Longtime mining executive Randall Atkins is pushing the Trump administration to deem coal used to make steel as “critical,” alongside other minerals and rare earth elements.
The former Wall Street banker-turned-founder of Ramaco Resources, a Kentucky-based miner of coal and rare earths, is a member of the National Mining Association, a trade association that’s pitching President Donald Trump on making metallurgical coal critical as part of the president’s ongoing energy emergency.
It’s a move that could open more projects to federal funding and faster permitting, but is sure to rile climate activists pushing for the U.S. to wean itself off fossil fuels.
“Think back to your grandfather’s days and the second World War, and you had Rosie the Riveter and everyone else focused on steel manufacturing,” Atkins said in an interview Friday. “Now it’s probably going to be rare earth manufacturing as well as steel.”
