A coal-fired plant in Michigan was supposed to close. But Trump forced it to keep running at $1M a day.

This story was originally published by The Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

Donald Trump has made several unusual moves to elongate the era of coal, such as giving the industry exemptions from pollution rules. But the gambit to keep one Michigan coal-fired power station running has been extraordinary — by forcing it to remain open even against the wishes of its operator.

The hulking JH Campbell power plant , which since 1962 has sat a few hundred yards from the sand dunes at the edge of Lake Michigan, was just eight days away from a long-planned closure in May when Trump’s Department of Energy issued an emergency order that it remain open for a further 90 days.

On Wednesday, the administration intervened again to extend this order even