Trump uses wartime powers to dole out $700m to ‘clean, beautiful’ coal

THE GUARDIAN • June 4, 2026

Donald Trump is using wartime presidential authority to hand $700m to coal-fired power plants in the US, the latest move by the president to bolster what he called “clean, beautiful coal,” despite it being the dirtiest of fossil fuels. Trump is using the Defense Production Act, a cold war-era statute used to accelerate American industrial output in times of national need, to provide grants to more than a dozen existing coal plants across the US, including facilities capable of exporting coal. “As a result of the $700m investment that I’m announcing today, we will protect 14 coal plants and 42 coalmines, a tremendous number, and build two new coal plants and one massive new export terminal,” Trump said. Environmental groups strongly criticized the administration’s latest aid for coal.