Trump delivers boost to coal worth hundreds of millions, including wartime authority funds

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The Trump administration is putting hundreds of millions of federal dollars toward coal, one of the president’s favorite energy sources.

President Trump announced the move during Thursday remarks in the Oval Office, saying his administration is “taking historic action to bring down the price of energy and the cost of living for all Americans with the power of clean, beautiful coal.”

“As a result of the $700 million investment that I’m announcing today, we will protect 14 coal plants and 42 coal mines — it’s a tremendous number — and build two new coal plants and one massive new export terminal, because we’re exporting coal,” Trump said.

He is using wartime authority under the Defense Production Act (DPA) to dole out $425 million to 13 existing coal plants and an additional $75 million for an export terminal in California that is expected to ship coal to countries including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Information provided by the White House ahead of the announcement indicated that Trump would put an additional $200 million in Energy Department grant funding toward both helping build two new coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia and to restart a coal plant in Maryland.

It said that the Alaska and West Virginia plants would be the nation’s first new coal plants since 2013.

The Energy Department described the funding for the three plants as part of an announcement totaling $350 million that also included funding to upgrade an existing fourth plant in Puerto Rico.

Coal power use in the U.S. has been on the decline since its peak in 2007. It’s controversial because of its significant contributions to pollution and climate change, but it is supported by the Trump administration, which argues that it’s an important source of reliable power. The president frequently calls it “clean” and “beautiful.”

The $425 million, coming from DPA funds, is expected to pay for upgrades and extended operations for plants in West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Arizona, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.

The $75 million will support construction of the Oakland, Calif., export facility. The administration said it’s expected to break ground this summer and be operational by summer 2028.

Both the decision to boost coal generally and the Energy Department grant funding specifically faced some pushback from coal’s critics.

Danielle Lemmon, who worked in the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations during the Biden administration, said that the DOE grant funds are supposed to go toward helping coal plants capture their planet-warming emissions.

“If a recipient receives the funding and they choose to incorporate carbon capture … then that funding is actually being spent in alignment with the law, but the DOE doesn’t appear to be enforcing that alignment,” Lemmon said.

The Energy Department also said Thursday that it is issuing an order preventing a coal plant shutdown in Orlando.

Updated at 6:29 p.m. EDT

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