Piles of coal wait to be loaded into trucks at the Sufco Coal Mine, 30 miles east of Salina, Utah, on May 28, 2014. George Frey/Getty Images
The Trump administration’s drive to boost the United States’ coal production is gaining momentum with coal lease bids awarded in Alabama and Utah, new mine permits issued in Tennessee and Wyoming, and late September’s opening of more than 13.1 million acres of federal mineral estate across six western states to coal mining.
President Donald Trump’s January executive orders “Declaring a National Energy Emergency” and “Unleashing American Energy” and April executive action “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry” have loosened regulations, streamlined permitting, and classified coal, a sedimentary rock, as a critical mineral.
