Trump announces $700 million support for US coal projects

US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he was using Cold War era legislation to tap $700 million in funding for a slew of coal projects -- his latest push to increase use of the most-polluting fossil fuel.

Trump said the money would be used to keep more than a dozen coal plants in ten states and 42 mines open, as well as to build two new coal plants and an export terminal. 

The funds will be made available through the Defense Production Act, which was enacted in 1950 and gives the US president emergency power over domestic industries.

"Today, we're taking historic action to bring down the price of energy and the cost of living for all Americans, with the power of clean, beautiful coal," Trump said.

Trump frequently calls human-induced climate change "a hoax" and has worked since returning to power last year to wipe out a number of environmental regulations, many of which limited fossil fuel use.

Coal is the fuel that emits the highest levels of greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change. 

Trump said the new initiative involved redirecting $200 million from climate change projects towards a coal plant in Maryland and two new plants in Alaska and West Virginia.

The new coal export terminal will be built in California with the capacity to handle 12 million tons of the fossil fuel, Trump said. 

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright described coal as "a critical source of our electricity" and praised Trump's championing of the fuel.

"Seventeen coal plants were not closed in 2025 because of President Trump sitting at this desk," he said, as the president beamed at the praise.

"President Trump is the president with the courage and the boldness to defend an industry that has been maligned for far too long and to recognize its importance."

A 2023 Harvard study found that exposure to fine particulate air pollutants from coal-fired power plants had double the risk of mortality from similar particles from other sources.

Using Medicare and emissions data in the United States from 1999 to 2020, the researchers found 460,000 deaths were attributable to such pollution from coal in that period.

New US coal policy

The world built and commissioned more coal power in 2025, but used the polluting fuel less, with the United States the only major economy to substantially increase generation, analysis by the Global Energy Monitor shows.

In 2025, coal accounted for 17 percent of US power generation, according to official data.

Thursday's announcement was Trump's latest effort to fortify the fossil fuel.

On February 11, Trump signed an executive order directing US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to enter into long-term supply contracts with US coal power plants.

In a photo op at the White House signing of that order, the president was feted as the "undisputed champion" of coal, surrounded by miners in hard hats.

Andrew Duncan, a 28-year-old coal miner in Indiana, told AFP on Thursday that he had struggled in recent years as US policy had shifted away from the fuel.

"Having a president that backs your source of income, backs how you provide for your family, it feels good," he said.

Trump has also repealed a 2009 EPA "endangerment finding" underpinning US climate regulations. A coalition of environmental and health groups have challenged the action in court.

Global average temperatures are likely to continue at or near record levels this year and for the next four years afterwards, the United Nations warned last week. 

UN climate chief Simon Stiell said the "main culprit" of warming temperatures was humanity's burning of coal, oil and gas, which is the primary driver of climate change.

On Thursday, environmental groups slammed Trump's announcement.

"If Trump actually cared about delivering affordable, abundant energy, he'd stop sabotaging the cheaper, faster-to-build clean energy that could actually deliver it," said Evergreen Action Executive Director Lena Moffitt.

"Instead, he's handing hundreds of millions to coal executives and leaving families with toxic air and higher bills while doing nothing to address the energy crisis his own administration created."