Trump to use wartime powers to dole out $700m to coal industry | US news
Donald Trump will use his wartime presidential authority to give $700 million to coal-fired power plants in the US; It’s the president’s latest move to support coal, which he calls “beautiful clean coal” even though it is the dirtiest of fossil fuels.
Trump is using the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era law used to ramp up American industrial production in times of national need, to provide grants for more than a dozen existing coal plants across the U.S., including facilities capable of exporting coal.
The president has long been a proponent of reviving the United States’ ailing coal industry, with Thursday’s White House event featuring supportive governors and lawmakers from coal-rich states such as Wyoming and West Virginia.
Over the past year, the Trump administration has doled out hundreds of millions of dollars to the coal industry, signed orders forcing taxpayers to pay extra to keep aging plants open and eliminated environmental rules that limit coal from seeping into Americans’ common air and water.
Management’s attempts to rebrand coal in a cute way have gone so far as to create a new giant-eyed mascot called Coalie and gush about it in social media posts. picture A pile of coal wearing sunglasses like on Love Island.
“I have a little order in the White House: Never use the word ‘coal,'” Trump said in a speech at the United Nations last year. “Only use the words ‘clean, beautiful coal’.”
Regardless of this terminology, coal is not clean. This is the most carbon intensive fossil fuel and therefore the leading cause of the climate crisis when burned. Coal also emits tiny toxic particles that make miners sick and trigger widespread respiratory and heart health problems across the United States. research predicted Some 460,000 deaths in the United States between 1999 and 2020 were attributable to air pollution from coal power plants alone, it said.
Environmental groups have strongly criticized the administration’s latest coal aid. “It is disgusting and reprehensible that the president of the United States is giving our taxpayer dollars to pay for deadly and expensive coal plants that will make Americans sicker and raise electricity prices even higher,” said Patrick Drupp, climate policy director at the Sierra Club.
“This declaration betrays everything Donald Trump has promised and only serves his big coal buddies who stroke his ego and give him shiny prizes.”
Trump’s efforts to reinvigorate the coal industry while hindering the rapid growth of clean energy such as solar and wind have so far failed. The number of people working in coal increased rejected has increased by over 90% in the last century and now there are more people study There are more Waffle Houses across the US than coal.
US coal production is currently less than half Same as in 2008; The use of coal as both fuel has been decreasing recently electric and as entrance For the manufacture of materials such as iron and steel. Cheap, plentiful gas has helped remove coal from power grids, and even cheaper renewable energy is now proliferating in the United States, too, despite administration efforts to eliminate it.
“What’s next, a taxpayer bailout to build new phone booths?” Kit Kennedy, senior climate advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said of the new round of support for coal: “It’s going to mean higher bills and dirtier air. What a waste.”
“Supporting coal billionaires with taxpayer money is just another way the Trump administration is prioritizing polluters and putting the rest of us at risk,” Kennedy added. “The best thing for our air, climate and electric bills is to let these facilities retire in peace.”
The coal industry has applauded Trump’s new order, arguing that increased coal production will help meet the historic increase in U.S. electricity demand driven by a booming AI industry.
“Coal production protects consumers from the impacts of volatile energy prices and supply challenges,” said Rich Nolan, executive director of the National Mining Association, adding that coal offers “a vital piece of a robust energy strategy designed to meet the challenges of today’s AI-driven demand surge in the context of conflict in the Middle East.”
