President Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday aimed at reversing policies that transitioned the country away from coal production and aimed at boosting America’s “beautiful clean coal industry,” the White House says.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the order, which the president will sign Tuesday afternoon, is meant to help the U.S. achieve affordable and reliable energy. Mr. Trump has long expressed an affinity for coal, as previous Democratic administrations and many developed nations have worked to move away from coal toward renewable resources. The term “clean coal” typically refers to processes designed to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants.
“Coal is critical to achieving American energy and AI dominance,” Leavitt wrote on X.
The executive order defines coal as a “mineral,” according to the White House, which the administration says will give it more leeway on its use. The government has traditionally classified it as a nonrenewable fossil fuel. The order directs agencies to lift barriers to coal mining on federal lands and prioritize coal leasing, formally ending an Obama-era moratorium against coal leasing on federal land. It also directs the agencies to rescind any policies transitioning the country away from coal production.
Mr. Trump has long expressed a desire to harness U.S. coal, along with oil, natural gas and nuclear power, and this executive order is one of a number of actions he has taken to reverse Obama and Biden administration energy policies. The president has also withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, and declared a national emergency on energy, and he ended predecessor Joe Biden’s efforts to encourage widespread EV adoption.
But despite Mr. Trump’s emphasis on coal in his first term, coal production decreased slightly between 2016 before he took office and 2020, his final full year in office, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And, in keeping with a trend in declining coal employment, there were fewer Americans working in the coal industry in January 2020 ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic than there were in January 2017 when he took office, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
No new coal plant has come online since 2013, and the average age of the current fleet is 53 years old. Currently, coal makes up about 16% of the electricity mix in the U.S., down from 50% two decades ago.
As of this year, only about 41,000 Americans work in the coal industry. By comparison, solar energy employed nearly 280,000 Americans in 2023, according to the National Solar Job Census.
Environmental groups suggested Mr. Trump’s executive order to reinvigorate coal will be a step backward.
“What’s next, a mandate that Americans must commute by horse and buggy,” Kit Kennedy, managing director for power at the National Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.
