Austin Wright
President Trump's push to revive American coal production is running into a hard economic reality: the plants, workers and market share the industry once had have largely disappeared, and no new coal facilities are currently under development anywhere in the country.
A Federal Push Built on Executive Orders and New Funding
Since taking office in January, Trump has signed a string of executive orders aimed at unwinding the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration's signature climate law, while smoothing the path for oil and gas expansion. Coal has gotten similar treatment. In September, the Departments of Energy and the Interior, together with the Environmental Protection Agency, rolled out a package of measures meant to slow plant closures and open new mining ground, framing the effort as part of Trump's broader energy dominance agenda.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum opened more than 13 million acres of public land to coal projects, and Wells Griffith of the Department of Energy announced $625 million in funding to shore up the country's coal fleet, with $350 million earmarked specifically for restarting or upgrading existing plants. Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act also cut coal royalty rates from 12.5 percent to 7 percent on both new and existing leases, a change designed to make mining more profitable.
Burgum framed the effort in blunt terms.
