Trump’s coal comeback plan clashes with the reality of the energy market
Donald Trump wants to bring coal roaring back, but even industry insiders say the economics don’t work.
Josh Siegel, Catherine Morehouse, and Alex Guillén report for Politico.
In short:
- Trump signed executive orders to jumpstart coal production, including efforts to label it a "mineral" and direct $200 billion in financing toward coal infrastructure.
- His plan targets powering AI data centers with coal and keeping aging plants online, but utilities remain uninterested in building new coal facilities.
- Experts and even coal-friendly Republicans admit market forces — like cheap natural gas and renewables — make a true coal resurgence unlikely.
Key quote:
“I don’t think this order changes the facts that coal-fired power plants are old, expensive to run, and unlikely to operate very often or for many more years.”
— Rob Gramlich, president of power grid consulting firm Grid Strategies
Why this matters:
Trump is once again trying to dig coal out of its economic grave, but even the industry isn’t buying it. Trump’s push for coal flies in the face of the health and climate realities tied to burning one of the dirtiest fuels. While the president may want to reframe coal as a patriotic lifeline to fuel a high-tech future, that idea ignores the fact that coal is a top-tier climate pollutant tied to heart disease, black lung, and increasingly extreme weather.
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