Trump orders coal revival to power AI centres
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The news: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) signed four executive orders to bolster the coal industry, including ending a leasing moratorium on federal land, expediting permits and directing agencies to “end all discriminatory policies” against the industry.
At a White House event flanked by coal miners in hard hats, Trump said coal was “just about the best in terms of power” and claimed his executive orders are legally protected from reversal.
He called the Paris Agreement a “scam” and claimed coal's value is “a hundred times greater than all the gold in Fort Knox”.
The context: The orders promote coal as a power source for artificial intelligence data centres, impose a moratorium on “unscientific and unrealistic policies” of the Biden administration, and instruct the Justice Department to challenge “unconstitutional” state laws that “discriminate against coal.”
The move follows widespread job cuts last week at the Department of Health and Human Services, where the Trump administration eliminated several entire divisions focused on the safety of mining workers, NBC News noted.
Trump repeatedly described coal as “beautiful, clean coal,” urging aides “never use the word coal unless you put beautiful clean before it.”
However, coal is widely regarded as the dirtiest fossil fuel. According to the US Energy Information Administration, coal power produces more than twice as much carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour as gas.
The numbers: Coal power has declined for more than a decade due to competition from natural gas and renewables. The dirty fuel made up 16% of US electricity in 2023, down from 45% in 2010, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Coal electricity costs USD89 per megawatt hour, compared to USD31 for onshore wind and USD23 for solar, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
What they said: “I call it beautiful, clean coal. I told my people, never use the word coal unless you put beautiful clean before it,” Trump said at the White House ceremony.
Former EPA head Gina McCarthy said in a statement, “There is no such thing as clean coal,” and called the move “expensive, dangerous, and dirty.”
The sources: CSpan , NBC News , The Guardian
