Trump signs executive order to boost U.S. coal industry, in part to fuel artificial intelligence
President Donald Trump signed executive orders Tuesday to bolster the country’s declining coal industry, relaxing restrictions on coal mining, leasing and exports in what the White House said was an effort to meet the energy-intensive needs of artificial intelligence data centers.
The executive orders were the latest moves by the Trump administration that clash with global aims to reduce coal power and cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change.
Standing before dozens of coal miners in uniform shirts and hard hats, Trump introduced the orders, repeatedly referring to “beautiful, clean coal.”
Coal is considered the dirtiest fossil fuel and historically the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Burning fossil fuels, which unleashes carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, is the primary contributor to global warming.
Trump’s executive actions will keep open some coal plants that were set for retirement, allow coal leasing on public lands to resume and will direct the Department of Energy and other federal agencies to assess how electricity from coal-fired power plants can meet rising demand for power from artificial intelligence.
The orders come as the Environmental Protection Agency under its new administrator, Lee Zeldin, has been aggressively rolling back various environmental regulations over the past month, including ones that target pollution from power plants and emissions generated by oil and gas companies.
The coal industry has been in decline in the U.S. for more than a decade. In 2023, coal generated about 16% of total electricity in the country, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration — down sharply from roughly 45% in 2010. The rise of renewable energy sources, including solar and wind power, have also lessened the country’s reliance on coal.
The push to revive the coal industry also runs counter to most Americans’ priorities, according to the latest public opinion research from Yale University.
The national survey found that two-thirds of Americans support a transition away from fossil fuels like coal to entirely clean energy by 2050. The research also found even broader support for regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, with 74% of those surveyed in favor of such regulations. Coal power produces more than twice as much carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour of electricity as gas power plants.
Burning coal to generate electricity could also cost Americans three to four times more than clean energy, according to estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Adding coal power would cost $89 per megawatt hour, compared with $31 for onshore wind or $23 for solar.
In widespread job cuts last week across the Department of Health and Human Services, the Trump administration also eliminated several entire divisions focused on the safety of mining workers.
Critics were quick to denounce Trump’s executive orders, with former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy saying the action will exacerbate climate change and damage public health.
“There is no such thing as clean coal,” McCarthy, who also served as White House national climate adviser in the Biden administration, said in a statement. “Just as Trump’s tariffs are hitting Americans’ wallets, his administration is wasting taxpayer dollars to prop up an expensive, dangerous, and dirty industry when we have abundant, cheaper, better, and safer clean energy.”
The rise of artificial intelligence has spurred a hunt for new energy resources, with some in tech pushing money toward more sustainable sources including nuclear energy. But the demand for energy from AI is expected to test even the relatively big and robust U.S. system, with some calling for greater investment in an effort to keep up with international rivals, most notably China.
Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs projected that the expansion of AI data centers will increase global power demand by 165% in the next five years.
