Coal has been on the way out for a decade now. The industry’s future was considered mainly dead and buried — until the Trump administration decided to dig it out of the grave.

But the coal industry does not have the economics to survive intense competition from less expensive alternatives.

President Donald Trump’s efforts to revive coal will cost the U.S. time and money we can’t afford to waste, driving up energy costs for Americans and leaving the mining communities behind.

We should not be reaching backward for solutions to our energy supply.

Coal consumption for electricity has been in a steady decline in the United States since at least 2008 because of cheaper natural gas and renewable energy. Coal plants generated only 15% of electricity in 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Info

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