A U.S. appeals court rejected the Department of Energy’s emergency order blocking retirement of Michigan’s J.H. Campbell coal plant.

The ruling rejected the Department of Energy’s use of emergency authority. Utility Dive reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the order delaying the plant’s retirement. The accompanying Telegram account identifies the facility as Michigan’s J.H. Campbell coal plant.

The court’s reasoning distinguished an emergency from elevated supply risk. According to the supplied account, the court found no short-term crisis sufficient to override state grid-management authority. Increased energy-supply risk associated with rising demand was not treated as equivalent to a statutory emergency.

The legal challenge involved several states and public-interest groups. The Telegram report says the court supported arguments from Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois and public-interest organizations. Utility Dive quotes the court as warning that the department’s interpretation invited frequent federal interventions unsupported by the statute and threatened energy-market stability.

The decision is a legal milestone, not confirmation of physical shutdown. The supplied material does not state that the plant had stopped operating after the ruling or identify a revised retirement date. It also provides no plant-capacity figure or replacement-generation arrangement.