President Trump on Thursday announced $700 million in new federal funding for the country\u2019s struggling coal industry, including money that would help build the first two new coal-burning power plants in the United States in more than a decade.<\/p>\n
It was the latest in a series of extraordinary efforts by his administration to improve the fortunes of coal, the most polluting of the fossil fuels and a favored industry of the president\u2019s.<\/p>\n
In recent months, the Energy Department has ordered units at five aging coal plants<\/a> to stay open instead of shutting down as planned. And Mr. Trump has directed the Defense Department<\/a> to buy more electricity from coal plants to power military installations nationwide.<\/p>\n Flanked by Republican governors and cabinet officials in the Oval Office on Thursday, Mr. Trump said the move would help lower consumers\u2019 energy bills, though experts say coal plants are more expensive to build and operate than gas plants and renewable energy.<\/p>\n \u201cToday we\u2019re 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,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n Of the new funding, $425 million would be used to upgrade and extend<\/a> the life of 12 coal plants that otherwise might have closed in the coming years. To unlock this money, Mr. Trump invoked a Korean War-era law called the Defense Production Act, which gives the president sweeping powers to bolster domestic industries deemed essential to national security.<\/p>\n The Energy Department separately announced that it would invest up to $350 million in coal projects<\/a>, including funding for two companies to build the first new coal plants in the United States since 2013, one in Alaska and the other in West Virginia. Some money would also go to a power company that wants to restart a shuttered coal plant in Maryland.<\/p>\n The money for the new coal plants would come from funds that Congress originally designated for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from polluting industries.<\/p>\n The proposed new coal plant in Alaska, known as Terra Energy Center, would be built in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, a region north of Anchorage known for its massive glaciers and world-class salmon fishing. The developers have argued that the coal plant could power existing gold mines or new data centers in the area, which is running out of natural gas<\/a> from the Cook Inlet.<\/p>\n Terra Energy Center, an affiliate of Canada-based Flatlands Energy, does not appear to have a website, and it has shared few details publicly. Similarly, very little information is known about the project in West Virginia, which would be led by a company called TerraPurus.<\/p>\n Representatives for the developers could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n Analysts said both projects could run into trouble if a future president cracked down on the coal sector.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump has been very pro-coal,\u201d said Andy Blumenfeld, an analyst who tracks coal markets at the consultancy McCloskey by OPIS. \u201cNow, what happens when the next administration comes in? Will they put a stop to it? I think that that\u2019s an enormous risk.\u201d<\/p>\n On Thursday afternoon, the Energy Department also said it would use emergency authority<\/a> to prevent the closure of a coal plant in Florida that had been slated to retire in June.<\/p>\n The United States has not built a new utility-scale coal plant since 2013, and many of the nation\u2019s existing plants are more than 40 years old. Since 2010, 330 coal plants have retired and 60 others have announced plans to close by 2031, according to the Beyond Coal campaign at the Sierra Club, an environmental group.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no coal renaissance happening in the United States,\u201d said Holly Bender, the chief program officer at the Sierra Club.<\/p>\n While coal generated more than half<\/a> of the nation\u2019s electricity in 1990, that share fell to roughly 17 percent<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n Coal mining jobs have also dwindled over the past four decades. Roughly 40,000 people are employed<\/a> in the industry today, down from about 173,000 in 1985, though employment levels have stabilized since 2020.<\/p>\n Experts say the phrase \u201cclean coal\u201d is misleading, noting that coal plants produce more harmful air pollutants and planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions than do gas plants, solar panels and wind turbines. Burning coal emits mercury and other heavy metals linked to an array of health problems.<\/p>\n Despite the unfavorable economics of coal, some proponents think the fuel could make a comeback if electricity demand from data centers continues to rise and the Environmental Protection Agency continues to relax pollution regulations<\/a> that have significantly increased costs for operators.<\/p>\n