President Donald Trump has called for the expansion of coal production in the United States, claiming that the “clean” coal produced in the United States will soon be made.
In a Truth Social publication Monday night, Trump wrote in part: “I authorize my administration to immediately produce energy with beautiful, clean coal.”
The comments follow the plans announced last week for the cancellation of years of regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency – which the Trump administration calls “the most large deregulatory action in US history.”
Several of the 31 actions announced by the Agency last week aimed at previous regulations designed to restrict emissions and pollution related to the use of coal. Mainly among them was the announcement of President Joe Biden’s “Clean Energy Plan 2.0”, which was a group of regulations aimed at coal and natural gas power plants announced last year.
The Comanche Generation Station, a coal -owned -owned power plant owned by Xcel Energy.
Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The Pure Power Plan 2.0 has tightened the standards for coal power plants for toxic metals such as mercury and forced control installations and clean coal ash released during their operations. But during his campaign, Trump speaks favorably about the use of more coal to power the energy needs of America.
On Monday, Trump called for the immediate expansion of coal production on social truth, writes “After years of detention of captives by environmental extremists, lunatics, radicals and thug coal. “
Coal is an abundant, energy dense resource with a higher concentration in the United States than any other country in the world, but it is also a fossil fuel and creates carbon dioxide (greenhouse gas) when it is burned, which contributes to global warming and human-sophisticated climate change. Coal emissions can also lead to health problems, including respiratory diseases, pulmonary diseases, acid rain, smog and damage to neurological and development.
While coal electricity has become “cleaner than ever,” according to the US Department of Energy, fossil fuels are still responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions and for environmental pollution. So “clean coal” is a little wrong, sometimes referring to types of technologies used to clean coal before being burned or caught carbon associated with its burning, according to Michel Solomon, a senior policy analyst at Energy Innovation.
“Coal burning could never be considered technically clean, regardless of the processing applied to it before burning – it will always emit the largest concentration of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels, and soil and coal water pollution (what is left after the combustion) will never disappear.” “Even the best technologies that reduce air pollutants such as sulfur and nitrogen oxides still allow many of them to pass.”
These technologies are also not widely used in the United States according to a December 2023 report from the Congress Budget Service, 15 carbon capture and storage facilities operate in the United States. And none of them is used in coal -burning power plants. CBO also found that the 15 facilities could capture “0.4% of the percent of the United States CO2 annual emissions.”
According to the US Energy Information Administration, the most important factor in a recent reduction in energy emissions of carbon dioxide in the United States is the decline in the use of coal. In 2022, coal electricity production was largely replaced by other sources, mainly natural gas and renewable sources. As the production of cleaner alternatives continues to increase, the reading of coal to meet the country’s energy needs continues to decrease.
The ABC News climate unit has contributed to this report.
