The Trump administration appears to be doing everything it can to give the coal industry everything it wants. These efforts may not succeed, but unless legal challenges force a change in direction, they could keep a dying industry on life support and pass on the economic and environmental costs of doing so to the American people.
The National Coal Council, an advisory group that includes executives from coal mining companies and major U.S. power companies, met with Trump administration officials last week and laid out the following policy: 19 Recommendations. One of its key demands is for the government to issue grants and loans to build the first new U.S. coal-fired power plants in more than a decade. But the industry is also seeking interventions to keep existing coal-fired power plants open, including a suspension of federal power purchase agreements and environmental protections.
Trump administration officials were of the same understanding. “There is no path to a great and prosperous America without doing everything we can to save our nation’s coal-fired power plants and remove the barriers that open the door to coal-fired power expansion,” said Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
The overall goal is to halt the coal industry’s ongoing decline in the face of cheaper, cleaner power supply alternatives, said Ted Kelly, director and principal advisor for U.S. clean energy at the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund. EDF is one of several environmental groups and a handful of state attorneys general challenging the government’s environmental policy rollback in court.
The Trump administration is “They openly admit that their goal is to increase profits and increase fossil fuel operations in any way these companies want, without regard for the interests of ratepayers or the American people as a whole,” Kelly said.
Governments have many tools at their disposal to achieve these goals, especially when it comes to keeping older coal-fired power plants open after planned closures. But certain other goals, such as building new coal-fired power plants, will be much harder to achieve.
Can the United States build new coal-fired power plants?
New coal-fired power plants are the least viable item on the coal industry’s wish list, but that doesn’t mean the Trump administration will stop funding these projects.
In June, the U.S. Department of Energy announced plans to spend approx.425 Less than a million 1950 Revamp and support the Defense Production Act 13 Existing coal-fired power plants that we consider critical to national security. It also indicated about $100 $1 million for engineering and design of two new coal-fired power plants. 1.2-Alaska gigawatt facility and 1.6-Gigawatts has plans in West Virginia.
But for a coal-fired power plant of that size, federal funding is minimal. According to a report from CNNbased on an analysis prepared for the Wyoming Energy Department, costs $10 $1 billion to build West Virginia plant;8 $1 billion for the Alaska facility, assuming both use carbon capture technology as currently planned. These total costs are approximately double the cost of building a comparable natural gas power plant with carbon capture capabilities.
John Miller, managing director and energy transition policy analyst at the investment bank, said electricity from these plants is likely to be much more expensive than competing power alternatives such as gas, solar, wind and batteries. T.D. Cowen.
Electric power companies and independent power generation companies ““We would be happy to accept federal funding to extend the life of aging coal-fired power plants,” he said, but beyond projects in Alaska and West Virginia. ““No one is proposing to build new coal-fired power plants,” he said.
““It’s inconceivable that a coal-fired power plant would come online,” Kelly said. “But funds have been allocated to do so, and taxpayer money could be lost before that conclusion is reached. ”
He added that even more money could be wasted in attempts to restart intentionally shut down coal-fired power plants. Department of Energy Last month we provided $78 From a million AESowner of the Warrior Run coal-fired power plant in Maryland, which closed in 2016. 2024 However, recently, they are considering restarting it to meet the increasing demand for electricity.
