President Donald Trump is expected to sign executive orders at 3 p.m. ET today relating to coal production. The EOs are expected to allow coal-fired generators to stay open past their planned retirement dates to bolster grid reliability and achieve “affordable and reliable energy.”
The Associated Press reports:
According to two senior White House officials, Trump will use his emergency authority to allow some older coal-fired power plants set for retirement to keep producing electricity to meet rising U.S. power demand amid growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue before the president’s announcement, expected Tuesday afternoon…
The orders expected Tuesday will direct federal agencies to identify coal resources on federal lands, lift barriers to coal mining and prioritize coal leasing on U.S. lands, according to information from the White House officials.
The orders also will direct Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to “acknowledge the end” of an Obama-era moratorium that paused coal leasing on federal lands and require federal agencies to rescind policies transitioning the nation away from coal production.
The orders also seek to promote coal and coal technology exports and to accelerate development of coal technologies.
Politico reports that the order draws on existing emergency authority in the “90-year-old section of the Federal Power Act… that allows the Energy secretary to direct any power plant to keep operating.” This provision has been used to “keep particular plants running for 18 months in one case and longer in others to avoid dangerous power shortages.”
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)’s latest long-range reliability report estimated that 115 GW of coal and natural-gas power plant capacity is likely to retire between now and 2034, which pushes power reserves below safe limits. MISO is already at “high” risk of blackouts in 2025 and beyond, and “shortfalls may occur at normal peak conditions.”
Most interestingly is that the EOs are expected to define coal as a mineral and direct the Energy Secretary to consider defining coal as a “critical mineral.” Stay tuned for a breakdown of the published executive orders in the coming days.