President Donald Trump declared his love for “clean beautiful coal” Wednesday at a campaign-style event that marked a major setback for U.S. climate policy.
The White House celebration kicked off Trump’s most aggressive bid yet to save coal, the most polluting of the fossil fuels that drive climate change. The president has ordered the military to buy power from the nation’s struggling coal plants and doled out millions of dollars for facilities on the brink of closure.
“I know you well,” Trump told coal miners donning hard hats at the White House. “I think I get about 97 percent of your vote.”
Trump inked an executive order directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to procure power from coal plants through long-term power purchase agreements for military installations and other mission-critical facilities. He also announced the Energy Department’s approval of $175 million to upgrade coal plants in West Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina and Kentucky.
“We’re going to be buying a lot of coal through the military now,” Trump said.
Trump is aggressively moving to marshal federal law and funding to resuscitate an industry that’s been beset by closures and rising costs — while also rolling back critical climate protections and regulations, forcing retiring coal plants to continue operating, and opening up public lands to more leasing and mining. On Thursday, the administration is expected to roll back the endangerment finding for greenhouse gases, which serves as the scientific underpinning for most climate rules.
Trump failed to revive the coal sector during his first stint in the White House, when he faced the mounting challenges of cheap gas, falling costs for renewables and weak demand. And while that trend has begun to shift, experts are still waiting for proof of a long-term comeback.
But on Wednesday, Trump touted coal’s revival, surrounded by agency heads, fossil fuel executives and lawmakers from fossil-heavy states, including Republican Sens. John Barrasso from Wyoming and Jim Justice of West Virginia.
The president boasted that his administration has clinched “historic” trade agreements with South Korea, Japan, India and other countries to boost U.S. coal exports dramatically.
“We are now exporting coal to all over the world,” Trump said. He was then presented with a trophy from the Washington Coal Club in the shape of a miner, which Peabody CEO Jim Grech said was inscribed with the words “Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal.”
Coal boosters say Trump is delivering for the industry.
“Coal has been banished under the last two Democratic administrations. You know, it’s a four letter word,” said Ramaco Resources CEO Randy Atkins, who attended the White House event. Ramaco is pushing, with the administration’s support, to build the first new coal mine in Wyoming in over 50 years and the first new rare earths facility in the U.S. in seven decades.
“When you have the greatest, most economically prosperous country in the world sending a signal that you know coal is a useful feedstock for power, I think that sends a message to other developed countries that this is something that they need to consider as well, and that does send a strong market signal,” Atkins added.
Worker rights and environmental groups blasted the administration for claiming to support coal miners while slashing federal staffing and rules for miner safety, including a Biden-era regulation that would protect miners from silica dust.
“This is not the way to build a better future for Appalachia. If you’re going to invest in coal, you need to invest in protecting workers and strengthening our communities, but this plan does neither,” said Rebecca Shelton of the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center.
Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council, derided Trump’s “soot-stained” award.
“The 19th century called, and it wants its fuel source back,” said Bapna. “It’s no wonder fossil fuel lobbyists are handing Trump an award today. Trump asked them for campaign cash and promised to return the favor — and now, he is.”
The White House event Wednesday was followed by news that the board of the nation’s largest public utility — Tennessee Valley Authority — voted to continue operating two coal plants in Tennessee beyond their scheduled retirement dates.
A lifeline or ‘violation’?
Trump’s pitch to revive coal faces myriad challenges, including stiff competition from gas and other power sources, litigation and environmental concerns, rising costs, reliability issues and questions around how — and where — the Pentagon can boost purchases of coal-fired power.
The administration’s move to fund struggling coal plants has also already triggered a Senate investigation.
Trump announced Wednesday that DOE is doling out millions of federal dollars from the bipartisan infrastructure act to prop up old and shuttered coal plants across Appalachia. While the agency has said it’s on solid legal footing, former and current DOE officials and ethics experts say the move undermines congressional intent.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who landed in Venezuela on Wednesday to engage with top officials and visit the nation’s oil fields, said in a statement that the $175 million would support modernizing, retrofitting and extending the life of half a dozen coal plants.
“For years, previous administrations targeted America’s coal industry and the workers who power our country, forcing the premature closure of reliable plants, and driving up electricity costs,” said Wright. “President Trump has ended the war on American coal and is restoring common-sense energy policy.”
DOE said the funding will help Appalachian Power upgrade two plants in West Virginia, including the Mountaineer Power Plant in Letart and the John E. Amos Power Plant in Winfield.
Other recipients include Buckeye Power, which will upgrade the systems of two coal-fired units at the Cardinal plant in Brilliant, Ohio, and Duke Energy Carolinas, which will upgrade two coal-fired units at the Belews Creek Steam Station in Sauratown Township, North Carolina.
The funding will also allow Kentucky Utilities Co. to increase the annual capacity factor of Unit 2 of its coal-fired Ghent Generating Station in Ghent, Kentucky. Monongahela Power Co. will also upgrade its two units at its Fort Martin Power Station in Maidsville, West Virginia, and the Ohio Valley Electric Corp. will upgrade all five coal-fired generating units at the Kyger Creek Station in Cheshire, Ohio.
But two Democratic senators say DOE’s use of the funds to subsidize coal power plants “flies in the face of the law.”
Appropriations ranking member Patty Murray and Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Sen. Martin Heinrich told Wright in a letter that Congress “clearly appropriated” the money for carbon capture programs.
“We believe that redirecting these funds may constitute a Purpose Statute violation by misusing the funding as originally appropriated by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” the senators wrote, directing DOE to provide answers by February 25 to a list of legal questions.
“The Department is knowingly and intentionally redirecting funds intended to reduce pollution to instead further the Trump administration’s policy of propping up coal-fired power plants,” they wrote. “This policy will not only cause more pollution in communities nationwide while harming public health and the environment, it will also raise energy costs at a time when the American people are already feeling the pinch with record high energy bills.”
DOE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
