在一封此前未被报道的信件中，一位顶级游说者提出了利用紧急权力维持老旧燃煤电厂运营的想法。
In a previously unreported letter, a top lobbyist floated the idea of using emergency powers to keep aging coal plants open.
去年早些时候，一位顶级煤炭游说者向能源部长克里斯·赖特（Chris Wright）发送了一封措辞严厉的警告信。
Early last year, a top coal lobbyist sent a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright with a dire warning.
根据这封日期为2025年3月11日、来自煤炭行业团体的信件，全国约三分之一的燃煤电厂计划在五年内关闭。其中许多关闭事件将发生在特朗普总统的第二任期内。
Roughly one-third of the nation’s coal-burning power plants were scheduled to close within five years, according to the letter, dated Mar. 11, 2025, from a coal trade group. Many of the closures would occur during President Trump’s second term.
但如果这些电厂不必关闭呢？该行业团体“美国电力”（America’s Power）提出了一种不寻常的补救措施：能源部可以动用极少使用的紧急权力，强制这些电厂延长运营时间。两个月后，特朗普政府开始采取正是这一行动。
But what if the plants didn’t have to shut down? The trade group, America’s Power, proposed an unusual remedy: The Energy Department could deploy rarely used emergency powers to force them to stay open longer. Two months later, the Trump administration began doing exactly that.
这封此前未被报道的信件揭示了一些关于这一举措的最早已知讨论，专家们称此举是对国家能源市场的非凡干预。
The letter, which has not been previously reported, reveals some of the earliest known discussions about a move that experts have called an extraordinary intervention into the nation’s energy markets.
自2025年5月以来，能源部已多次发布紧急命令，要求六座电厂中的九个燃煤机组在预定退役日期之后继续运行，称这些设施对于防止迫在眉睫的大规模停电是必要的。这些命令有时是在电厂所有者的抗议下发布的，预计将使电力用户承担数亿美元的成本。联邦上诉法院已推翻其中一项命令，裁定其超越了法律权限。
Since May 2025, the Energy Department has repeatedly issued emergency orders to keep nine coal-burning units at six plants operating long past their scheduled retirement dates, saying the facilities are needed to prevent looming blackouts. The orders have sometimes come over the protests of the plant’s owners and are expected to cost ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars. A federal appeals court has already struck down one order, ruling that it overstepped the law.
环保组织“环境防御基金”（Environmental Defense Fund）通过《信息自由法》申请公开了“美国电力”的这封信件。
The letter from America’s Power was made public through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental group.