“Coal is clean and beautiful… So many nations that are working are using coal, and you can do things with coal today that are incredible in terms of the environment and in terms of cleanliness.”

“Under the Biden administration, there were plans to shutter coal, natural gas and hydro-powered electricity plants. An Energy Department report released in 2025 showed that before President Trump’s election, America was on track to experience a massive shortfall of reliable electricity generation and 100 times more blackouts by 2030. Thanks to President Trump, the Energy Department is reversing those dangerous and costly energy subtraction policies.”

“Given our Nation’s vast coal resources and the proven reliability of our coal-fired generation fleet in providing continuous, on-demand baseload power, it is imperative that the Department of War (DOW) prioritize the preservation and strategic utilization of coal-based energy assets.”

“Beautiful, clean coal is critical to ensuring American families and businesses have the energy they need, while simultaneously driving down electricity costs across the country.”

“The big picture story is where we actually got energy from during this storm…In fact, we had times where our existing capacity couldn’t deliver anything and the lights would have gone out if not for emergency orders…The bottom line here is that we managed to ensure that there was sufficient capacity.”

“This report clearly highlights the need for smart, swift actions and serious conversations about how we will meet tomorrow’s energy needs as a country. Reliable and affordable electricity is the cornerstone of America’s national security and our economy. As electricity demand skyrockets, we urge policymakers to continue working with electric cooperatives to prioritize grid reliability and pursue smart energy policies that help set our nation on a more stable path.”

“Beautiful, clean coal was the MVP of the huge cold snap we’re in right now. I can say with some confidence, hundreds of American lives have been saved because of President Trump’s actions saving America’s coal industry.”

“In the week ending January 25, 2026, as Winter Storm Fern affected significant portions of the country, coal-fired electricity generation in the Lower 48 states increased 31% from the previous week…Grid operators can call upon the coal fleet to increase electricity generation in extreme weather events and other times when demand surges or output falls from other generation sources, a pattern also evident in severe cold snaps in February 2021 and January 2025.”

“Coal remains a fundamental component of America’s energy strategy, providing essential energy for America’s infrastructure and industries. The National Coal Council’s expert recommendations will be instrumental toward our efforts to modernise and extend the life of our existing coal assets while also supporting the growth of new coal power generation, exports and product manufacturing.”

“[Coal is] crucial to the reliability and affordability of electricity in the U.S. …The states that have rushed to close their coal plants have also had rapidly escalating electricity prices. Americans don’t like that. President Trump doesn’t like it.”

“Clean coal is the priority of this council and the president.”

“If we kill the coal industry, we kill any chance that we have of being able to catch up on critical minerals. We need this industry to thrive.”

“As I always say, coal has three legs to the stool. It has power, it has steel usage, and now it has usage for critical minerals and rare earths writ large.”

“The significant majority of all the plants that are slated to close are closing for political reasons. The politicians or the regulators agreed to shut down a coal plant 15 years before its useful life ended. If we want to add net-generating capacity as fast as we can, one of the things we can do is stop digging the hole.”

“The Department of the Interior has unleashed American energy potential, tripling coal leasing benchmarks, approving fifty-six percent more oil and gas permits compared to this period during the last administration, and restored access to Alaska’s vast reserves…Through bold leadership by President Trump, we have reformed and streamlined processes, delivered record revenues, lowered energy costs for families, and created thousands of jobs across the country.”

“When you take existing coal and natural gas plants and you shut them down or you limit them as a result of policies, and people may like those policies. But when you do that, which is what the Democrats have advocated doing in numerous administrations and when they were in control, you’re going to make electricity prices go up.”

“It is crucial to our economic and national security that we win the artificial intelligence data race for our country so that American data does not go abroad. In addition to our core mission of keeping the lights on for all Americans at reasonable costs, my priority as chairman is to ensure that our country can connect and power data centers as quickly and as durably as possible.”

“The Biden administration shut down responsible energy development through regulations that locked up billions of barrels of oil and long-term supplies of affordable coal. Put simply, these policies were not grounded in reality—and Americans are suffering the consequences through increased energy costs. The United States is blessed with some of the most abundant natural resources in the world. Let’s use these resources responsibly to lower energy costs for Americans. That’s what this is all about.”

“For years, the Biden and Obama administrations relentlessly targeted America’s coal industry and workers, resulting in the closure of reliable power plants and higher electricity costs… Thankfully, President Trump has ended the war on American coal and is restoring common sense energy policies that put Americans first.”

“Secretary Burgum, Administrator Zeldin, and Secretary Wright all have an unprecedented understanding of our nation’s energy systems, and the role good policy and regulations play in them. The reforms announced yesterday cut red tape, lower costs, and provide certainty for producers—helping protect jobs, strengthen reliability, and keep America competitive.”

“I think coal is always going to be a factor on the power side, and coal is really essential to steel building in America,” said Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), one of coal’s top champions on Capitol Hill. “I think this helps the coal industry have a nice spot here for decades to come.”

“Without coal, America’s grid cannot meet future demand,” Griffith said, noting the report found that “absent decisive intervention, the nation’s power grid will be unable to meet projected demand for manufacturing, reindustrialization and data centers.”

“If you’re watching carefully what’s going on in China, what’s happening on the global stage in this war for information technology supremacy, you know that there’s an insatiable need for more energy to power up our data needs.”

“Coal is a significant part of our national energy portfolio, accounting for about 15 percent of U.S. electricity generation. With energy demands projected to grow at the highest rates in two decades through at least next year, coal will remain a key piece of our energy mix. There’s no way to flip a switch and turn it off, neither by government dictating nor unilateral market manipulation.”

“Coal has long been the backbone of America’s energy and industrial strength. By moving forward with these lease sales, we are creating good-paying jobs, supporting local communities, and securing the resources that keep America strong.”

“President Trump promised to deliver the American worker policies that reshore U.S. manufacturing from high polluting countries, renegotiate unfair trade deals to the benefit of our labor force, make America the AI capital of the world and unleash American energy dominance. Our path is defined by those promises. We will continue to remove regulatory roadblocks, slash bureaucratic red tape, streamline permitting, and protect the environment and the health of the American people.”

“With unprecedented energy demand and resource retirements outpacing new generation additions, the country is facing an energy emergency. This administration considers power outages and soaring energy costs to be unacceptable.”

“There are leaders in Congress, governors of states, who talk about wind as if it is a substitute for baseload power. Our country needs more baseload power. We need to unleash energy dominance. It is not an honest approach to this entire energy conversation if we start acting as if wind is going to be a substitute for all these other things. We need more natural gas, we need to build more pipelines. Coal plants are essential for states and regions across the country.”

“The [reliability crisis] is no longer on the horizon. It’s across the street. It’s here now…Dominion alone has 40 gigawatts of data center load sitting in its interconnection queue. That’s a quarter of PJM’s entire peak.”

“There are people who, in the name of climate change, are willing to bankrupt the country… They created this endangerment finding and then they are able to put all these regulations on vehicles, on airplanes, on stationary sources, to basically regulate out of existence, in many cases, a lot of segments of our economy. And it cost Americans a lot of money.”

“AI is the second parallel — a huge innovation where we can’t get second,” he said. “China put on about 90 new coal plants last year, and about a similar amount of new plants will come on this year. They’ve rapidly grown their electricity for industrial processes, also for AI…This report affirms what we already know: The United States cannot afford to continue down the unstable and dangerous path of energy subtraction previous leaders pursued, forcing the closure of baseload power sources like coal and natural gas.”

“I think our biggest impact by far is going to be — there are like 40 coal plants that are supposed to close this year — and our biggest impact is going to be to stop the closure of most of those. We’re going to need 50 to maybe 150 gigawatts of new capacity, and if you’re going to add a lot of new capacity, the first thing you should do is stop shrinking the capacity you have.”

“Americans are excited to be a country again that takes pride in building things. With that comes lower energy costs, more jobs and opportunities at home… In order to compete with China, the United States needs to start mining again,”

“The Administration’s efforts to support the coal industry will, “keep our coal miners working and our coal facilities open, I think will increase employment [not] just because of increased production but also the increased use of coal.”

“We are proposing to repeal Obama and Biden rules that have been criticized as regulating coal, oil and gas out of existence,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. “Both proposed rules, if finalized, would deliver savings to American families on their electricity bills, and it will ensure they have the electricity that they need.”

“Time and time again, we see that energy security is national security. In order to protect American families and businesses and insulate ourselves from adversarial nations, it’s time to take action to secure our grid and promote the production of baseload American energy.”

“We [Wyoming] supply 22 states with coal. The technology, the burner technology over the years has also advanced. We’re not using 1950s technology. When we’re building a new plant, we’re using newer, better stuff.”

“The bottom line is we got to have dependable, reliable and affordable energy… And if you want to lift yourself or lift anybody in our society or any other country out of poverty, do it with energy, available energy.”

“Affordable, reliable electricity is key to the American dream and a natural byproduct of national energy dominance. According to many, the primary purpose of these Biden-Harris administration regulations was to destroy industries that didn’t align with their narrow-minded climate change zealotry. Together, these rules have been criticized as being designed to regulate coal, oil and gas out of existence.”

“This administration will not sit back and allow dangerous energy subtraction policies threaten the resiliency of our grid and raise electricity prices on American families. The Energy Department is hard at work securing the American people access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy that powers their lives regardless of whether the wind is blowing, or the sun is shining.”

“You know how much the president doesn’t like windmills. Because it’s intermittent. It’s just not windy all the time. You can’t operate on this kind of stuff. Look what happened to Spain and Portugal right, they went black because they started going on stuff you can’t rely upon. Coal you can rely upon. Big beautiful coal.”

“This outlook at a record peak heat scenario reflects our years-long and mounting concerns as we plan for enough resources to maintain grid reliability. All resources within PJM’s footprint should be prepared to respond when called upon.”

“The assessment reflects a mixed outlook, progress in some areas, but a grid still under stress. That means careful and coordinated planning, timely investment in infrastructure, and staying vigilant through every hour of the season.”

“We’re evaluating these executive orders with respect to coal and the regulatory environment. What I will tell you is that we are re-evaluating the end-of-life study that we did on our coal fleet and we’re taking a hard look at our asset strategy with respect to what the regulatory environment is in front of us.”

“As consumption has grown, we have also witnessed a rapid shift from a more steady source of dispatchable generation to a more intermittent renewable, heavy generation mix.”

“We see rapid retirement of existing resources and significant growth of non-carbon-emitting resources, many of which do not have the same attributes in terms of duration of operation as those retiring resources.” 

“From a reliability perspective…there is merit in making sure that we don’t retire generation that we will need to keep the lights on.”

“We know that renewables are not a one-on-one replacement for dispatchable base load power that is essential for reliability and provides thinning reserves needed to stabilize the system through fluctuation. It is not clear that the pace at which baseload generation is coming online will bridge the gap of retiring supply and meet increasing demands over the next few short years.”

“Coal is critical for our energy future, and it provides the reliability, baseload capacity, and affordable energy necessary to fuel our nation’s growth…Without coal, we risk losing our technological edge and the prosperity that comes with it. It’s time to unleash the power of American coal and ensure energy security for the future of our country.”

“Energy dominance stands at the center of America’s resurgence. By reconsidering rules that…unfairly targeted coal-fired power plants, we are ensuring that American energy remains clean, affordable, and reliable.”

“Under the national energy emergency, which President Trump has declared, we’ve got to keep every coal plant open…And if there had been units at a coal plant that have been shut down, we need to bring those back.”

“We are on a path to continually shrink the electricity we generate from coal…That has made electricity more expensive and our grid less stable…The best we can hope for in the short-term is to stop the closure of coal power plants…No one has won by that action.”

“The loss of coal-fired generation doesn’t just threaten reliability; it also drives up electricity costs for consumers. Without coal’s stabilizing effect on the market, electricity prices become more volatile, hitting households and businesses with higher bills.”

“Nothing can destroy coal…and we have more coal than anybody.”

“In recent years, federal agencies have taken numerous policy actions that jeopardize the nation’s grid and hamper the ability of electric cooperatives to keep the lights on across rural America. We need more power, not less.”

“We have a shortage of electricity, and especially we have a shortage of baseload…Without baseload, we’re going to lose the AI arms race to China. And if we lose the AI arms race to China, then that’s got direct impacts on our national security in the future of this country.”

“To compete globally, we must expand energy production, including commercial nuclear and liquefied natural gas, and cut the cost of energy for Americans.”

“The big issue with AI datacenters is power demand, in an era when the grid is struggling with coal power shutdowns and a massive demand uptick.”

“As we look at responding to demand growth, looking at coal operating longer is a consideration.”

“When 10 of our 11 states are red states, to go into those states and tell them we want to discontinue burning coal and natural gas because AEP has a carbon target, that isn’t well-received.”

“When it comes to adding transmission and generation capacity, we’re trying to make a determination: how do we fulfill those needs to data centers, but also still keep the lights on in the commonwealth?”

“[In the event of a policy shift], we’ll see if the dual conversions in Indiana make sense or if it would be better to keep those units solely coal-burning …The pace of the energy transition could change.”

“There is certainly a strong chance for many of the existing coal [plants] out there to run longer than what was expected prior to the now-explosive growth forecasts in datacenter electricity demand forecasts/electrification.”

“The data center economy will require an all-of-the-above approach to satisfy the increased demand, including co-location.”

“While we have transmission capacity to support data center investments, we are being thoughtful about our approach to ensure that our existing customers have adequate protections and that we appropriately manage risks.”

“I may have underestimated the grid challenges…We may have not well anticipated the grid expansions and strengthening that we would need to allow renewable energy clear access into the system.”

“It certainly is an issue to be calling for the retirement of massive numbers, thousands of megawatts of coal and gas-fired power, at the very time when demand is increasing.”

“Because [EPA] can’t ban coal directly … they’re trying to price it out of market. And who that hurts is the customer. That hurts everyday Americans.”

“We need to make sure reliability is our number one focus…I think the most reliable grid, resilient grid, is a diverse grid. Coal is definitely something you need for a diverse grid.”

“These [EPA] regulations aren’t based upon reality. They do affect reliability, affordability, everything down the line, and they’re all just leading to catastrophe.”

“As far as I can see, there is no benefit to the people if these carbon rules go into effect. The EPA is trying to make us use a technology that is not proven but is very costly… it’s getting to the breaking point.”

“Renewables, standing alone, simply cannot adequately provide for our power generation baseload fuel needs… We should be candid and forthrightly acknowledge the need for adequate, dispatchable alternatives to maintain reliability.”

“If the EPA’s new power plant rule survives court challenge, it will force the retirements of nearly all remaining coal generation plants and will prevent the construction of vitally needed new combined-cycle baseload gas generation. This loss of vitally needed dispatchable generation resources will be catastrophic.”

“One of the key challenges operators face as the resource mix evolves is how to get through the summer evening periods with fewer available resources at their disposal.”

“Demand is growing in many areas at a rapid pace with the adoption of electric vehicles and construction of new data centers, straining some parts of the system.”

“The independent authority overseeing our electric reliability, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, identifies “government policy” as the number one threat. Let that sink in. To save the electric grid, we need to convince Washington policymakers that Americans prioritize health and prosperity over political agendas. We need decision makers to base energy policy on engineering realities rather than emotions and magical thinking.”

“EPA’s rule mandates costly, infeasible technologies that are designed to force the early retirement of traditional electric power plants, rather than any genuine scientific interest in protecting human health and the environment.”

“If EPA’s [greenhouse gas] standards drive dispatchable coal and natural gas resources to retire before enough replacement capacity is built with the attributes the system needs, reliability will be compromised.”

“The data center boom requires closer collaboration between large data center owners and developers, utilities, government, and other stakeholders to ensure that we can power the needs of AI while maintaining reliable, affordable power to all customers.”

“You can’t get around the fact that you’re going to need tens of thousands of miles of new transmission lines if you want to build the hundreds of gigawatts of wind and solar and batteries that many of us predict are needed to achieve overall decarbonization goals. We’re not on pace to build 50,000 miles of high-voltage lines in the next six years.”

“As this Commission considers other potential reforms related to regional transmission planning and development, it is imperative that incentives like the [Construction Work in Progress] Incentive, Abandoned Plant Incentive, and [regional transmission organization] participation adder are all revisited to ensure that all the costs and risks associated with transmission construction are not unfairly inflicted on consumers while transmission developers and owners stand to gain all the financial reward.”