President Trump’s order is the U.S. government’s latest move to promote the fossil fuel industry despite concerns about climate change.
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Published February 12, 2026
US President Donald Trump has ordered the Department of Defense to purchase electricity generated from coal. This is the latest effort to increase demand for fossil fuels against a backdrop of declining cost competitiveness and concerns about climate change.
In an executive order signed Wednesday, President Trump directed the Pentagon to enter into long-term purchase agreements with coal-fired power plants and prioritize “the conservation and strategic use” of “coal-based energy assets.”
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Trump’s order does not specify how much energy the Pentagon will purchase or on what financial terms.
“You’re doing a lot,” Trump said at a White House event attended by coal industry executives and miners.
“You heat our homes, fuel our factories, and turn our natural resources into America’s wealth and dreams,” he said.
President Trump also announced that the U.S. Department of Energy will invest $175 million to upgrade six coal-fired power plants in North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia.
“The most important people here today are the people who get their hands a little dirty to keep America running at full speed: our front-line coal workers,” President Trump said.
U.S. coal production has been in decline for decades amid increasing competition from natural gas and renewable energy sources such as wind, water and solar power.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, production fell by more than half from 2008 to 2023, reaching 578 million tons.
Fossil fuels accounted for about 16% of U.S. energy production in 2023, outpacing natural gas and renewables at 43% and 21%, respectively.
President Trump: “Beautiful, clean coal”
A 2023 analysis by California-based nonprofit Energy Innovation found that 99 percent of U.S. coal-fired power plants cost more to operate than they cost to replace with renewable alternatives.
President Trump has argued that a return to “beautiful, clean coal” is essential to boost domestic manufacturing and achieve U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence, even as fossil fuels become less competitive and contribute to greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
President Trump, who triggered Washington’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and described the scientific consensus on rising temperatures as “the work of con artists,” declared an “energy emergency” on his first day in office to prevent the closure of aging coal-fired power plants.
Since President Trump’s order, the U.S. Department of Energy has forced at least five power plants to extend operations beyond their scheduled retirement dates.
Also on Wednesday, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation’s largest utility, voted to extend the lives of two coal-fired power plants that were scheduled to close by 2035.
TVA’s vote comes after the utility added four Trump-appointed members to its board last month, after the U.S. president fired three board members chosen by his predecessor, President Joe Biden.
