Most people do not understand the value of coal or that critical minerals can be found in the pot ash removed from coal plants. This could be critical in becoming independent from China’s critical mineral domination.
Other key uses are in cement and steel. We tracked coal use in California for years, and early on, we found that coal use remained steady even though no coal plants were operating in California. Oh, it was the cement and manufacturing you must use for high temperatures not economically achievable with wind and solar. This was actually the start of “Turley’s Law,” which is the premise that more money spent on wind, solar, and hydrogen will result in more fossil fuels being used.
President Trump’s coal-focused Executive Orders, signed on April 8, 2025, aim to bolster the United States’ electrical grid by enhancing reliability and addressing rising energy demands, particularly from emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Based on available information, here’s how these orders are intended to support the grid:
- Preventing Coal Plant Closures: One key order uses emergency authority to keep older coal-fired power plants, previously slated for retirement, operational. This is meant to maintain existing capacity on the grid, especially as electricity demand surges—projected to rise 16% over the next five years, triple the growth forecasted a year ago. With coal currently supplying about 16% of U.S. electricity, retaining these plants could provide a buffer against potential shortages, particularly during peak demand periods like extreme weather events when renewables might falter.
- Increasing Coal Utilization: The orders encourage existing coal plants, which typically operate at about 40% capacity, to ramp up production—potentially to 70% or 90%. This could increase the availability of dispatchable, 24/7 power, which is critical for grid stability. Unlike solar or wind, coal can generate electricity consistently, helping to balance the grid when intermittent renewable sources are insufficient, such as during winter storms or heat waves.
- Supporting Energy-Intensive Industries: The administration highlights coal’s role in meeting the needs of AI data centers and manufacturing resurgence. Data centers, expected to consume 9% of U.S. electricity by 2030 (up from 4% in 2022), require reliable, high-density power. By prioritizing coal, the orders aim to ensure these facilities have the energy needed without straining the grid, which is already grappling with aging infrastructure like the 80 million transformers averaging over 40 years old.
- Streamlining Grid Reliability Measures: Another order directs the Secretary of Energy to develop a uniform methodology for analyzing reserve margins across the grid, accrediting resources based on historical performance, and preventing significant generation losses. This could help identify and preserve critical coal plants, ensuring the grid maintains adequate reserves to handle demand spikes or unexpected outages.
- Reducing Regulatory Pressure: By lifting Biden-era restrictions, such as stringent Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), and offering a two-year relief period, the orders aim to keep coal plants economically viable. This could prevent shutdowns that might otherwise destabilize the grid, especially in regions heavily reliant on coal, like Wyoming, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
- Challenging State Policies: The Justice Department is tasked with identifying and fighting state-level climate policies that phase out fossil fuels, protecting coal miners’ interests.
- Lifting Barriers to Coal Mining: The Interior Department, led by Secretary Doug Burgum, is instructed to end the Obama-era moratorium on coal leasing, opening millions of acres of federal land for extraction and prioritizing leasing processes.
- Emergency Powers for Plants: Trump invoked emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to prevent the closure of aging coal-fired power plants, arguing they are critical for meeting rising electricity needs.
- Challenging State Policies: The Justice Department is tasked with identifying and fighting state-level climate policies that phase out fossil fuels, protecting coal miners’ interests.
- Financial Support: $200 billion is made available through the Energy Department’s loan programs to support coal technologies, such as those for building materials and batteries.
From an overall view of the three main sections of the United States grid system, this is huge. There is a limit to the new natural gas plants that can come online due to pipelines and natural gas turbines. As I have mentioned, ERCOT is looking good, and I will need to look into how fast the clean coal technology can spin back up. As an export service, this has been one of the best money-making areas for decades.
To my surprise, there is already one coal plant announced, and it is the Susitna Power Station in Alaska.
You can see that there are 401 operating coal power plants in the United States currently producing electricity, with 45 of them being canceled. For a total of 3,499 MW, and we would be in rolling blackouts daily without them.
David Blackmon posted out on his Substack this morning a critical point:
These actions aim to designate coal as a “mineral” under Trump’s prior executive order 14241 from March 2025. That order established a series of actions designed to stimulate domestic production and processing of minerals considered to be “critical energy minerals” as defined by 30 U.S.C. 1606(a)(3), as well as uranium, copper, potash, gold, and any other element, compound or material as determined by the Chair of the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) chaired by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Tuesday’s actions specifically direct Sec. Wright to assess whether coal used in steel production qualifies as a “critical material” or “critical mineral.” This step ties into Trump’s efforts to reshore manufacturing, including heavy industries like steelmaking, to the U.S. in the coming years.
Without this action in the United States, we would have no chance of getting the shipyards and steel or rebuilding the middle class. I, for one, am enjoying the show and hope we keep rolling down the path to energy sanity. I am still impressed with Chris Wright, Doug Bergham, and Lee Zelden and their performance. They have a formidable job and are at the center of keeping President Trump’s promises to cut energy costs.
California and other Democrat controlled states will be entertaining to watch as their energy hypocrisy continues to get exposed. California is importing over 70% of its oil from foreign sanctioned countries, and this costs the California citizens billions in taxes and higher energy costs. Not to mention the damage to the environment.
What are your thoughts on the tariff wars?
We give you energy news and help invest in energy projects too, click here to learn more
Energy News Beat