Unpacking the Executive Order to Support Declining US Coal Industry

On April 8, the White House issued an executive order that aims to support the US coal industry by loosening restrictions on coal mining, speeding up permitting, and facilitating exports of coal. These actions are designed to support coal mining in the US and provide power for data centers and other AI-related infrastructure from coal-fired power plants.

Why it matters: The share of coal in the US electricity generation mix has been declining for the last several decades. As of 2024, it stood at a record low of 15%.

In comparison, wind and solar energy production now amount to 17% of the total in the US. The main reason for this trend is that solar and wind are much more cost-competitive than coal. In fact, 99% of the existing coal capacity is now more expensive to run than replacing it with new renewables capacity from solar and wind.

In addition, coal releases significantly more greenhouse gas emissions when burned than other fossil fuels and certainly renewables. Human health impacts are also significant. It has been estimated that particulate matter emissions from coal-fired power plants were responsible for an additional 460,000 deaths during the period of 1999 to 2020 in the US.

The TCB take: The coal industry in the US has been in decline for decades. Most coal-fired power plants are no longer cost-competitive, and emissions from the portfolio of all coal plants disproportionately contribute to climate costs and adverse localized human health impacts.

Both economically and environmentally, it would be more prudent for the US to follow the examples of other countries such as the UK that have moved away completely from coal, even if it means substituting natural gas in the near term. But in the long term, energy grids need to be completely decarbonized because the climate change–related cost of continuing to use fossil fuels to generate electricity will be too steep.