STORY: :: Trump signs orders to boost the U.S. coal industry as power demand rises
:: April 8, 2025
:: Washington, D.C.
“We’re going to guarantee that we have a strong business for many years to come. That your coal companies and your miners don’t get all excited about their jobs. And then should a radical left liberal become president, they end the business right away. And somebody built a plant and spent hundreds of millions of dollars in building a plant. And the plant is going to be closed because a Democrat got in or a liberal got in. They’re opposed to coal. And Republicans are very much for it, clean coal. And we’re…we’re going to give a guarantee that the business will not be terminated by the ups and downs of the world of politics.”
“Under this order, I’m also directing (Energy) Secretary (Chris) Wright to use billions of dollars in federal funding to invest in the next generation of coal technology, which is an amazing technology in terms of getting the full potential of coal and also doing it in a very clean environmental way.”
“In addition, I’m instructing the Department of Justice to identify and fight every single unconstitutional state or local regulation that’s putting our coal miners out of business.”
Coal-burning plants generate less than 20 percent of U.S. electricity, a drop from 50 percent in 2000, according to the Energy Information Administration, as fracking and other drilling techniques have hiked production of natural gas. Growth in solar and wind power has also cut coal use.
Trump, a Republican, campaigned on a promise to increase U.S. energy output and has sought to roll back energy and environmental regulations since taking office on January 20.
U.S. electricity demand is rising for the first time in two decades on growth in power-hungry data centers for artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and cryptocurrencies.
The orders include efforts to save coal plants that were likely to be retired, including unlocking authorities in the 1950 Defense Production Act to boost coal production.
They also direct Energy Secretary Chris Wright to determine whether coal used in steel production is a “critical mineral.” Allowing that classification, typically reserved for minerals needed for high-tech defense systems, for metallurgical coal could set the table for use of emergency powers to raise production.
In addition, the orders direct Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to acknowledge the end of a moratorium that paused new coal leasing, which allows private companies to buy the right to extract coal, on federal lands, and to prioritize the leasing.
Shares in U.S. coal producers Peabody and Core Natural Resources each shot up about 9 percent after the news.