Coal industry celebrates as Trump directs Pentagon to buy coal power

New order ties military power to coal

President Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 11, 2026, telling the Pentagon to sign long-term deals to buy electricity from coal-fired power plants.

The signing happened at a White House event called “Champion of Coal,” with coal executives, miners, and lawmakers in the room.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum all attended. The administration said the move would secure reliable power for military bases.

Coal lobbying group honors Trump at event

The Washington Coal Club gave Trump its first-ever “Undisputed Champion of Coal” award during the ceremony.

The group is a D.C.-based nonprofit with more than 300 members, including coal producers, transporters, and legislators. It has been around since 1981.

Peabody Energy CEO Jim Grech handed Trump the award, a statue of a miner.

The White House press release described the honor as coming from “coal miners,” though a CEO from a lobbying group presented it.

Six coal plants get $175 million upgrade

Trump announced $175 million in Department of Energy funding to upgrade six coal plants in Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.

That money comes from a larger $625 million initiative the DOE announced in September 2025 to expand the coal industry.

The administration also brought back the National Coal Council, which held its first meeting on Jan. 15, 2026.

Peabody Energy CEO Jim Grech chairs the council, and Core Natural Resources CEO Jimmy Brock serves as vice chair.

TVA keeps two coal plants running indefinitely

Two days after the White House event, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s board voted to keep the Kingston and Cumberland coal plants in Tennessee open with no end date.

Both plants had been scheduled for full retirement by 2027 and 2028. The reversal keeps more than 3,000 megawatts of coal capacity online.

The board regained a quorum after Trump fired Biden-era appointees and four Trump nominees won Senate confirmation in December 2025. The board also dropped renewable energy goals and DEI policies from TVA’s plan.

Critics point to failures and rising costs

The Southern Environmental Law Center said keeping the coal plants open would raise pollution and electricity bills for millions of people.

The Cumberland plant lost 2,500 megawatts during Winter Storm Fern in early 2026, right when demand peaked. The same plant also failed during Winter Storm Elliott in 2022.

Past TVA leaders had flagged reliability problems at both aging facilities as a reason to retire them. Environmental groups argued that TVA decided without meaningful public input.

“Clean coal” carries a complicated record

The administration often uses the phrase “beautiful, clean coal,” but the term has no standard scientific definition.

Modern coal plants with pollution controls cut nitrogen oxides by about 83%, sulfur dioxide by about 98%, and particulate matter by about 99.8% compared to uncontrolled plants, according to Department of Energy research.

But coal still produces the highest concentration of greenhouse gas emissions of any fossil fuel.

Carbon capture technology exists, but as of a December 2023 Congressional Budget Office report, no carbon capture systems operated at U.S. coal plants.

Coal now produces just 15% of U.S. power

Coal generated about 51% of U.S. electricity in 2001. By 2024, that share had dropped to roughly 15%, an all-time low.

For the first time, wind and solar combined produced more electricity than coal nationwide that year. Wind and solar have now passed coal in 24 states.

Natural gas overtook coal as the top electricity source back in 2016. The shift has been steady and driven largely by cheaper alternatives.

Production ticked up but the trend points down

U.S. coal production fell about 11% in 2024 to around 512 million short tons, continuing a decades-long slide.

Production bounced back to about 533 million short tons in 2025, mostly because higher natural gas prices made coal temporarily more competitive.

The number of producing coal mines dropped from 560 to 524 in 2024, and average mine employment fell to about 44,060 workers. The Energy Information Administration forecasts production will decline again in 2027.

Pentagon rebranding adds confusion and cost

The executive order uses “Department of War,” a secondary title Trump gave the Pentagon through an executive order signed Sept. 5, 2025.

The legal name remains the Department of Defense because only Congress can formally rename a federal agency.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the rebranding could cost taxpayers between $10 million and $125 million, and potentially hundreds of millions more if made official. The Pentagon’s website changed to war.gov, and crews replaced signs at key entrances.

Administration pushes to keep coal plants alive

Trump signed executive orders in April 2025 designating coal as a mineral and lifting barriers to coal mining on federal lands.

The DOE has issued 19 emergency orders to prevent coal plant closures, keeping plants in Michigan, Colorado, Washington state, and Indiana running past planned shutdown dates.

The administration says it has prevented 17 gigawatts of coal power from going offline.

In one case, a Michigan utility reported $80 million in losses from a DOE order to keep a plant running, and passed the costs to ratepayers.

Coal costs keep climbing despite federal support

The EIA forecasts coal generation will fall about 6% in 2026 and about 4% in 2027, even with the administration’s support.

Coal plant operating costs rose about 28% between 2021 and 2024, nearly double the rate of inflation.

States that rely heavily on coal have seen electricity prices rise faster than states with more diverse energy sources. More than 90% of planned new electricity projects in the U.S. use wind, solar, or batteries.

The EIA still expects coal’s long-term decline to continue.

No new coal plants are on the horizon

The executive order does not name a dollar amount or timeline for Pentagon coal purchases. Those details will come from negotiations between the Defense Department and Department of Energy.

Congress has not passed any legislation backing the coal-related executive orders, so a future administration could reverse them.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission forecasts no new coal plants will open in the U.S. between now and mid-2028, while about 25 gigawatts of existing coal capacity is set to retire.

More than half the U.S. coal fleet, about 93 gigawatts, is still planned for retirement by 2035.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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