(INDIANA CAPITAL CHRONICLE) — Federal officials have ordered a temporary halt to the planned shutdowns of two coal-burning Indiana power plants amid President Donald Trump’s attempts to boost the coal mining industry. The U.S. Department of Energy orders issued Tuesday require Northern Indiana Public Service Co. and CenterPoint Energy to keep those generating plants operating despite their intentions of closing them this month. The 90-day orders say the two coal-burning units set for closure at NIPSCO’s Schahfer Generating Station near Wheatfield and one at CenterPoint’s Culley Generating Station along the Ohio River near Newburgh must remain “available to operate” until at least March 23. The orders come as Trump has pushed policies to promote the coal industry while deriding the shift toward solar and wind energy as sources of electricity. The Energy Department said the Indiana plants orders were needed because the “reliable supply of power from these coal plants is essential for keeping the region’s electric grid stable.” Both orders cited the growing power demands of data centers among the reasons for keeping the plants in operation. “Keeping these coal plants online has the potential to save lives and is just common sense,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. “Americans deserve reliable power regardless of whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining during extreme winter conditions.” The federal agency has issued similar orders for power plants in other states in recent months, including a large coal-burning station in Michigan. Companies’ response Indiana’s major utilities have over many years been shifting away from coal-powered plants toward using natural gas and renewable sources for electricity generation. It was not immediately clear Wednesday how NIPSCO and Centerpoint would abide with the orders to keep the coal-burning plants in operations.  NIPSCO, which has more than 450,000 electric customers across northern Indiana, said it would comply with the order and was “reviewing the overall impact to our customers and company.” “We recognize the importance of both reliability and cost management for our customers, and we will continue to engage with federal, state and local stakeholders as we adapt to evolving regulatory requirements,” Vince Parisi, NIPSCO’s president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. CenterPoint, which serves about 150,000 customers in the Evansville area, announced plans in 2023 to convert its last coal-burning unit at the Culley Generation Station to natural gas by 2027. The company said its plans would reduce costs while preserving the Culley station’s generating capacity and adding solar and wind power sources in the coming years. CenterPoint said Wednesday it would “continue to work collaboratively with our federal, state and local partners and remain focused on prioritizing affordability and energy security.” “Working together, we will help contribute to regional electric reliability efforts to focus on what is most important — safe and reliable service for our customers and fellow Hoosiers during the upcoming winter months,” the company said in a statement. The NIPSCO units set for closure generate about 850 megawatts of electricity and date to the 1980s, according to the federal orders. The CenterPoint unit generates about 100 megawatts and began operations in 1966. Coal foes blast orders Environmental groups and consumer advocates denounced the Energy Department orders, arguing they would force “households to pay more for coal’s deadly air and toxic water pollution.” “The federal government’s order to force extremely expensive and unreliable coal units to stay open will result in higher bills for Hoosiers who are already reeling from record-high rate increases in 2025,” said Ben Inskeep, program director for the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana. “We can’t afford this costly and unfounded federal overreach.” An analysis by the Citizens Action Coalition released in July of Indiana’s five investor-owned electric utilities found that residential bills spiked by 17.5% in one year, or $28 a month on average statewide. Ashley Williams, executive director of Just Transition Northwest Indiana, called NIPSCO’s Schahfer plant “one of the most notorious polluters in the country.” “On-site coal ash contamination of groundwater, along with a proposed massive gas plant and AI data center, compounds an extremely dire situation and creates an unconscionable environmental burden,” Williams said. “The Trump administration is trying to steal away our futures by keeping us tethered to the dirty coal energy of the past.” ...read more read less