Trump orders Pentagon to buy electricity generated by coal

Trump’s order is the latest move by US administration to boost fossil fuel industry despite climate change concerns.

United States President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to buy electricity generated by coal, his latest effort to boost demand for the fossil fuel amid its declining cost competitiveness and climate change concerns.

In an executive order signed on Wednesday, Trump directed the US Department of Defence to enter into long-term purchase agreements with coal-fired plants and prioritise the “preservation and strategic utilisation” of “coal-based energy assets”.

Trump’s order did not specify how much energy the Pentagon would purchase or under what financial terms.

“You do so much,” Trump said at a White House event attended by coal industry executives and miners.

“You heat our homes, fuel our factories, and turn natural resources into American riches and dreams,” he said.

Trump also announced that the US Department of Energy would invest $175m to upgrade six coal plants in North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia.

“The most important people here today are those who get their hands a little bit dirty to keep America running at full speed – our front line coal workers,” Trump said.

Coal production in the US has been in decline for decades amid growing competition from natural gas and renewables, including wind, hydropower and solar.

Production fell by more than half between 2008 and 2023, when output hit 578 million tonnes, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

The fossil fuel accounted for about 16 percent of US energy production in 2023, behind natural gas and renewables at 43 percent and 21 percent, respectively.

Trump: ‘Beautiful, clean coal’

A 2023 analysis by Energy Innovation, a California-based nonprofit, found that 99 percent of coal-powered facilities in the US were more expensive to run than the cost of their replacement with renewable alternatives.

Trump has championed the revival of “beautiful, clean coal” as crucial to boosting domestic manufacturing and achieving US dominance in artificial intelligence, despite the fossil fuel’s flagging competitiveness and contribution to greenhouse gases that drive climate change.

Trump, who initiated Washington’s exit from the Paris climate accord and has described the scientific consensus on warming temperatures as a “con job”, declared an “energy emergency” on his first day in office to prevent the closure of ageing coal plants.

The US Energy Department has forced at least five plants to extend their operations beyond their scheduled retirement date since Trump’s order.

Also on Wednesday, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the largest public utility provider in the US, voted to extend the lifespan of two coal plants that had been scheduled for closure by 2035.

The TVA vote came after the utility added four Trump appointees to its board of directors last month, after the US president had earlier fired three board members chosen by his predecessor, President Joe Biden.