Washington, D.C. – Today, President Donald Trump signed Executive Orders that recognize the critical role of coal in the nation’s energy mix. America’s Power President and CEO Michelle Bloodworth issued the following statement in response:
“America’s Power is grateful to President Trump for taking decisive steps that recognize the importance of a healthy electric grid and the necessity of having dependable sources of electricity, especially the nation’s fleet of coal-fired power plants. President Trump signed these Executive Orders that take long overdue steps to respond to warnings about electricity shortages from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the nation’s largest electric grid operators, members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, state utility commissioners, and other authorities who have warned about the dangerous state of our country’s electricity supply. NERC, for example, has projected that almost two-thirds of the U.S. is at risk of electricity shortages during the next five years. The premature retirement of reliable electricity sources, such as coal, combined with enormous growth in electricity demand are the two main reasons for this dangerous situation.
“For decades, most people have taken electricity and coal for granted. This complacency has led to damaging federal and state policies that have caused the premature retirement of coal plants, thus weakening our electric grid and threating our national security. EPA has been responsible for some of the worst of these policies. Fortunately, Administrator Zeldin is reconsidering past EPA rules.
“Today’s Executive Orders recognize that the nation’s coal fleet and its supply chain are essential to maintaining a healthy and secure electricity supply, which is the backbone of our economy. The coal fleet is a reliable, affordable, secure, and resilient source of electricity. The coal fleet is also more dependable than intermittent sources of electricity which cannot be counted on to provide electricity at the most critical times. So far, bad federal and state policies have led to the retirement of one-third of the nation’s coal fleet, and electricity generators have announced tentative plans to retire more coal plants. We urge electricity generators to reverse their plans to retire more coal plants.”