to keep two Indiana coal plants operational to ensure Americans in the Midwest region of the United States have continued access to affordable, reliable, and secure electricity. The orders direct the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), CenterPoint Energy, and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (MISO) to take all measures necessary to ensure specified generation units at both the R.M. Schahfer and F.B. Culley generating stations in Indiana are available to operate. Certain generation units at the coal plants were scheduled to shut down at the end of 2025.
The orders will minimize electricity costs and the risk of unnecessary blackouts for the American people. Since the Department of Energy’s (DOE) original orders were issued on December 23, 2025, the coal plants have proven critical to MISO’s operations, operating during periods of high energy demand and low levels of intermittent energy production, including during Winter Storm Fern.
“Taking reliable generation off the grid compromises energy reliability and needlessly raises energy costs for Americans,” said Energy Secretary Wright. ”During peak summer demand, Midwesterners deserve continued access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy to power and cool their homes.”
Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, coal plants across the country are being saved from premature retirement and reversing plans to shut down. In 2025, more than 17 gigawatts of coal-power electricity generation were saved.
As outlined in DOE’s Resource Adequacy Report, power outages could increase by 100 times by 2030 if the U.S. continues to take reliable power offline. The emergency conditions that led to the issuance of the original orders persist.
MISO’s service area continues to face emergency conditions both in the near and long term. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) cautioned in its 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment that, “projected resource additions do not keep pace with escalating demand forecasts and announced generator retirements.” Additionally, NERC notes in its 2026 Summer Reliability Assessment that load growth in the MISO region, “is expected to accelerate in 2027 and beyond, which may lead to increased reliability risk in the future if resource additions cannot keep pace with rising load forecasts.”
These orders are in effect beginning on June 22, 2026, through September 19, 2026.