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What Others Are Saying

Below is a collection of quotes from industry experts, policymakers, officials, and others on various electrical grid issues.  Use the filters below to find perspectives on topics like coal retirements, reliability, regulations and more. 

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“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?”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“On behalf of Xcel’s South Dakota customers who very much would like their electricity to remain reliable 24/7/365 in good weather or bad, we ask you to reconsider your unfortunate decision to close King and Sherco prematurely. We do not want Xcel to be part of the impending problem of generation shortage in the MISO footprint. Reliability should be your number one commitment.”

“Regulatory, policy, and environmental pressures on fossil-based generation resources that provide 60 percent of the nation’s electricity further threaten the reliability and flexibility of the grid. Because of these pressures, coupled with projections of electric demand growth, we are concerned about the reliability of the bulk-power system and the actions the Commission is taking or considering taking to ensure that it fulfills its mission to ‘assist consumers in obtaining reliable, safe, secure, and economically efficient energy services at a reasonable cost through appropriate regulatory and market means, and collaborative efforts.” 

“Regulatory, policy, and environmental pressures on fossil-based generation resources that provide 60 percent of the nation’s electricity further threaten the reliability and flexibility of the grid. Because of these pressures, coupled with projections of electric demand growth, we are concerned about the reliability of the bulk-power system and the actions the Commission is taking or considering taking to ensure that it fulfills its mission to ‘assist consumers in obtaining reliable, safe, secure, and economically efficient energy services at a reasonable cost through appropriate regulatory and market means, and collaborative efforts.” 

“We urge the EPA to rescind its Clean Power Plan 2.0 proposal and make affordability, reliability, and the limits of its authorities under the Clean Air Act cornerstones of any future proposal. The more time that has passed since the proposal, the more issues with the Clean Power Plan 2.0 have been uncovered. The proposal is beyond repair and must be withdrawn. Failing to do so and moving ahead with the proposal would significantly threaten the safety and reliability of the electric grid. The impact of these flaws will ultimately be borne by ratepayers through higher energy costs and the effects of reduced reliability on economic opportunity and public health and safety. Low-income and other vulnerable Americans will be disproportionately affected due to the regressive nature of energy cost increases.”

“We urge the EPA to rescind its Clean Power Plan 2.0 proposal and make affordability, reliability, and the limits of its authorities under the Clean Air Act cornerstones of any future proposal. The more time that has passed since the proposal, the more issues with the Clean Power Plan 2.0 have been uncovered. The proposal is beyond repair and must be withdrawn. Failing to do so and moving ahead with the proposal would significantly threaten the safety and reliability of the electric grid. The impact of these flaws will ultimately be borne by ratepayers through higher energy costs and the effects of reduced reliability on economic opportunity and public health and safety. Low-income and other vulnerable Americans will be disproportionately affected due to the regressive nature of energy cost increases.”

“In 1990, two-thirds of the generating capacity in this country was coal and gas and today almost two-thirds of the generating capacity is still coal and gas. But what’s happened is in 1990 about half of our capacity was coal and only about 10% was gas, and now it’s reversed. In 1990 we were using gas almost exclusively for gas peakers, turn them on at peak and that’s it. Now, we’re running gas as baseload and that takes a lot more gas and we don’t have the infrastructure—that’s the real energy transition by the way, the coal to gas that’s taken place in this country since 1990.” 

“And by the way, that is before the EPA came out with the power plant rule, which is going to make that number even worse, as every RTO knows. The numbers don’t add up. You lose 8 gigs of dispatchable, and you pick up 24 gigs of wind and solar, [you think] you’re fine right now. You’re not fine, because as we all know, a megawatt of nameplate wind and solar is not equal to a megawatt of nameplate coal or gas. It’s just reality.”

“The first rule of holes is if you’re in one, stop digging. “If the fundamental problem we’re facing is we’re shutting down dispatchable resources far too prematurely, then the answer is to stop shutting down dispatchable resources far too prematurely.”

“Right now, when it comes to the reliability of our grid, the United States is facing a rendezvous with reality. Reality is just around the corner. You may think you can avoid it for a while, but reality will track you down. And reality is tracking us down when it comes to the reliability of our grid.”

“Commissioner Christie said the red lights are flashing, problems are coming. The problem generally is not the addition of intermittent resources primarily wind and solar but the far too rapid subtraction of dispatchable resources especially coal and gas.”

“PJM has recently said that we are facing imminent resource scarcity and yet in the last procurement auction the capacity prices dropped. During times of scarcity, if a market functions correctly, obviously the prices should go up. This is proof that the subsidies are working ill on the markets right now.” 

“The spinning mass that has been the basis for our generation fleet for ages is what allows us to ride through the voltage disturbances that are inevitable in a dynamic system like this. And even if you have grid-forming inverters, the likelihood that they would have that level of resilience given the fact that intermittents can turn on and off in a moment’s notice is very unlikely.”

“The US is heading towards a reliability crisis in our electric markets. This reliability crisis is being driven by two primary factors. The first is the effect of subsidies and the second is the commission’s… abandonment of its long-standing commitment to the rule of law.”

“You can’t just shut down your dispatchable generation overnight or within the matter of a few years and think that you can keep the lights on by simply trying to replace. My point of the megawatt versus a megawatt is the capacity value of the wind or solar megawatt is simply not equal to the capacity value of a megawatt. You can’t just keep the grid running with a 1-1 replacement – the numbers don’t add up.” 

“It would be wonderful if carbon capture technology could be mature to where you could run coal or gas generating units with carbon capture and actually remove all the carbon and have that benefit. I don’t think the technology is anywhere near being mature yet, but time will tell.”

“… there’s an accusation there’s fear mongering going on with those of us expressing concerns about loss of dispatchable resources. I don’t think the head of NERC is fearmongering when he repeatedly says that this is a coming danger. I don’t think the head of PJM is fearmongering when he has said, we’re losing dispatchable resources at a rate we cannot sustain.” I don’t think the head of MISO is fearmongering when he says we’re losing dispatchable resources at a rate we can’t sustain.” I don’t think it’s fearmongering when the head of New York ISO last week said the same thing. I think we need to listen to the engineers, not the lobbyists. And I think we need to be doing what’s right for rate payers and not political narratives.”

“We are heading for potentially very dire consequences, potentially catastrophic consequences in the United States in terms of the reliability of our grid.”

“We have significant concerns about this proposed rule landing at a time when the promises of job creation and job retraining in the coalfields remain little more than words on paper. The next round of coal-fired power plant closures is coming. But the coal-producing areas of the country are still reeling from the last round, and they are not prepared for this one.” 

“By imposing unworkable deadlines and unproven technologies not commercially available, this latest version of Democrats’ so-called Clean Power Plan poses an existential threat to providers of affordable and reliable American energy.”

“Mandating more electrification while making it harder to produce electricity is a recipe for disaster. The Biden EPA’s new proposed rules for power plants will put Americans at risk of blackouts, energy shortages, and higher prices by shutting down reliable energy sources.” 

“The EPA’s new proposed rules would kill jobs in Wyoming and raise energy costs for families across the country. We can protect the environment and unleash clean, affordable, and reliable American energy at the same time.” 

“Today’s proposal further risks the security and reliability of our country’s electric grid, which could lead to energy shortages and rolling blackouts like those experienced across several states this past winter.”

“With these new proposed rules, the Biden administration continues to wage war not only against U.S. energy companies but also against all the everyday Americans who rely on energy simply to maintain their homes and take care of their families.”

“Based upon what we currently know about this proposal, it is not going to be upheld, and it just seems designed to scare more coal-fired power plants into retirement—the goal of the Biden administration.” 

“Forcing power plants to close or adopt costly modifications will further harm electricity reliability and raise energy bills for Americans. If the president doesn’t start encouraging conventional energy alongside renewable development, consumers are going to pay a heavy price.”

“At a time when millions are struggling to fill up their tanks and pay their utility bills, it’s reprehensible that the Biden administration would clamp down even further on domestic energy production, attempt to close down power plants, and kill American energy jobs.”

“With nearly 60% of our nation’s energy generated from natural gas and coal, this (Carbon Rule) will either require deployment of still nascent technologies at an impractical pace or force those plants to shut down entirely. With the many threats to global energy security, that is a grave risk to our economy and to our families. The U.S. cannot afford to shut down more than half of our power generation and grind our economy to a halt.”

“EPA’s new powerplant regulations go too far, too fast. Regulations must be grounded in what is technologically feasible and commercially available. Going beyond that, as this regulation does, could threaten electric reliability, and raise energy prices to unsustainable levels, harming the entire economy.”

“… the reality is that our dispatchable coal power was one of the most reliable energy sources during the Winter Storms Uri and Elliott. Coal power plants saw significantly fewer outages than natural gas plants. The grid would have been absolutely decimated during these storms if our coal fleet was retired prematurely.”

“It makes no sense at all to take tools out of the toolbox. No energy resource is immune to weather disruptions whether that be frozen wind turbines, frozen gas wells, or frozen coal stockpiles, all of which we saw in recent winters.” […] “There is no doubt that our electric grid is undergoing a rapid transition both in generation sources and in the types of demand the grid is called on to serve. The speed of this transition must be balanced against reliability and affordability of electricity.” 

“In some cases, generational retirements are outpacing new installations, and this is resulting in reduced reserve margins.”