The current administration is determined to keep the coal industry alive.

Since the start of Trump’s second term, the administration has insisted that coal is essential to American energy dominance and “winning the AI race.” It’s been their primary rationale for prioritizing procurement, pursuing lease sales on federal land, and issuing “emergency” orders to keep coal plants running past their scheduled retirement. While their efforts have given coal generation a short-term boost, the costs clearly outweigh the benefits.

Here’s what we mean.

Despite the President’s claims to the contrary, coal is not clean, cheap, or reliable:

• It emits more greenhouse gases than any other fossil fuel, releases harmful pollutants with known health impacts into nearby communities, and produces coal ash, which is dumped into ponds and landfills and leaches toxic substances into our groundwater.

• It is a much more expensive source of electricity than gas, solar, or wind power, due to its incredibly low efficiency and high maintenance, transport, and waste management costs.

• It’s more than twice as unreliable as wind, with most coal-related infrastructure and equipment now 40 or 50 years old.

It’s the loser’s choice across the board, with negative ramifications for energy affordability, national security, and our climate — but the Trump administration won’t stop throwing its weight behind it.

And the American people are already paying the price.

To date, the administration has issued eight emergency orders to force coal plants to operate past their retirement dates. One example is Michigan’s J.H. Campbell Generating Plant, which is costing Consumers Energy ratepayers over $600,000 every day it remains open. Then there’s Tri-State and Platte River in Colorado, whose customers are essentially paying twice for their electricity—once for the cost of their clean energy investments, and again for the cost of extending the life of the coal plant.

It’s completely illogical. And it’s clear to anyone who’s been paying attention that they’re just delaying the inevitable.

The coal industry’s fate was sealed long before clean energy became cost-competitive. Once natural gas emerged as a comparatively efficient and cheap source of energy, it was no longer the winning choice—and even with the Trump administration’s support, coal remains a losing investment.

The President, his Cabinet, and his industry buddies have manufactured an energy emergency to further an agenda that only serves the coal industry. It’s one that ensures they will continue to profit while Americans across the country get sicker, pay more for something that should be a fundamental right, and are forced to navigate increasingly frequent and extreme weather events.

It’s up to us to keep challenging this course of action and shining a spotlight on the rampant disinformation behind it. Join us as we fight to leave coal firmly in the past!