Agency official credits Trump administration with keeping coal plants online, urges coal expansion and studies

An agency official told a coal-industry audience that actions by the Trump administration kept coal plants operating during a January cold snap and that preserving and expanding coal capacity is vital to U.S. energy security.

The official praised coal workers and communities and said the administration acted to "bring reality back to politics," arguing coal "built our country, our electricity grid, our manufacturing industry." He credited administration personnel choices and policies with reversing what he described as a long-running federal effort "to end the coal industry," and singled out the Environmental Protection Agency as the central battleground for that fight.

The speaker framed coal as a continuing and growing part of global electricity supply, saying long-term global energy demand has grown about "1.6% compound annual growth rate" and asserting that "through that 50 year period, demand for coal has actually grown a little bit faster than demand for energy as a whole." He added that coal is "much cheaper than oil" and "much more abundant than oil."

Using January’s cold-weather period he called "Fern" as an example, the official contrasted fuel performance: "Solar is irrelevant in the winter because peak demand time is after the sun goes down," he said, while wind produced markedly less power during the same week and nuclear output remained "flat." He stated that coal provided dispatchable power when needed: "Coal delivered, 25% more electricity" during the cold week, the speaker said, arguing that coal’s availability helped avoid broader failures.

The official asserted the administration prevented closures of 17 gigawatts of coal plants that "would have closed last year" and said, "we had the grid to the ragged edge" and the retained coal capacity helped ensure schools and homes kept power; he added that the administration has "kept open" about 35 gigawatts of coal capacity to date. The speaker characterized the avoided outages as lifesaving, saying the interventions meant "hundreds, if not thousands of Americans" did not die during the storm.

On policy steps, the speaker announced two studies: one focused on preserving the existing U.S. coal fleet and another on coal exports. He also said he and a partner at the Department of Labor would "look at how can we use AI sensors and technology to make mining both safer and better economics," and proposed examining the entire coal supply chain — from mining to transport and permitting — to identify regulatory obstacles.

The official closed by thanking attendees and urging continued industry efforts in the face of criticism, saying "President Trump, through all of us, sends his heartfelt thanks. Please keep fighting."