President Donald Trump took action Wednesday to expand the coal industry, signing new executive orders aimed at boosting domestic production at a time when the energy sector is shifting to natural gas and renewables.

In seeking to prop up coal and the blue-collar jobs required to mine it, Trump addressed a campaign promise that’s popular with supporters in energy-producing states who have long bristled at the Democratic Party‘s climate agenda.

Trump also framed the issue as a matter of national security, saying that developing the nation’s vast coal reserves would provide a reliable source of electricity to power AI and other emerging industries where the United States is facing stiff competition from rivals like China.

“We’re bringing back an industry that was abandoned,” Trump said in a ceremony from the East Room of the White House, as a group of coal miners stood behind him. “The Democrats‘ green new scam killed new jobs and sent prices soaring in America, but meanwhile China opened two new coal plants a week.”

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks alongside coal and energy workers during an executive order signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House on April 08, 2025 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks alongside coal and energy workers during an executive order signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House on April 08, 2025 in Washington, DC. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

But reviving the coal industry’s heyday, as Trump appears interested in doing, is a herculean task that energy experts say is no longer realistic.

“Coal won’t return to the heights it once had in America. That’s simply not the world we live in,” said Collin Rees, the U.S program manager for the advocacy group Oil Change International.

Coal accounted for 16.2 percent of U.S. electricity generation in 2023, down from approximately 50 percent two decades ago, according to the latest available data from the Energy Information Administration.

Renewables now make up 21.4 percent of the electricity mix, federal data shows. (Nuclear accounts for another 18.6 percent, and natural gas makes up 43.1 percent of electricity generation).

Coal’s decline coincided with a fracking boom that sharply increased the domestic production of natural gas, a relatively cheap fossil fuel that produces lower greenhouse gas emissions than coal. The clean energy sector also expanded steadily under policies put in place by former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden to lower emissions and combat climate change.

Obama sought to limit coal-fired power plants — a leading source of domestic carbon emissions — but his actions stalled amid legal challenges. Biden also used his authority under the Clean Air Act to target coal-fired plants as part of his push to lower emissions.

In his first term, Trump repealed Obama’s clean power plan, and also withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accord. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the international climate agreement again at the start of his second term after Biden had re-committed America to the pact.

The executive orders Trump signed Wednesday are designed to streamline regulations and permitting and expedite leasing for coal mining on federal land. Trump also said he would take steps to unlock the “sweeping authorities of the Defense Production Act to turbocharge coal mining in America.”

US President Donald Trump salutes his supporters at a political rally at Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia on August 21, 2018. US President Donald Trump salutes his supporters at a political rally at Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia on August 21, 2018. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Trump has long used energy, and coal in particular, as a wedge issue to appeal to conservative voters and disaffected working-class Democrats in places like Pennsylvania and Ohio.

As a 2024 candidate, the president promised to increase fossil fuel production and roll back clean energy legislation. He also tied energy issues to the economy and inflation, blaming Biden for the high cost of gas at the pump.

“We’re ending Joe Biden’s war on beautiful clean coal once and for all,” Trump said Wednesday.

Industry groups praised the actions Trump announced Tuesday.

“The last administration’s energy policies were built on hostility to fossil fuels, directly targeting coal,” Rich Nolan, the president and CEO of the National Mining Association, a leading mining industry organization, said in a statement ahead of the announcement.

The executive actions taken by Trump “clearly prioritize how to responsibly keep the lights on, recognize the enormous strategic value of American mined coal and embrace the economic opportunity that comes from American energy abundance,” Nolan said.

The coal industry continues to employ thousands of people, even with all the cuts in recent years. According to the National Mining Association’s 2024 annual report, 483,000 people have mining industry jobs in the U.S., including 100,00 who work in coal mining.

Trump did not explain how he would convince companies to build new coal-fired power plants or invest in retooling existing ones. Coal-fired plants typically have a lifespan of about 50 years, and half of all U.S. coal plants are now “within the age range for retirement,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

No new coal plants have been built in the U.S. for more than 10 years, according to the group Powering Past Coal Alliance, reflecting changes in energy consumption and the private sector’s shift to investing in natural gas and clean energy. Trump said Wednesday that would change, but didn’t say how.

Coal is loaded onto a truck at a mine on August 26, 2019 near Cumberland, Kentucky. Coal is loaded onto a truck at a mine on August 26, 2019 near Cumberland, Kentucky. Scott Olson/Getty Images

“All those plants that have been closed will be opened if they’re modern enough or they’re going to be ripped down and new ones are going to be built,” Trump said.

Trump framed his new moves as a major political victory for himself and his party. Republicans applauded Trump’s executive actions, after spending the past four years excoriating Biden’s energy agenda.

Democrats and environmental and climate groups argued that reviving the coal industry was a fool’s errand.

“Coal plants are old and dirty, uncompetitive and unreliable. The Trump administration is stuck in the past,” Kit Kennedy, the managing director for power at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.

She added: “Trump tried this gambit in his last term. We fought it every step of the way – and it failed. With the gains made by solar, wind and battery power since then, bailing out coal makes even less sense today.”