Recent moves by the Trump administration are prolonging America’s farewell to coal plants.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a slate of orders in recent months compelling coal plants in multiple states to continue running past their planned closure dates.

The administration also reinstated the National Coal Council (NCC), a committee which advises on federal coal policy and whose charter had expired in 2021. At its first meeting following the renewal, held on January 15, the NCC announced that it will be chaired by the CEO of coal producer Peabody Energy.

This follows a series of actions by federal agencies aimed at propping up the country’s coal industry. Last fall, DOE announced $625 million in funding aimed at retrofitting and recommissioning aging coal plants to extend their lifespans. The same week, the Department of the Interior said it would open 13.1 million acres of federal land to coal mining. And the Environmental Protection Agency proposed weakening regulations meant to limit toxic water and air pollution from coal plants.

These moves are intended to shore up U.S. power supply in the face of rising energy costs, reliability concerns and growing energy demand (not least from new data centers).

Yet, coal is not an economical answer to energy security. Evidence shows that keeping old plants online, which sometimes means recommissioning broken-down units, is costing utilities millions — costs that are passed onto ratepayers. While these plants might bolster power supply in the short term, they are already driving up electricity bills. And they will hurt Americans' health and accelerate dangerous climate change.

The good news is that there are cleaner, more reliable sources available today that can meet the country's rising demand more affordably.

Coal Has Declined as Cheaper, Cleaner Power Sources Emerged

Two decades ago, nearly half the United States' electricity came from coal. Today, only about 15% does.

The single biggest reason for this shift is that other power sources became more competitive. Natural gas prices fell relative to coal as the U.S. ramped up shale gas production, making coal plants less economic. This helped accelerate momentum away from coal and toward natural gas around the early 2010s. Protective environmental and climate regulations have also made it more expensive to operate highly polluting coal plants.

In tandem, plummeting renewable prices over the last decade and state policies encouraging adoption led to rapid clean energy deployment. Wind and solar overtook coal in the U.S. power mix for the first time in 2024, together contributing 17% of the country's electricity compared to coal's 15%.

Critically, these sources are not just cheaper than coal, but also cleaner and safer. Coal is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel and emits toxic pollutants that can lead to lung disease and other health risks. One study attributed nearly half a million deaths in the U.S. between 1999 and 2020 to coal plant pollution.

Keeping Coal Plants Online Will Hike Electricity Bills

Many of the federal government's recent measures have been aimed at recommissioning old coal plants that were taken offline and extending the lives of existing plants. An April executive order directed DOE to evaluate processes for using its emergency powers to improve grid reliability. As a result of this order, the agency has taken action to keep fossil fuel plants slated for retirement in operation, targeting coal plants in Michigan, Colorado, Washington state, Indiana and elsewhere.

These measures come at a steep price. With spending needed on retrofits and upgrades, the cost of coal power is rising as aging plants become more expensive to operate and maintain. This means that keeping old plants open can be costly.

In May 2025, DOE ordered utility Consumers Energy to continue operating the JH Campbell coal plant in Michigan, which was just about to retire. In August, the administration issued a second order forcing the plant to run for another 90 days. In late October, Consumers Energy reported that the DOE’s orders had resulted in an $80 million loss thus far — and confirmed that costs associated with this loss would be passed through to Michigan ratepayers. The administration issued a third order in November forcing JH Campbell to continue running for another 90 days.

Similarly, a Colorado plant targeted by a DOE stay-open order at the end of December had been offline since earlier that month due to a mechanical failure. Complying with DOE’s order to keep running for the next 90 days is estimated to cost ratepayers an additional $20 million.

Continuing to keep these plants operating — so far, the Trump administration has not let any of its 90-day orders lapse for targeted coal plants — will spell further rate hikes for consumers. This will only exacerbate surging power bills for U.S. households and businesses. One recent report estimates that efforts to prevent large fossil fuel power plants from retiring could cost ratepayers about $3.1 billion a year by the end of 2028.

There Are Better Ways to Meet US Power Demand

More coal is not the answer to today's energy challenges. What the U.S. needs to keep prices down, meet rising demand and stay competitive on a global scale is: 1) to build wind, solar and batteries rapidly now, because they are the quickest to install and least expensive source of energy in many regions; and 2) to scale up clean, firm power — a variety of low-carbon sources, including next-generation geothermal, nuclear and hydropower, that can operate around the clock.

Investing in clean energy today makes good financial sense. The cost of building new renewables can be less than the cost of just operating coal plants. Indeed, research has shown that the majority of U.S. coal plants would be more expensive to continue running than to replace with local wind or solar. Scaling these sources will also be key to supporting the administration's goal of "energy dominance" in a world that's increasingly investing in renewables.

Despite current headwinds, including the early phase-out of key federal tax credits, U.S. wind and solar are still expected to grow in the coming years. In its latest energy infrastructure report, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission forecasts that the U.S. will add 92.6 gigawatts (GW) of new solar and 22.6 GW of new wind between August 2025 and July 2028 — enough to power more than 25 million homes. It also forecasts that no new coal will be built over this period, while 25 GW of existing coal capacity and 13.7 GW of natural gas capacity are set to retire.

Several offshore wind projects are also moving ahead despite efforts to halt them. On December 22, the Trump administration issued “stop-work” orders to all five offshore wind projects currently under construction in the U.S., citing national security risks. However, federal judges found that these orders were unsubstantiated and lifted them, allowing construction to resume. A judge also suspended the federal freeze on approvals of new offshore wind projects.

Beyond wind and solar, there are opportunities to ramp up investment in other clean power sources and to increase the efficiency of the grid. Technologies such as nuclear and advanced geothermal already benefit from bipartisan support in Congress and could potentially represent a significant percentage of the country's future energy mix. In addition, new transmission technologies can modernize the aging grid and increase its efficiency, helping to move more power along existing lines and accommodate rapidly growing demand. The country can also increase investments in demand response, virtual power plants, managed charging, and other forms of shifting demand from peak periods. These are lower cost options to meet demand while reducing the amount of new generation and transmission that we need to build.

Now is the time to make smart, forward-looking investments in energy that's safe, affordable, reliable and abundant — rather than clinging to systems of the past that will raise costs for consumers.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Oct. 14, 2025. It was updated in January 2026 to reflect recent developments.