President Donald Trump is slated to unveil millions of dollars Thursday to build the nation’s first new coal plants since 2013 in West Virginia and Alaska
And yet the fate of those projects — like the nation’s coal sector overall — is unclear. Both proposed plants would feed data centers that have yet to be built, and the funding pales in comparison to the cost of new plants.
Trump is scheduled to appear in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon alongside lawmakers and business leaders from mining-heavy states and announce almost $200 million in Energy Department grants for two new coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia, and to restart an existing facility in Maryland. According to the White House, that boost will help retain about 12,500 jobs.
The two new plant projects would get $185 million of that DOE funding, said a White House official, who was granted anonymity because the announcement has not yet been made public.
