By Adam Pack via Daily Caller News Foundation | March 17, 2025
President Donald Trump announced Monday evening he is “authorizing” his administration to produce coal power, citing China’s “tremendous economic advantage” over the United States due to the country’s pro-coal policies.
Trump announced his intent to spur domestic coal production in a post on Truth Social. The president’s decision to increase coal production comes as the Trump administration has moved with striking speed to reverse a spate of regulations issued by former President Joe Biden to handicap fossil fuel production, including coal power.
“After years of being held captive by Environmental Extremists, Lunatics, Radicals, and Thugs, allowing other Countries, in particular China, to gain tremendous Economic advantage over us by opening up hundreds of all Coal Fire Power Plants, I am authorizing my Administration to immediately begin producing Energy with BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL,” Trump wrote.
It is not clear what effect the president’s announcement will have on U.S. energy policy or coal production, which accounts for roughly 16% of power generation in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Trump’s directive was immediately praised by GOP lawmakers who represent coal-producing states and have seen communities hollowed out due to the coal industry’s decline.
“Couldn’t agree more, @POTUS!” Republican West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito wrote on X.
“Make America Energy Dominant Again!” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming posted on X.
Biden took a host of regulatory actions to discourage future coal production during his term, including new limitations on the emissions of coal-fired power plants and prohibiting future coal leasing in the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming.
The Trump administration moved to reconsider the Biden rule on power plant emissions as part of the 31 “historic actions” deregulatory actions that Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin undertook Wednesday. The president also declared a national energy emergency on Jan. 20 to boost fossil fuel production and lower energy prices.
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has advocated for stopping the closure of coal-fired power plants as part of his and the president’s “all-of-the-above” approach to boosting energy production. The United States is facing grid reliability issues, exacerbated by Biden-era regulatory action. Wright believes that coal power must be preserved to provide cheap, reliable power to the grid.
“I’m very concerned about the grid,” Wright told the Daily Caller News Foundation Wednesday. “We have to increase throughput with the existing physical assets. I think it can be done, but it is a daunting challenge. And I wish we weren’t walking into the hole we’re in right now, but we were dug a hole by the previous administration, and that’s our starting point.”
“If you want to grow your supply, the first thing to do is stop digging the hole,” Wright said. “We’ve been closing coal plants for quite some time now. That’s gotta stop. We have to keep these firm, reliable existing plants online. That’s objective number one … And then there’s existing plants that are open that run at low operating percent of the time because of regulations and things put in the way. We have a fair amount of electricity generating capacity that already exists and connected up to wires. So, that’s low-hanging fruit.”
“It’s a new day in American power generation,” David Blackmon, a 40-year veteran of the oil and gas industry who now writes and consults on the energy sector, wrote in an op-ed for the Daily Caller News Foundation on Feb. 15. “Coal is in, wind is out, and reindustrialization is the goal. Climate alarmists will scream disaster, but for millions of others, it’s all a long-awaited breath of fresh air.”
Former Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry claimed in November 2021 that the United States would completely phase out coal power as an energy source by 2030.
Adam Pack is a contributor to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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