'Our new Golden Age will be coal-fired': Trump signs EO to revitalize American coal production

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to increase domestic coal energy production as well as designate coal as a mineral, as the president is looking to increase energy production in the United States. This is a move both to insulate the US against overseas energy tumult and create more energy to fuel the AI sector.

The order states that it is meant to reinvigorate "America's beautiful clean coal industry," and directs "relevant agencies to identify coal resources on Federal lands, lift barriers to coal mining, and prioritize coal leasing on those lands." The biggest coal producing states are Wyoming, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Kentucky.

In addition to streamlining the process and getting agencies to prioritize leasing land for coal mining, the order also "requires agencies to rescind any agency policies that seek to transition the Nation away from coal production or otherwise establish preferences against coal as a generation resource." This is a direct comment on the Biden administration's Green New Deal and Inflation Reduction Act, which attempted to shift American energy production away from fossil fuels and toward solar and wind. The green energy policies set by the Biden administration were a hallmark of his time in the White House.

Trump's order noted, "Coal-fired electricity generation is cleaner than ever, yet the previous administration waged war on coal. Coal will be critical to meeting the rise in electricity demand due to a resurgence of domestic manufacturing and the construction of Al data processing centers."

The Trump administration has been moving to bring investment in energy, AI, and chip technology to the US as they are needed for a booming tech sector. The order builds on what Trump has done to increase energy supply in the United States such as withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords and other steps.

Rep. Riley Moore, a Republican congressman from West Virginia, a state that has been highly involved in the coal industry, said, “President Trump is the first president in my lifetime to highlight the critical need for coal to power our economy and ensure national security. Today’s executive order confirms our new Golden Age will be coal-fired!"

"This action from President Trump sends the right message to our brave miners and the entire energy industry at a time when ‘transitioning away’ from coal and other fossil fuels has been the number one priority of the radical climate cabal," Moore added. "We have hundreds of years of coal reserves under our feet in West Virginia, and extracting them will be critical to powering our AI revolution and continuing to provide cheap and reliable electricity for consumers.”