Markets Don’t Want More Coal. Trump Is Propping Up the Industry Anyway.
President Donald Trump’s preferential treatment toward fossil fuels has backfired and left many American energy producers anxious about the future of the industry. The president doesn’t seem to care.Â
On Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his fossil fuel energy agenda with an executive order to bolster “America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry.” The edict labels coal as “cost effective” and “critical to meeting the rise in electricity demand” and directs federal agencies to identify and rescind federal regulations and programs that “seek to transition the Nation away from coal production and electricity generation.”Â
Coal was once the dominant energy source in the U.S., making up more than 50 percent of the nation’s electricity generation in 2005. Since then, coal use has steadily declined, and in 2023, it generated only 16 percent of America’s electricity.Â
Coal’s decline was not caused by a federal plot to transition away from coal, like Trump thinks, but rather by markets and innovation. Advancements in renewable energy technologies—which were, and continue to be, supported by subsidies—made the energy source more attractive to investors. Breakthroughs in horizontal drilling in the early 2000s brought a flood of cheap and abundant natural gas to the market. These technologies priced coal out,
Article from Reason.com
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