Washington state is pushing back against a recent order from the federal government that would keep the TransAlta plant near Centralia ready to burn coal through the winter.
Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown filed a request this week for a rehearing of a U.S. Department of Energy emergency order issued in December that directed the TransAlta Centralia site to keep its final coal-fired generator operational for an additional 90 days.
The order came roughly two weeks before the site's final coal-fired generator was set to be decommissioned following a piece of 2011 Washington state legislation that mandates the shutdown. It also came after an announcement from the company that it would convert the unit to process natural gas rather than coal in the years ahead.
A news release from the Washington Attorney General’s Office announcing the request for a rehearing refers to the previous order from the federal government as “clumsy.” Brown goes on to say that the state is ready to move on from coal. He condemned the order from the Trump administration.
“No presidential administration has abused its emergency powers more than this one, and we see it here as they try to force coal power into the homes of consumers who have moved on,” Brown said. “We will take every step necessary to undo this unwanted and unworkable order.”
The news release also included a statement from Gov. Bob Ferguson, who served as attorney general before his ascension to the governor's mansion and gained notoriety for challenging the federal government during the first Trump administration.
“The Trump administration is once again ignoring both the law and the facts,” Ferguson said. “The Department of Energy needs to reverse course on this harmful and misinformed order.”
The request for a rehearing gives the federal government 30 days to respond. If the federal government declines the request for a hearing, the state will have a new route to pursue a remedy through the courts.
The announcement from the Washington Attorney General’s Office accuses the federal government and its recent order of sowing chaos in the state's energy industry and argues that the Department of Energy does not have the authority to intervene in local resource planning. The statement also accuses the federal agency of using the order to help bolster the coal industry in the country.
“DOE’s order last month to keep the plant’s last coal-fired power station open in case of an unlikely and hypothetical emergency has thrown chaos and confusion into those plans,” reads the news release. “Rather than help Washington’s power grid, the move would likely drive up energy costs — which are already rising nationally under the Trump administration — and expose Washington communities to more pollution.”
The order came in the middle of an especially busy time for the Centralia TransAlta site as the facility prepared to shut down its last coal fired generator by Dec. 31. According to the Attorney General’s Office, state law also prohibits the state's utility companies and public utility districts from providing customers with coal power after 2025.
The Canadian-based international power company announced a planned conversion to natural gas energy production shortly before the federal order. The conversion would still require state approval but was announced in tandem with a long-term agreement with Puget Sound Energy, which agreed to purchase the power generated by natural gas from the time the refurbished facility went online through 2044.
Additionally, the state is requiring TransAlta to participate in the process of environmental cleanup at the Centralia site. The cleanup was originally planned to go on after the decommissioning of the last coal-fired burner, but a recent order from the state stipulates that the cleanup process is required regardless of the status of the facility.
