Rockport’s coal future was supposed to be settled: both units were headed toward retirement by 2028, with a natural gas replacement planned for the Ohio River site. Now Indiana’s attorney general is asking a federal judge to keep at least one of those coal units running, turning a scheduled shutdown into a fresh legal and political fight.
Attorney General Todd Rokita filed Friday to intervene in the case governing one Rockport unit and asked the judge to remove the closure requirement, according to WFYI Public Media. Rokita says Indiana faces an energy crisis driven by manufacturing, data centers and population growth, and that the state needs an “all-of-the-above” power strategy rather than relying only on replacement generation.
The request runs directly against Indiana Michigan Power’s announced plans for the site. The utility has asked state regulators to approve a 1,520-megawatt natural gas combined-cycle facility, with construction potentially beginning in 2027 and operations expected in 2030, according to Indiana Michigan Power. The company says the proposed Rockport Energy Center could bring roughly 1,200 construction jobs and 30 to 40 permanent operational positions.
Rockport is also part of a broader state push to revisit the legal agreements behind Indiana’s coal retirements. The Indiana executive-order listing includes a directive challenging consent decrees and another supporting life extensions for coal generation, signaling that the state’s effort extends beyond this single plant.
The Legal Fight Over Rockport’s 2028 Shutdown
The case centers on a consent decree first approved in 2007 and modified five times, most recently in 2019. That agreement required one Rockport unit to close, while a separate regulatory agreement set the wind-down of the second unit; Indiana was not an original party and must first be allowed into the case, WFYI Public Media reported.
The settlement’s environmental history is central to the dispute. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said a 2019 modification involved AEP, New York state and environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, following years of litigation over pollution controls and emissions from AEP’s Midwest coal plants. Sierra Club attorney Tony Mendoza told WFYI that Indiana’s intervention would upset a negotiated bargain made among multiple parties.
Indiana’s Coal Strategy Is Colliding With A Changing Grid
The Rockport dispute comes as coal retirements nationwide are becoming less predictable. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says nearly 11 gigawatts of generating capacity is scheduled to retire in 2026, but notes that emergency federal orders and policy changes have already delayed several coal shutdowns. Hoodline previously detailed how Hoosier groups challenged a federal lifeline for aging coal plants elsewhere in Indiana.
For Rockport, the competing plans now sit on parallel tracks: the state is trying to preserve coal generation and the jobs tied to it, while Indiana Michigan Power is preparing a gas-powered successor. Unless the judge changes the consent decree, the plant’s coal units remain scheduled to wind down in 2028, leaving the next major step in the dispute with the federal court.
