On December 16, 2025, the United States Secretary of Energy declared an emergency in the Western Electricity Coordinating Council Northwest assessment area due to a shortage of electric energy. This order, numbered 202-25-11, mandated that Unit 2 of the coal-fired Centralia Generating Station in Washington State remain open to address the crisis. The Department of Energy document states that shortages of electric energy and generation facilities threaten public health, safety, and national defense in areas including parts of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and California.

This declaration ties into broader energy challenges under the Trump Administration. It follows President Trumps Executive Order 14156 from January 20, 2025, which proclaimed a national energy emergency over insufficient production, transportation, refining, and generation. A July 2025 Department of Energy Resource Adequacy Report warned that without intervention, the power grid cannot meet rising demand from manufacturing, re-industrialization, and data centers for artificial intelligence.

The emergency order has sparked controversy in a related proceeding. On December 22, 2025, Public Citizen filed a motion to intervene and protest Morgan Stanley Capital Group Incorporateds application to renew authority to export electricity to Canada. Public Citizen argues that the Secretarys emergency finding proves exports would impair domestic supply sufficiency, violating Section 202e of the Federal Power Act. The group highlights Morgan Stanleys control over 2800 megawatts of generation capacity in the affected region through long-term agreements, plus additional ownership and export rights.

This is part of a pattern of recent emergency actions. On November 25, 2025, the Secretary issued order 202-25-10 to keep natural gas units at Constellation Energys Eddystone plant operating in the PJM region. On November 18, another order extended operations at Consumer Energys J H Campbell coal plant in Michigan under the Midcontinent Independent System Operator.

These moves underscore urgent efforts to bolster reliability amid growing demand and retiring plants, as detailed in Department of Energy orders.

Thank you for tuning in, listeners. Please subscribe for more updates. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.

For more http://www.quietplease.ai

Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOta

This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI