Trump to launch $700 million coal aid package using emergency powers

Trump eyes $700 million coal initiative using emergency powers. It comes as President Donald Trump intends to use Cold War-era national defense powers to send about $700 million to aid coal facilities.

The announcement may come as early as Thursday afternoon during a White House event focused on what the administration has called "beautiful clean coal."

Trump plans to use the Defense Production Act, a 1950 law granting presidents broad authority over industries deemed critical to national security, to fund upgrades at more than a dozen coal-fired power plants, help finance two new coal plants and support construction of a West Coast coal export terminal, the official and industry source said.

The Trump administration has framed energy policy as a national security issue to ensure electricity for AI data centers and reduce reliance on other countries.

The plan drew condemnation from environmental advocates. Patrick Drupp, climate policy director at the Sierra Club, called it a taxpayer-funded subsidy for a ‌polluting industry and said the group would fight the initiative in courts.

"It is disgusting and reprehensible that the president of the United States is giving away our taxpayer dollars to deadly and expensive coal plants," Drupp said.

As reported, President Donald Trump is expected to announce that he will invoke Cold War-era emergency powers to direct help to the million-dollar U.S. coal industry to ship the carbon-intensive fuel to Asia and power companies to burn it domestically.

Notably, Trump administration has framed energy policy as a national security issue to ensure electricity for AI data centers and reduce reliance on other countries.