Trump Signs Executive Orders to Revive ‘Beautiful Clean Coal’ in Blow to US Emissions Reduction Efforts

The Trump administration is looking to revive an industry in decline both in the US and globally. Coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, is the single-largest source of carbon emissions and a large source of air pollution. Some 460,000 deaths in the US between 1999 and 2020 were attributable to coal-fired power plant pollution.

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US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed four executive orders aimed at reviving coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, and eliminate Biden-era laws meant to curb greenhouse gases both within states and nationwide.

The White House said the orders will invigorate the coal industry.

Standing in front of a group of coal miners at the White House, Trump said that his administration “will rapidly expedite leases for coal mining on federal lands” and “streamline permitting.”

The order paving the way for all this describes coal as “beautiful,” “clean,” “abundant and cost effective,” and capable of meeting the nation’s rising electricity demand. It directs federal agencies to identify and eliminate policies that discourage investment in coal production and coal-fired electricity generation.

But the order fails to mention that coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, is the single-largest source of fossil fuel carbon emissions (40%), responsible for over 0.3C of the 1.2C increase in global average temperatures since the Industrial Revolution, and a major contributor to air pollution. 

In fact, nations worldwide are turning away from coal.

Nearly 60 countries have drastically scaled back their plans for building coal-fired power plants since the Paris Agreement was passed in 2015, including some of the world’s biggest coal users like Turkey, Vietnam, and Japan. Nations including Germany, South Korea, and the UK phased out coal altogether.

A similar attempt to revive the industry by the first Trump administration failed, with nearly 100 coal plants retiring or announcing retirements during Trump’s first term. 

Now, Trump is back at it, working to fulfil his campaign promise to “unleash American energy.” But reviving an industry in decline even in the US means eliminating existing policies introduced by former president Joe Biden last year in a bid to curb emissions.

In this regard, one of the orders allows some older coal-fired power plants scheduled for retirement to keep producing electricity, bypassing a Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency’s rule regulating emissions of hazardous air pollutants from coal and gas power plants.

Another order instructs the Justice Department to identify and “take all appropriate action to stop the enforcement” of State laws addressing polluting forms of energy, like California’s cap-and-trade system.

Trump said going back to coal was a necessity in light of “an unprecedented surge in electricity demand” owing to the rapid expansion of data centers for artificial intelligence and a surge in domestic manufacturing.

‘Stuck in the Past’

Reactions to the executive orders were mixed, with fossil fuel-friendly states like Wyoming and West Virginia celebrating the move and environmentalists condemning it as another serious blow to the nation’s efforts to curb emissions.

Officials in Wyoming – the nation’s leading coal producer – called it “a great day for Wyoming coal” and defended coal as “the energy of the future.”

But environmentalists warned that the a return to coal will lead to higher electricity prices for consumers and hazardous levels of air pollution.

Sierra Club’s Florida Chapter Director Susannah Randolph said Trump’s move will result in higher electricity bills for Americans. “Coal is uneconomical, bad for our health, and destructive to our planet,” Randolph said.

The grassroots environmental organization also warned of the health risks associated with coal, arguing that “[f]orcing coal plants to stay online will cost Americans more, get more people sick with respiratory and heart conditions, and lead to more premature deaths.” A 2023 paper found that some 460,000 deaths in the US between 1999 and 2020 were attributable to coal-fired power plant pollution.

“The real emergency is not the lack of coal, but Trump’s order to open up America’s beautiful public lands to coal mining and expedite coal leasing and permitting,” said Democratic Senator Ed Market. “Attempts to revive this dying industry are not only costly to American taxpayers, but a danger to public health and our environment.”

Some experts also pointed out that coal is in steep decline in the US compared with increasingly cheap renewables and gas. Coal accounted for just 10% of the US’s total energy supply in 2023.

“Coal plants are old and dirty, uncompetitive and unreliable,” said Kit Kennedy, Managing Director of power at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The Trump administration is stuck in the past, trying to make utility customers pay more for yesterday’s energy. Instead, it should be doing all it can to build the electricity grid of the future.”

Featured image: The White House/Flickr.