Citing the power demands of a global artificial intelligence race, the Trump administration on Monday underscored its mission to revive and expand the U.S. coal industry to help meet the data industry’s enormous forecast for electricity.
Federal agencies will slash more regulations, open 13.1 million federal acres to coal leasing and spend $625 million on various coal initiatives, including one to “retrofit” old coal plants that might otherwise be retired, according to the administration.
“Beautiful, clean coal will be essential to powering America’s reindustrialization and winning the AI race,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in a prepared statement. “These funds will help keep our nation’s coal plants operating and will be vital to keeping electricity prices low and the lights on without interruption.”
Wyoming, its coal communities and electric ratepayers are among the primary benefactors of the administration’s suite of actions to “unshackle” the industry from the “anti-coal” policies of the Biden administration, said Gov. Mark Gordon, who joined top administration officials in D.C. on Monday to celebrate Trump’s coal revival package.
“Instead of talking about restricting, limiting, regulating our energy, we want to make sure it’s appropriately managed,” Gordon told reporters Tuesday morning during a virtual press conference. “But at the same time, we’re not going to use regulation to try to curtail or stymie any particular type of production.”
The coal industry’s dramatic 15-year slide has cut Wyoming production by nearly half, coinciding with the retirement of aging power plants, a shift to natural gas-fired electric generation and increasingly price-competitive wind and solar energy.
Those market shifts, however, were unduly influenced — at least in part — by punishing regulations on coal and tax incentives that obscured the actual competitiveness of renewables, Gordon said.
President Donald Trump’s coal initiatives will help level the playing field, he said, and provide the coal industry an opportunity to “upgrade” technologies such as coal-carbon capture while bringing down the cost. To date, the technology remains too costly and, if installed on an existing coal plant, would sap electrical output by up to 30%, according to Wyoming utilities.
“Some of the [federal coal] grants will go to those technologies, so we’ll continue to work on that,” Gordon said, responding to a WyoFile question. “You’re right, some of these plants are decades old, and there’s been a view that we’re going to [phase out coal], so [there’s not been enough investment] in that. This is an opportunity to reinvest and be able to equalize those costs over time.”
Conservation groups, however, say the Trump administration is waging a war on renewable energy while placing a risky bet on coal that threatens public health and environmental safety.
“There’s no such thing as clean coal,” Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Rachael Hamby said in a prepared statement. “This announcement is just a plan to pollute more and rip off taxpayers while insisting that power companies use a more expensive fuel that they don’t even want.”
Earthjustice vowed to “continue to take the administration to court to oppose unlawful actions to prop up coal at the expense of the American people,” according to a statement by the group.
“Clean energy and other climate solutions are driving significant growth in our economy, but this administration is choosing to throw its weight behind fossil fuel industries and stymie progress,” Earthjustice Vice President of Litigation for Climate and Energy Jill Tauber said in a prepared statement.
Asked about the near-term carbon-emission implications of extending the use of coal-burning power plants, Gordon said, “I think, probably, the answer is fairly clear: There’ll be more CO2 production.
“It’s also pretty clear,” Gordon continued, “that just doing renewables did not stop that, and I think that’s the reason why this [carbon capture technology] is so exciting to continue … to be able to develop the technology to do a better job of being able to manage our carbon emissions.”
Click this U.S. Department of Energy link to learn more about the Trump administration’s coal funding package.
No matter where you are in the world, the #1 problem facing mankind is Climate Change. Everything else lines up behind that. Everything.
Wyoming leadership and state sanctioned policy is entirely on the Problem side of the equation, offering nothing towards Solutions.
The most recent coal-fired power unit placed in service in the United States was Unit 3 at the John W. Turk Jr. Power Plant in Arkansas, which began commercial operation in December 2012. Since then, no new major coal-fired units have been commissioned, and the trend has overwhelmingly shifted toward retirements rather than new builds. Even though this 600 MW (nameplate) unit is ultrasupercritical, it still rejects (wastes) 2/3rds of the heat energy to the environment. No new coal-fired units are planned anywhere in the USA.
If there is an intent to “upgrade” existing coal-fired units (whatever that means), that will prove to be a REALLY costly process, requiring major component replacement, and perhaps additional environmental controls. A large fraction of those components will have foreign sources.
The only way to burn more coal with this situation is to regulate the market to operate the existing coal-fired fleet on a “must run at full output” basis, such as currently done with nuclear generation. This will displace more-efficient, less polluting, and less expensive natural gas generation from the mix.
While Wyoming stands to benefit from increased thermal coal consumption within the USA, it will not return to it heydays (due to the hundreds of generating units retired over the last decade or so). At least, not without constructing NEW units perhaps on old sites.
Energy Secretary Wright said that if renewables cannot stand on their own after 30 years, stop trying to support them. Well, if coal cannot stand on its own after 200 years, why does it merit special support? Conservatives used to be about free markets. They used to complain about government bureaucrats picking winners and losers. If wind and solar are not worthy of government support, follow the logic and get rid of all energy subsidies. Let the marketplace decide how to provide energy.
Coal did stand on its own for 200 years until the liberal administrations began waging war on it. This infusion is going to support new technologies to capture carbon, not sustain the industry. I’m sure you’re all for electric everything, but where are you going to get the electricity? It’s been proven that solar and wind are not going to fill the void. Larger states already experience brownouts and blackouts due to lack of electricity and there are ZERO electrical grids being built in this country, so how exactly are you going to achieve the “all electric world?” With coal powered plants – that is how. This initiative is not picking a winner, it’s leveling the playing field.
Yeah let’s use the most expensive, dirtiest from of energy. Renewables also hire more workers. Feels like yuge step backwards.
Renewables cannot meet the demand (see brownouts and blackouts), and I would love to see the statistics that show renewables hire more employees than the coal industry. There is not one electrical grid being constructed in this country at this time, so what is the environmentalist answer to getting more electricity to places that need/demand it? Industries now demand more electricity than ever before, and like it or not, we now live in a global economy where China and India (the real carbon polluters on the planet) don’t care about the environment at all. Responsible use of coal powered power plants must be part of the equation until our country gets over the fear of nuclear power.
What fossil fuel company provides your paycheck, Wayne ? The same one that pays you under the table for gross disinformation about alternative energy , I would proffer…
Textbook case of Fossil Fuel, Fossil Thinking.
Everything is a disaster according to enviro’s.