Washington, D.C. – At an event today with the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior, and the Environmental Protection Agency, the Trump administration announced a number of new initiatives that will help improve the nation’s electric reliability and preserve America’s coal fleet. In response, America’s Power President and CEO Michelle Bloodworth released the following statement:
“Today’s announcements are another critical milestone in the fight to protect America’s electric reliability and preserve its fleet of coal-fired power plants. Under previous administrations, federal regulations were written to target coal plants and force them to retire prematurely. These coal retirements have put the reliability of the U.S. electricity grid at risk.
“Electricity demand is expected to increase by more than 100,000 megawatts over the next five years because of new data centers and other demands for electricity. On the other hand, utilities have announced plans to retire more than 50,000 megawatts of coal-fired generation over the same time period, leaving a gap that is impossible to fill unless coal retirements are reversed. Moreover, a Department of Energy report released this summer found that blackouts in the United States could increase by 100 times in 2030 due to the shutdown of coal plants and other sources of baseload power. With the actions today and those already being undertaken by the Trump administration, we can begin reversing this dangerous trend.
“Ratepayers should be grateful to President Trump and his team for their steadfast efforts to ensure that Americans have an affordable and reliable supply of electricity.”