Pittsburgh, PA and Washington, DC
FNREL Mineral and Energy Law Newsletter
Pennsylvania – Mining
(by Joe Reinhart, Sean McGovern, Gina Buchman, and Christina Puhnaty)
On August 15, 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a cost-allocation plan by which PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM), will allocate the costs incurred by Constellation Energy Generation, LLC (Constellation), to continue to operate dual-fuel Eddystone Units 3 and 4 (Eddystone Units) at its Eddystone, Pennsylvania, facility for 180 days beyond the units’ planned deactivation date, in compliance with emergency orders issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act. See PJM Interconnection, L.L.C., 192 FERC ¶ 61,157 (2025). During this continued operation, on July 23, 2025, the grid’s electricity load reached 160,560 megawatts, the highest load recorded since 2006. The Eddystone Units will now remain in operation until November 26, 2025.
DOE has issued similar emergency orders to power generation facilities in other states and will likely continue to do so as the Trump administration endeavors to address concerns about demand growth and power plant retirements. Environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, have advocated against cost-allocation plans such as the one created by PJM for the Constellation facility, arguing that prolonging the operation of these facilities will cause consumer energy prices to increase. PJM’s plan regarding the Constellation facility allows PJM to recover costs from consumers across PJM’s 13-state territory. FERC found PJM’s plan to be both just and reasonable. FERC’s decision approving the plan can be found here.
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