Trump Makes Good on Campaign Promise, Boosting US Coal Production

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump made good on yet another campaign promise Tuesday, signing an executive order aimed at boosting coal production to meet the rising demand for power due to AI and the growing market for cryptocurrencies, among other recent technological advances.

However, not everyone was happy with the move, and environmentalists vowed to oppose the president’s efforts, claiming his “dangerous” plans for the coal industry will only lead to more people sick with respiratory and heart conditions and more premature deaths.

“We’re bringing back an industry that was abandoned,” Trump declared during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday, as he stood in front of about three dozen coal miners wearing hard hats.

“I call it ‘beautiful clean coal,” the president continued, noting that “I tell my people never to use the word ‘coal’ unless they put the words ‘beautiful’ and ‘clean’ before it.”

“Today we’re taking historic action to help American workers, miners, families and consumers,” Trump said. “We’re ending Joe Biden’s war on beautiful clean coal once and for all.

“And it wasn’t just Biden, it was [former President] Obama too,” he said. “But we’re doing exactly the opposite of what they did.

“All those plants that have been closed are going to be opened if they’re modern enough, or they’ll be ripped down, and brand new ones will be built,” Trump continued. “We’re going to put the miners back to work. 

“I said I was going to do this, I’ve said it loud and clear, and it’s time to do it now. We need it,” he said.

Coal-burning power plants currently generate less than 20% of U.S. electricity, down from 50% just five years ago. During that same period, the coal workforce has dropped from about 70,000 to just over 40,000 people.

In part, this is due to fracking and other, more recently deployed drilling techniques.

At the same time, the growth of the renewable energy sector, especially solar and wind power, has also cut into the use of coal.

Trump maintains that no matter what, coal is better than these other, cleaner sources of energy because it’s a more reliable and predictable source of power than either solar or wind.

“Joe Biden and the Democrats sought to decimate the coal industry and for absolutely no reason,” Trump said. “[Coal] is one of the great, great forms of energy. It is abundant and cost effective, and can be used in any weather condition.”

Trump’s executive orders related to coal rely on emergency authority he can exercise under the Federal Power Act and the 1950s-era Defense Production Act.

Though the exercise of these powers is typically reserved for when there’s a natural disaster, the president intends to use them to strengthen the reliability and security of the nation’s electric grid over the long haul.

The order states that “It is the policy of the United States that coal is essential to our national and economic security. 

“It is a national priority to support the domestic coal industry by removing Federal regulatory barriers that undermine coal production, encouraging the utilization of coal to meet growing domestic energy demands, increasing American coal exports and ensuring that Federal policy does not discriminate against coal production or coal-fired electricity generation,” it continues.

The order directs the secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to assess and identify the coal resources and reserves on Federal lands, and propose policies to remove impediments to mining those resources.

Meanwhile, the Energy secretary has been tasked with doing an assessment of what adding more coal generation to the grid would mean for electricity costs and grid reliability.

With that, Trump has said he wants the secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to prioritize coal leasing and related activities, “consistent with applicable law.”

The president also said that within the next 60 days, he wants the heads of all relevant executive departments and agencies to revise or rescind any existing federal actions they deem contrary to the administration’s views on coal.

At the same time, agencies that are empowered to make loans, loan guarantees, grants, equity investments, or to conclude offtake agreements, have been directed to take steps to rescind any policies or regulations seeking to or actually discouraging investment in coal production and coal-fired electricity generation.

Among those criticizing the administration’s formal embrace of coal is the National Resources Defense Council, which took to the X social media platform to claim the executive order is part of a “sham ‘energy emergency’ agenda” intended to line the pockets of the president’s “fossil fuel executive friends.”

Also chiming in was the Sierra Club, which said that by extending the lifespan of coal-fired power plants that are already scheduled to retire and placing aggressive tariffs on renewable energy, Trump’s policies will raise monthly energy bills for everyday Americans. 

On average, renewable energy costs 30% less than coal for the same energy output, the group said.

“Choking on coal and gas plant pollution isn’t the American Dream,” said Sierra Club Wisconsin Chapter Director Elizabeth Ward in one such written statement.

“Wisconsin has long suffered hazy skies, polluted air, and a mercury-contaminated Lake Michigan because of our coal plants,” Ward said. “Coal and gas plant pollution are destroying the health of our communities, and yet here is Donald Trump, once again flexing his power to benefit fossil fuel billionaires, while real American families will be burdened with higher utility bills and suffer higher rates of asthma. 

“Utility bills skyrocketing every year isn’t moving Wisconsin forward. Trump is writing a permission slip for greedy utilities to break their retirement promises and keep their coal plants chugging,” she added.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue