In 2020, Orlando's public utility made a commitment that set it apart from nearly every other utility in Florida: it would reach net zero emissions by 2050. It planned the retirement of its coal plants carefully and years in advance. One of them, Stanton Energy Center Unit 1, was scheduled to shut down in 2025.

On June 4, the Trump administration ordered it to keep running.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright cited an energy emergency in Florida, pointing to the growth of data centers, a February cold snap, and forecasts for a hot summer. The problem with that justification is that it does not hold up. Both the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and OUC's own public filings show the coal plant is not necessary to meet demand. The administration issued an emergency order to keep a coal plant running based on a future need that the grid operator and the utility itself say does not exist.

This is not an isolated case. Similar orders have been issued in Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, and Washington. The emergency law being used was designed for acute, temporary events like severe weather. The Trump administration has been continuously renewing these orders, using them not as emergency tools but as industrial policy — blocking coal plant retirements across the country one order at a time. "Effectively every large coal plant that was scheduled to retire since the Trump administration started, they have issued one of these orders and stopped it from retiring," said Ted Kelly, director and lead counsel for clean energy at the Environmental Defense Fund.

Florida ratepayers will pay the price. Coal is more expensive and less reliable than the renewable energy sources OUC was transitioning toward. In Michigan, where a similar emergency order has been in place since May 2025, continued coal plant operation has already cost families and businesses more than $180 million. Orlando residents did not choose to keep paying for coal. Their utility chose to move away from it. The federal government overruled that choice.

Meanwhile, the administration's own stated justification is that data centers are driving demand. That means Florida families are being asked to subsidize coal plant operations so that tech companies can build more data centers. The companies building those facilities should be required to source their own clean power. The cost should not be passed to ratepayers and the planet should not be asked to absorb the emissions.

We are calling on the Department of Energy to revoke the Stanton Energy Center emergency order and allow OUC to proceed with the retirement it planned. We are calling on Congress to investigate the administration's systematic misuse of emergency energy authority to block coal plant retirements and pass legislation that prevents it. And we are calling on Congress to require that data centers meet their own power needs with clean energy rather than forcing utilities to delay their transitions.

Sign to demand the DOE reverse course and stop making Florida families pay for coal they do not need.