Trump Preparing $700 Million Coal Support Package

President Donald Trump is preparing to direct nearly $700 million in federal support to the coal industry.

A White House official said Trump plans to announce as soon as June 4 that he will invoke the Defense Production Act, a 1950 Cold War-era law, to aid coal facilities nationwide. The funding would upgrade more than a dozen existing coal-fired power plants, match private corporate investments for new facilities in Alaska, Maryland, and West Virginia, and help build a major coal export terminal on the West Coast.

The official cautioned that final details could still shift. Of the total, more than $350 million would modernize 13 plants. Another $185 million would match corporate dollars for new coal facilities, and $75 million would advance the long-stalled West Gateway export terminal in Northern California.

The plan was first reported by Bloomberg.

The move comes as the administration seeks more reliable power for energy-hungry artificial intelligence data centers while reducing dependence on foreign fossil fuel suppliers.

Trump has used his executive authority to boost the coal sector since taking office.

In October 2025, the Interior Department opened 13.1 million acres of federal land with known coal reserves for leasing to miners.

The Energy Department announced in November 2025 that it would provide $100 million to refurbish aging coal plants. In February, Trump directed the U.S. military to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants, calling the fuel cheaper and more effective than alternatives promoted by other administrations in recent years.

The administration has framed coal as essential baseload power amid surging energy demand from data centers and manufacturing. It has also backed numerous initiatives to support the domestic supply of nuclear power.

Coal once generated more than half of U.S. electricity but now supplies less than one-fifth, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Power companies have shifted to natural gas and renewables, citing changing cost structures, climate concerns, and supply-chain risks.

Trump moved quickly after his inauguration to reverse the trend. By March 2025, he authorized expanded use of coal-fired plants to counter reliance on foreign energy. In April 2025, he signed executive orders aimed at reviving the $28 billion coal-mining industry. And in December 2025, he ordered a Colorado coal plant to remain open beyond its planned retirement date.

Trump has criticized prior administrations for abandoning the industry while China went on to build hundreds of coal-fired plants and gained an economic edge.

“This is a very important day to me because we’re bringing back an industry that was abandoned despite the fact that it was just about the best, certainly the best, in terms of power—real power,” Trump said at the White House before signing the executive actions in April 2025.