Trump Orders More Coal Production and Use. That Means More Pollution, Wrecked Public Lands, Health Problems, and a Threat to Clean Energy
Trump is seeking to expand production of coal, and other "critical minerals." Many parts of rural America could face more pollution + damage to public land, public health, and jobs in clean energy.
President Donald Trump signed a series of Executive Orders yesterday (April 8, 2025) that seek to expand U.S. coal production and use to address growing electricity demand. Trump’s orders, “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241,” “Protecting American Energy from State Overreach,” and “Strengthening the Reliability and Security of the United States Electric Grid,” contribute to his “energy dominance” agenda.
Trump claims that his orders are meant to address growing energy demand to power data centers and the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. Trump also called for more coal exports, even as his Trade War rages on. These goals could prove to be a difficult challenge for Trump, who presided over a huge decline in coal during his first term despite promises to the contrary. Trump seems to be ignoring the fact that clean energy is rapidly adding production capacity and jobs each year while coal is in steep decline.
The President’s early-term energy policy amounts to fossil fuel expansion pared with slashing federal government support for the rapidly growing clean energy sector (primarily solar and wind). The ramifications for rural America, where most fossil fuel mining and drilling occurs, could be enormous. If Trump is successful, increased local pollution to air and water is likely and would create new public health threats and risks to infrastructure. Climate-changing carbon pollution would rise after decades of declines in emissions from the industry sector.
Trump spoke at the White House in front of a crowd of miners and fossil fuel supporters, repeatedly making the case for “beautiful clean coal. . . . Never use the word ‘coal’ unless you put ‘beautiful, clean’ before it.”
Trump’s directive is based on his “energy emergency” claims. The combined emergency orders would:
Empower the Chair of the “National Energy Dominance Council” (NEDC) to prioritize energy production on federal public lands rather than honor the long-held (and sometimes contentious) multiple use directives. The NEDC is led by Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, both of whom have spent their careers boosting fossil fuels while bashing clean energy.
Define coal as a “mineral” in order to put the rock on federal “critical material” and “critical mineral” lists.
Cancel Obama and Biden Administration rules that require climate pollution to be considered in permitting decisions.
Allow coal mining to skirt bedrock environmental laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Endangered Species Act in order to fast-track coal development.
Direct the Attorney General to take action against states with laws and policies that address “climate change” or involve “‘environmental, social, and governance’ initiatives, ‘environmental justice,’ carbon or ‘greenhouse gas’ emissions, and funds to collect carbon penalties or carbon taxes.”
Federal response to the orders was immediate. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced their decision to reopen federal coal leasing in the nation’s largest coal field, the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana. The Biden Administration had previously ruled that future coal leases would not be offered in the region.
“Like his recent tariffs, the executive order that President Trump signed presumes Americans are living in the distant past,” said Dr. Barbara Vasquez, Board Chair of Western Organization of Resource Councils, “It makes no economic, financial, or market sense and is simply a gift to corporate polluters that rural communities will have to pay for through higher electric bills, worsened air quality, and toxic pollution of public lands and waters.”
Coal production has been in steep decline in the U.S. since it peaked in 2008. Wind and solar combined made up a larger percentage of U.S. electricity production than coal for the first time in 2024, with wind + solar producing 17% compared with coal’s 15%. The number of jobs in wind and solar far outpaces coal mining jobs, with wind and solar jobs currently growing while coal mining jobs continue to drop.
The Trump Administration’s push for more fossil fuel development on public lands is already working to cancel “mineral withdrawals” and other protections implemented by previous Presidents. So far, the list includes:
Reopening up to 82% of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska available to leasing and expanding energy development opportunities in the approximately 23-million-acre reserve.
Reinstating a program that makes the entire 1.56-million-acre Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge available for oil and gas leasing.
Revoking withdrawals along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Corridor and Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River in order to convey these lands to State of Alaska. This action would pave the way forward for the proposed Ambler Road and the Alaska Liquified Natural Gas Pipeline project.
Canceling the Biden Administration’s mineral withdrawal that would have prevented oil, gas and geothermal development on 264,000 acres of public land in Nevada’s Ruby Mountains.
Canceling the Biden Administration’s mining ban on 165,000 acres of public land in the New Mexico’s Upper Pecos River Valley.
The Cocklebur covers rural policy and politics from a progressive point-of-view. Our work focuses on a tangled rural political reality of dishonest debate, economic and racial disparities, corporate power over our democracy, and disinformation peddled by conservative media outlets. We aim to use facts, data, and science to inform our point-of-view. We wear our complicated love/WTF relationship with rural America on our sleeve.
