April 8 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed four executive orders designed to make the United States “energy dominant” and “unleash” the nation’s energy reserves, including coal.
“Today, we took historic action to help American workers, miners, families and consumers,” Trump said Tuesday in a Truth Social post. “We’re ending Joe Biden’s war on beautiful, clean coal once and for all, and we’re going to put the miners back to work!”
Trump announced his support for coal mining while signing several executive orders that are designed to restore the nation’s energy independence and make it an “energy-dominant” nation.
The executive orders are intended to “reinvigorate” the coal industry, protect the nation’s energy resources from “state overreach” and strengthen the nation’s electric grid by “unleashing American energy.”
Meeting rising demand for electricity
“In order to secure America’s economic prosperity and security, lower the cost of living and provide for increases in electrical demand from emerging technologies, we must increase domestic energy production,” Trump said in the coal executive order.
“Coal is abundant and cost-effective and can be used in any weather condition,” the executive order says. “Our beautiful clean coal resources will be critical to meeting the rise in electricity demand due to the resurgence of domestic manufacturing and the construction of artificial intelligence data processing centers.”
Trump’s executive order says the nation has “vast” coal resources worth trillions of dollars that will contribute to national energy independence, lower electricity costs, stabilize the electrical grid, support high-paying jobs, support industries and help the nation’s allies with coal exports to them.
“Coal is essential to our national and economic security,” the coal executive order says. “It is a national priority to support the domestic coal industry by removing federal regulatory barriers that undermine coal production.”
The coal executive order requires the Energy, Agriculture and Interior secretaries to submit a consolidated report within 60 days that identifies coal resources and reserves on federal lands and any impediments to mining them.
The Energy and Interior departments also are ordered to determine if coal qualifies as a “critical material” and a “critical mineral” for the production of steel as defined by the Environmental Quality Policy Act.
Eliminating state energy impediments
Trump also ordered the removal of “illegitimate impediments” by states that affect the production and use of domestic energy resources, especially oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, geothermal, biofuel, critical mineral and nuclear energy sources.
“An affordable and reliable domestic energy supply is essential to the national and economic security of the United States as well as our foreign policy,” the Protecting American Energy from State Overreach executive order says.
“Simply put, Americans are better off when the United States is energy-dominant,” the executive order says.
The order says states impede domestic energy production through fines, retroactive penalties and policies that seek to control energy development, siting or production on federal land.
“Many states have enacted or are in the process of enacting burdensome and ideologically motivated ‘climate change’ or energy policies that threaten American energy dominance and our national security,” the executive order says.
New York and Vermont laws would retroactively fine energy producers for “past contributions to greenhouse gas emissions” anywhere in the world, according to the executive order.
California law imposes limits on carbon use by businesses and forces them to trade carbon credits, and several states have created regulatory barriers to entry into the energy markets, the executive order says.
“These state laws and policies weaken our national security and devastate Americans by driving up energy costs for families coast to coast, “according to the order.
The state policies “try to dictate interstate and international disputes over air, water and natural resources, unduly discriminate against out-of-state businesses, contravene the equality of states and retroactively impose arbitrary and excessive fines without legitimate justification,” the order says.
Environmentalists won’t back down
While Trump says states are impeding energy production, at least one environmental group says states are protecting against dangers caused by coal use.
Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous said the executive orders won’t stop the environmental advocacy group from continuing to oppose coal mining and use via its “Beyond Coal” campaign, Politico reported.
“Under the first Trump administration, coal capacity retired at a faster rate compared to any other administration,” Jealous said.
“Just as we did then, we will not back down from Trump and his dangerous and deadly plans.”
Natural Resources Defense Council managing director for power Kit Kennedy criticized the executive orders.
“Trump tried this gambit in his last term. We fought it every step of the way – and it failed,” Kennedy told the Washington Post.
“With the gains made by solar, wind and battery power since then, bailing out coal makes even less sense today,” Kennedy said.
