In December, DOE ordered three coal turbines to stay online—they still haven’t generated a watt. (E&E News)
The kicker: When DOE stepped in, two out of three (located in Washington, Colorado, and Indiana) already had maintenance issues: One Indiana turbine had been offline since July, and a Colorado unit’s valve broke just 11 days before its scheduled shutdown. Washington, meanwhile, is making it politically and financially untenable for coal to run at all.
DOE has now ordered five coal plants, one oil facility, and a gas plant to remain online, citing their contribution to grid reliability. But to environmental groups and state officials, these orders fail to accomplish that—but they do succeed in racking up costs.