Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), who introduced the COAL Act, emphasized Wyoming\u2019s dominant role in coal\u2014her state has led U.S. coal production for years, accounting for around 40 percent of the nation\u2019s supply\u2014and criticized the uncertainty created by the Obama and Biden administrations\u2019 leasing pauses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the federal government tries to destroy Wyoming\u2019s coal industry, it ends up turning the lights out and the heat off in America,\u201d Hageman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bill Would Let Coal Projects Skip Environmental Studies<\/p>\n
The second bill under debate Wednesday would amend the landmark 1970 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a legal backbone of federal environmental protections. The Streamlining NEPA for Coal Act (H.R. 4068<\/a>), creates new exemptions for coal projects, regulatory shortcuts that could allow coal projects to bypass standard environmental reviews.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat was once meant to be a tool for reasonable oversight has become a weapon used to block development, delay jobs and drive up costs,\u201d said Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), who sponsored H.R. 4068. \u201cThis is simply not sustainable if we want to remain an energy-producing nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins characterized NEPA as a \u201cmaze of reviews, red tape and litigation\u201d that had caused \u201cparalyzing delays\u201d by mandating environmental studies, a process he called \u201coutdated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is about cutting delays, not cutting corners,\u201d Collins said. \u201cCoal has powered this nation for generations \u2026 but without reform, the regulatory burden will continue to strangle the industry.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n For environmental policy advocates like Walkup, who described NEPA as \u201cthe environmental Magna Carta,\u201d the law may be old, but it\u2019s become a more critical protection for American communities.<\/p>\n \u201cCoal mines have enormous environmental impacts, from the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming our climate to the impact on local water resources,\u201d Walkup said. \u201cAllowing these kinds of projects to just completely skirt environmental review is incredibly damaging.<\/p>\n \u201cCoal continues to be in decline, and little tweaks of regulatory policies aren\u2019t going to change the market dynamics, but they still have significant negative impacts for the communities that are burdened with these projects,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Steve Feldgus, a former senior Interior official under the Biden administration, testified before the subcommittee that gutting NEPA would backfire. \u201cEnvironmental reviews are not what\u2019s slowing mining projects down\u2014community opposition is. When we eliminate opportunities to address opposition constructively \u2026 we simply force it into courtrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n Feldgus said bypassing NEPA environmental reviews and engagement with affected communities would \u201ctake potential collaboration and turn it into confrontation, and instead of partners, we create plaintiffs.<\/p>\n \u201cProjects don\u2019t succeed because we add more shortcuts to the process. They succeed because agencies doing the permitting have the resources they need to do the job properly, and they succeed because they earn community trust and support,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Congressional Efforts Align with Administration\u2019s Broader Goals<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s assault on climate policy in his second term<\/a> has included gutting regulatory agencies and research, killing renewable power projects, firing National Parks and Forest Service employees, encouraging drilling on federal lands and rescinding rules that lower pollution and protect Americans\u2019 health.<\/p>\n Adam Suess, the acting assistant secretary for lands and minerals management at the Department of the Interior, made clear during the hearing that the Trump administration sees both bills as essential.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are working steadfastly and tirelessly to implement the president\u2019s energy dominance agenda, which is central to the country\u2019s economic, national and energy security. Each of the bills advanced at today\u2019s hearing further that agenda,\u201d Suess testified. \u201cAs President Trump has reaffirmed, American coal plays a pivotal part in our economy. It will continue to power the country for many decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Calling Suess\u2019 testimony an attempt to \u201cdeflect,\u201d Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) said \u201cit is undeniable that the cheapest form of energy is wind and solar, and yet this administration is waging war against renewables while making every attempt to prop up dirty, expensive coal.\u201d<\/p>\n Suess pushed back against criticisms of coal\u2019s economic feasibility and harm to the environment. Suess said renewables, like wind and solar, are \u201cseven, eight, nine, 10 times as expensive as coal and natural gas,\u201d adding that \u201ctechnological advances in burning coal make it incredibly clean, and so there\u2019s no downside in my view.\u201d<\/p>\n That claim is at odds with a recent report, which found solar and wind remain the cheapest sources of electricity, even without subsidies. Financial advisory firm Lazard, in an analysis published last June<\/a>, determined that \u201cutility-scale solar and onshore wind remain the most cost-effective forms of new-build energy generation on an unsubsidized basis.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCoal had its time and place, it powered the Industrial Revolution\u2014thank you, coal!\u2014but we are long past steam engines now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2014 Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.)<\/p>\n Several Republicans used their questioning to underscore coal\u2019s importance to their states and constituents. Rep. Jeff Crank (R-Colo.) warned that closing coal plants prematurely would burden his state\u2019s households. \u201cAnalysis has shown in Colorado that shutting down coal plants will increase Colorado utility bills by $75 a month,\u201d Crank said. \u201cAffordable and reliable energy must remain accessible to everyone, and coal continues to be one of the cheapest and most dependable base load power sources in our country.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Democrats argued that while affordability and energy production should be top concerns for legislators, the new bills focused on coal were a step in the wrong direction.<\/p>\n \u201cThese bills won\u2019t bring those factories back, just as the giveaways for coal and bills on the agenda won\u2019t make coal dominant again,\u201d Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said. \u201cCoal had its time and place, it powered the Industrial Revolution\u2014thank you, coal!\u2014but we are long past steam engines now.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCoal is simply too expensive and destructive to continue propping it up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n How Trump\u2019s Agenda Is Already Affecting Coal Mining<\/p>\n With Republicans in control of the House, the bills are likely to move out of committee. But even if the new laws don\u2019t pass the Senate, the Trump administration is already reshaping coal policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n The bills debated Wednesday largely codify or overlap with elements of Trump\u2019s coal policies already enacted through executive orders or provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) passed in July. That law, Trump\u2019s most significant domestic policy achievement since returning to office, notably accelerated the phase-out of wind and solar tax credits, reducing federal incentives for renewables while extending new support for coal.\u00a0<\/p>\n This story is funded by readers like you.<\/p>\n Our nonprofit newsroom provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. We rely on donations from readers like you to keep going. Please donate now to support our work.<\/p>\n Donate Now<\/a> <\/p>\n Alan Zibel, a research director at D.C.-based public advocacy group Public Citizen, told Inside Climate News that \u201creopening the formerly resolved question on coal\u2019s future is one of the most damaging things Trump has done so far.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis administration is determined to give fossil fuel interests everything they want, including and especially the dirtiest industry\u2014coal\u2014in deliberate ignorance of the fact coal doesn\u2019t make any economic sense anymore,\u201d Zibel said. \u201cCoal is not the future of American energy, and no amount of subsidies or giveaways or regulatory favors will change that.\u201d<\/p>\n The OBBBA, alongside executive orders, also extended production tax credits for metallurgical coal\u2014the variety used in steelmaking\u2014 and reclassified it as a \u201ccritical material.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Zibel said that move, in particular, sparked genuine confusion among climate advocates, including him and his colleagues. \u201cMetallurgical coal has been a dead issue; it\u2019s what the environmental community worked on a decade ago. Everyone\u2019s moved on.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t build the economy of the future by clinging to the dirty technologies of the past,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Chelsea Barnes, director of government strategy for environmental advocacy group Appalachian Voices, said that while metallurgical coal has been a \u201clifeline for the industry\u201d in West Virginia, the new tax credits won\u2019t overcome the damage other Trump policies have already done to mining. \u201cWho\u2019s going to buy this coal?\u201d Barnes asked rhetorically. \u201cThe tariffs have shut down the sales pipelines that were kind of available to them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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