Washington state and several environmental and public interest groups have sued to strike down a Trump administration order designed to keep a coal plant running past its retirement date.
The lawsuits filed Tuesday challenge the Energy Department’s December emergency order for the TransAlta coal plant in Centralia, Washington — one of several such directives issued by the Trump administration to prop up aging fossil fuel plants slated to shutter. The TransAlta order landed despite years of planning to close it at the end of the year.
Earthjustice — which is representing the NW Energy Coalition, Washington Conservation Action and Climate Solutions — the Sierra Club and the Environmental Defense Fund filed their challenge in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The state of Washington filed its own legal challenge in the same court.
The filings land after DOE denied the groups’ requests for a rehearing of the department’s order.
