It’s “take two” for the Trump coal rescue.
President Donald Trump sought to rectify one of his first-term policy failures by announcing a sprawling plan Monday to bring back coal. But industry analysts say that rolling back pollution regulations, expanding mining leases and offering government investment can only provide short-term relief to an industry in decline. Coal’s fundamental problem is that coal-burning power plants are aging and that American utilities aren’t building new ones.
“It maybe kicks the can down the road a little longer,” said Tony Knutson, who leads coal research at the consultancy Wood Mackenzie. “It’s a bit of a lifeline. I wouldn’t call it a resurrection or a return to a golden age or anything like that.”
Trump was largely powerless to stop a wave of coal plant retirements during his first four years in the White House, when weak power demand and cheap natural gas undermined his campaign pledge to revive the industry.
