By Jarrett Renshaw and Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON, June 4 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce on Thursday that he will invoke Cold War-era emergency powers to direct nearly $700 million to help the U.S. coal industry ship fuel to Asia and energy companies burn it domestically, a White House official and an industry source told Reuters.
Trump plans to use the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law that grants presidents broad authority over industries considered critical to national security, to fund renovations at more than a dozen coal-fired power plants, help finance two new coal plants and support construction of a West Coast coal export terminal, the official and industry source said.
The White House’s public schedule lists a Trump announcement at 3pm (4pm Brasília time) about ‘Beautiful and Clean Coal’.
The Trump administration has framed energy policy as a national security issue to secure electrical power for AI data centers and reduce dependence on other countries.
The plan drew condemnation from environmental advocates. Patrick Drupp, director of climate policy at the Sierra Club, called it a taxpayer-funded subsidy for a polluting industry and said the group would fight the initiative in the courts.
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“It is disgusting and reprehensible that the president of the United States is donating our taxpayers’ money to deadly and expensive coal-fired power plants,” Drupp said.
Rich Nolan, chief executive of the National Mining Association, said the funding would strengthen production of a fuel source that helps protect consumers from energy price volatility while supporting growing demand for electrical power.
Coal, responsible for more than half of U.S. electricity generation in 1990, now generates less than a fifth as power companies switch to cheaper natural gas and renewable sources.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw)
