President Donald Trump said he’s planning to use a 76-year-old law to direct funding to the U.S. coal industry.
Trump on Thursday announced he’ll use the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law to direct almost $700 million to help the coal industry ship the fuel to Asia, and power companies to burn it domestically.
The Defense Production Act grants to the president broad authority over industries deemed critical to national security, to fund upgrades to over a dozen coal-fired power plants, help finance two new coal plants, and support construction of a West Coast coal export terminal, according to a report from Reuters.
The Trump administration has framed energy policy as a national security issue to ensure electricity for AI data centers and reduce reliance on other countries.
According to Reuters, Trump said during an Oval Office event that included Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Republican governors Mark Gordon of Wyoming and Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia that funds for “clean, beautiful coal” could reduce the cost of living for all Americans.
Gordon, who was recently in Japan and Taiwan, said they are hungry for coal from Wyoming. Opening the California port is “absolutely essential for the lifeblood of our state,” the top coal-producing state in the U.S., he said, according to Reuters..
The outlet also reported that the plan was drawing the ire of environmental advocates who say the particulate emissions from coal are linked to health issues, including heart and lung diseases, that shorten lives and saddle Americans with medical bills.
Patrick Drupp, climate policy director at the Sierra Club, called it a taxpayer-funded subsidy for a polluting industry and said the group would fight the initiative in courts.
“It is disgusting and reprehensible that the president of the United States is giving away our taxpayer dollars to deadly and expensive coal plants,” Drupp said, according to Reuters.
