President Donald Trump is betting big on coal by signing an executive order on Tuesday aimed at "reinvigorating America’s beautiful clean coal industry."
The order directs government agencies to identify federal lands where coal could be mined and prioritizes leasing on those lands.
President Trump is also ordering the federal government to promote U.S. coal and facilitate international agreements for exporting. The order specifically encourages the use of coal to power artificial intelligence data centers and fast-tracks the development of next-generation coal technologies.
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The move is part of a broader push to reverse Biden-era restrictions on energy production, which the White House says hampered American energy independence and drove up costs for American families.
The White House said Wednesday's signing builds on the president's promise to "unleash America's energy."
"We will develop the liquid gold that is right under our feet, including American oil and natural gas and we will also embrace nuclear, clean coal, hydropower, which is fantastic, and every other form of affordable energy to get it done," President Trump said.
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Meanwhile, consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen decried the president's executive order, calling it an abuse of power.
"Reviving or extending coal to power data centers would force working families to subsidize polluting coal on behalf of Big Tech billionaires and despoil our nation’s public lands," the organization said. "States planning to move to cleaner, cheaper energy sources could be forced to keep old coal plants up and running for years, forcing nearby residents to breathe dirty air and harming the climate."
