Heading into President Donald Trump’s second term, coal looked like an industry nearing the end of its life. Utilities planned to retire more than half of the nation’s coal-fired power plants by 2028, no new facilities were coming online, and production had been flat for years.
Trump’s first year back in office has given the industry an opportunity to retrench. The president is an avowed supporter of coal, and his Department of Energy has repeatedly intervened to prevent plants from shutting down. At the same time, a Trump-supported boom in the construction of artificial intelligence data centers has led to a surging need for power, prompting many utilities to postpone coal facility closures.
The combination of federal intervention and rising energy demand may have stalled coal’s decline, at least for the moment. Consumption increased 13 percent last year, reversing a long downward slide and causing a bump in domestic carbon emissions. Of the 11 coal-fired plants slated for retirement last year, just two shuttered. But one of them may return: A Utah f... Read more
