Trump is Spending $700 Million On Expensive Coal Power While Gutting Cheaper, Cleaner Energy 

Don’t buy the White House spin: coal power is outdated, more expensive, slower, and less safe than clean energy – and could actually raise your electricity bill

Washington, DC – Today, Donald Trump is reportedly announcing that his administration is investing hundreds of millions of federal dollars to prop up the coal industry, despite the fact that it could actually increase energy costs, saddling American ratepayers with as much as $6 billion by the end of 2028. Meanwhile, as the most pro-pollution president in modern history, Trump has gutted pollution protections, allowing the coal industry to dump toxins into our air and exposing Americans to life-threatening illnesses. 

As demand from data centers squeezes energy supply, Trump is taking cheaper, cleaner energy options offline, spiking electricity prices by 18% under his watch. Climate Power and Blue Rose Research polling shows that voters care about how data centers are powered. Voters support data centers powered by clean energy by a +25-point margin and oppose those powered by fossil fuels by a 16-point margin. But Trump has spent nearly $2 billion in taxpayer dollars to stop wind projects from being built, and his Department of Defense is stalling 250 wind projects across the country. 

Climate Power Senior Advisor Jesse Lee issued the following statement: “This is the latest example of Trump’s failed energy policy that has driven utility rates up 18% while making his billionaire supporters even richer. Now he’s spending $700 million of American taxpayer money to bail out the coal industry; meanwhile, he’s gaslighting the American people by claiming that this move will lower electricity prices in the middle of an energy affordability crisis that he created. While Trump throws a lifeline to his ultra-wealthy coal donors, who gave him a made-up award and millions in campaign cash, he’s leaving American families to pay the price with higher utility bills and dirtier air and water.”

Coal is outdated, more expensive, and slower than clean energy: 

• The Trump administration’s effort to keep aging coal plants open will increase electricity costs for American families.  
• It is cheaper to replace 99 percent of U.S. coal plants with clean energy than to keep them running.
• The cost of new wind or solar is at least 30 percent cheaper than the cost of operating more than three-quarters of existing coal plants.
• Costs associated with coal power generation are nearly double the average cost of utility-scale solar. 
• In the U.S., an estimated 460,000 deaths were attributable to coal plant pollution between 1999 and 2020.
• Solar and wind energy are being deployed about five times faster than all other energy sources combined, including coal.
• The coal industry gave $3.5 million to elect Trump in 2024.