The Trump administration plans to boost the coal mining and power industries with access to public lands and federal funding. On Monday, the Bureau of Land Management announced 13.1 million acres of public land would be opened to coal mining, while the Department of Energy unveiled $625 million for power plant upgrades designed to keep aging coal plants running.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said keeping aging coal plants running will help maintain grid reliability as electricity demand surges from data centers powering artificial intelligence. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum framed the land opening as delivering on President Donald Trump’s promise to restore “American Energy Dominance,” tripling coal leasing benchmarks set by the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” passed earlier this year.
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The coordinated policy shift aims to reverse years of coal industry contraction driven by competition from cheaper natural gas and renewable energy. It’s also a continuation away from the Biden administration, which pursued regulation that would have sped up the retirement of some coal plants, citing climate change and public health concerns. The initiatives follow executive orders to bolster coal power and directives for coal plants to stay open beyond their originally planned retirement date. However, the policies have drawn pushback from environmental and public health groups.
“Coal built the greatest industrial engine the world has ever known,” Wright said in a press release, adding that the federal funds are “vital to keeping electricity prices low and the lights on without interruption.”
What are the details of new coal power proposals?
The largest portion of Energy Department funding, $350 million, will be allocated toward recommissioning and retrofitting coal power units to restore capacity and extend operational lifespans. Another $175 million will fund projects in rural communities, where coal plants serve as major employers and tax revenue sources.
Smaller funding streams include $50 million for advanced wastewater management systems, $25 million for dual-firing retrofits that enable plants to switch between coal and natural gas and another $25 million for natural gas cofiring systems.
The Interior Department opened 13.1 million acres for coal leasing while reducing royalty rates to 7%. Bureau of Land Management officials said the lower rate will help U.S. producers compete in global markets while still generating taxpayer revenue.
Lease sales are already underway at Freedom Mine and Falkirk Mine in North Dakota, with major expansions planned at various other sites. Interior said these sales represent hundreds of millions of tons of coal and decades of production.
“We are strengthening our economy, protecting national security, and ensuring that communities from Montana to Alabama benefit from good-paying jobs,” Burgum said, in a press release.
What is the controversy around coal power?
Public health groups have criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to extend America’s reliance on coal power.
“It is a step backward, especially for those living closest to these sources of pollution,” Will Barrett, assistant vice president for clean air policy at the American Lung Association, told Straight Arrow News.
The Environmental Protection Agency has recognized that coal power plants are a significant source of pollution due to emissions of sulfur dioxide, mercury, particulate matter and carbon dioxide — a driver of climate change. A study from the American Lung Association found that particulate matter causes 50,000 premature deaths per year in the United States.
Barrett explained how particulate matter can bypass the body’s defenses and enter the blood stream, contributing to heart attacks and strokes. Sulfur dioxide exposure can impair lung function and cause asthma. Barrett also said increasing coal mining could lead to a resurgence of black lung disease from inhaling coal dust.
“We are putting more pollution back into people’s lungs as we’re keeping coal plants online,” Barrett said.
In their announcements, the federal agencies backing coal said that it’s vital to the nation’s economy. Both the DOE and BLM evoked the phrase “beautiful, clean coal,” but did not address the health concerns.
Wright said bolstering the coal industry is “essential to powering America’s reindustrialization and winning the AI race.”
