News | Headlines
Executive orders to boost coal production
USA Coal power
President Donald Trump on 9 April signed a series of four executive orders aimed at boosting the struggling coal industry, arguing that although it has long been in decline it can be revived to meet future high energy demands from manufacturing and the huge data centres needed for the expected uptake of artificial intelligence and electric cars. Trump, who has pushed for US ‘energy dominance’ in the global market, has long suggested that coal can help meet surging electricity demand.
“We’re ending Joe Biden’s war on beautiful, clean coal once and for all,’’ he said at the signing. “All those plants that have been closed are going to be opened, if they’re modern enough, or they’ll be ripped down and brand new ones will be built. And we’re going to put the miners back to work.” Under four orders, Trump used his emergency authority to allow some older coal-fired power plants set for retirement to keep producing electricity. Trump also directed federal agencies to identify coal resources on federal lands, lift barriers to coal mining and prioritise coal leasing on US land.
In a related action, Trump also signed a proclamation offering coal-fired power plants a two-year exemption from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic and benzene.
The offer to power plants and other industrial polluters gives them an opportunity to gain exemptions from rules imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA, under Trump appointee Lee Zeldin, has set up an electronic mailbox
to allow regulated companies to request a presidential exemption under the Clean Air Act to a host of Biden–era rules. “Pound for pound, coal is the single most reliable, durable, secure and powerful form of energy,” Trump said at the signing. “It’s cheap, incredibly efficient, high density, and it’s almost indestructible.”
Trump’s orders also direct Interior secretary Doug Burgum to “acknowledge the end” of an Obama-era moratorium that paused coal leasing on federal lands and require federal agencies to rescind policies transitioning the nation away from coal production. And they seek to promote coal and coal technology exports, and accelerate development of coal technologies.
Targeting Democrat states Trump also targeted what he called ‘overreach’ by Democratic-controlled states to limit energy production to slow climate change. He ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to take “all appropriate action to stop the enforcement” of such laws. But the governors of New York and New Mexico, Kathy Hochul and Michelle Lujan Grisham, who are co-chairs of the US Climate Alliance, hit back, saying that said Trump’s order illegally attempts to usurp states’ rights to act on climate. “The federal government cannot unilaterally strip states’ independent constitutional authority. We are a nation of states – and laws – and we will not be deterred,” the two Democrats said. “We will keep advancing solutions to the climate crisis that safeguard Americans’ fundamental right to clean air and water (and) grow the clean energy economy.”
The climate alliance is a bipartisan coalition of 24 governors representing nearly 55% of the US population.
Impact on the US economy An article online on 10 April by ABC News staff asserted that ‘It no longer makes economic sense to maintain or build coal-fired plants”. It continued “president Donald Trump’s quest to conduct a resurgence of coal production and utilisation in the US is far-fetched and unlikely, according to energy experts.” The likelihood that the US will return to a heavy reliance on coal is improbable, given the current energy infrastructure, emerging technologies and global trends, energy experts told ABC News. In the USA coal is used primarily for the generation of electricity, but US coal power capacity has been declining in recent decades. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, in 2011, coal accounted for more than 40% of total electricity generation in the country. By 2016, that percentage had dropped to about 16%. The major driver for the decline in coal use is the economic competition with cheaper and cleaner fuels, such as natural gas and renewables, Ryna Cui, research director for the Centre for Global Sustainability at the University of Maryland, told ABC News.
“Coal plants are no longer economically viable, and these executive orders will do nothing to change the basic underlying market dynamics,” said Sanya Carley, presidential distinguished professor at the Kleinman Centre for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.
Peabody signs multi-year coal contract USA Coal power
Major coal producer Peabody has announced the signing of a contract to provide seven to eight million tons of coal per year to Associated Electric Co- operative Inc for at least the next seven years.
“This substantial agreement
demonstrates the ongoing importance of Peabody’s coal in providing reliable, affordable baseload electricity for years to come,” said Peabody president and chief executive officer Jim Grech. “American demand for electricity is growing for the first time in many years given increased power needs from data centres and
8 | May 2025 |
www.modernpowersystems.com
artificial intelligence. We are pleased to extend our long-term relationship with Associated and look forward to supplying their fuel needs well into the future.” Under this new contract, Peabody will supply Associated’s coal requirements for the New Madrid power plant and Thomas Hill Energy Centre in Missouri from the North Antelope Rochelle mine (NARM), located in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. Peabody’s NARM mine has delivered coal to Associated generating stations for over 30 years. It is the largest coal mine in North America and one of the largest in the world, selling 60 million tons of coal in 2024.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49
