President Trump signs orders aimed at boosting coal production in Kentucky and around US
President Donald Trump signed executive orders Tuesday aimed at boosting the coal industry in Kentucky and across the country.
The order would ease restrictions on mining, leasing and exports; tell the Interior Department to resume coal leasing on millions of acres of public lands; and order a study whether more coal-fired power plants could supply electricity for artificial intelligence data centers, according to the Washington Post.
Trump was backed by coal miners as he made the announcement, saying he was undoing environmental policies that hurt coal under former President Joe Biden.
“We will end the government bias against coal,” Trump said.
Republican U.S. Reps. Andy Barr, of Lexington and Hal Rogers, from Somerset, attended the announcement, and Tony Campbell, chief executive officer of East Kentucky Power Cooperative, spoke.
Campbell thanked Trump for “providing immediate, much needed relief” from Biden regulations “that would force the shutdown of critical coal units.”
“America must keep coal plants open and running to ensure reliable electricity when we need it most,” Campbell said. “To meet growing demand over the next decade and ensure fuel security, America will need more always-available power, such as coal.”
Coal production in Kentucky and elsewhere has fallen dramatically from levels seen in the early 2000s because of a variety of factors.
A report released during Trump’s first term said that competition from natural gas was chief among those reasons, more than environmental regulations, though other factors include the rise of renewable energy sources and concerns that carbon emissions from burning coal to make electricity is a key contributor to climate change.
Kentucky produced 28 million tons of coal in 2004 and 26.9 million tons as recently as early 2011, but the industry saw a sharp slump beginning in 2012, according to the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet.
Coal jobs have gone down significantly as well from 2011.
Coal accounted for about half the electricity production in the U.S in 2015, but that dropped to 16.2 percent in 2023 as utilities retired coal plants or used them less often, according to Inside Climate News, citing federal figures.
More coal-plant retirements are planned for this year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
But many in the utility industry have sounded warnings that the loss of coal-fired plants risks leaving the country short on electricity as demand rises.
“For the better part of a decade, grid experts have warned the rapid loss of essential dispatchable capacity – driven by an enormously damaging regulatory agenda – was incompatible with preserving a reliable and affordable supply of power,” an industry group called Count on Coal said in a recent release.
“The emergence of soaring power demand has transformed the looming threat into an immediate five-alarm fire.”
Trump promised a resurgence of coal jobs in his first term, but that didn’t materialize.
East Kentucky Power Cooperative, which is based in Winchester and supplies electricity to more than 1 million customers in the state through member co-ops, said in a statement that coal “is and will continue to be a vital part of a reliable, diversified electric grid.”
East Kentucky has gas-fired power production and some renewable production, but most of the electricity it produces comes from coal plants near Maysville and in Pulaski County.
“Today’s action by President Trump is a big step in keeping coal plants open and keeping the grid reliable,” the utility said in the statement.
“No new coal-fueled power plants are under construction in the U.S. today because of previous administrations’ policies that drive up the compliance costs of newly built plants.”
Some environmentalists said Trump’s actions were misguided.
Lane Boldman, chair of the Kentucky Conservation Committee, said there will be more demand for electricity from data centers, but it would be better to meet that with renewable energy.
The country would better served to invest in upgrading the grid and investing in storage for renewable energy, she said.
Boldman said she doubted Trump’s orders will bring a significant boost to the coal industry.
“I don’t see that changing the coal market in Kentucky,” she said.
This story was originally published April 8, 2025 at 6:58 PM.
