The troubled American coal sector may be impacted by a number of reforms suggested by President Trump’s administration.
In a series of executive orders signed this month, Trump authorized mining on federal property. As demand for electricity continues to rise due to the proliferation of data centers, artificial intelligence, and electric automobiles, he has exercised his emergency powers to keep running many older coal-fired power facilities that were supposed to retire.
The president, who is Republican, also exempted some 70 aging coal-fired power plants from federal regulations meant to decrease emissions of harmful chemicals for a period of two years.
Earlier this year, Elon Musk’s government efficiency team—appointed by Trump—made preparations to cancel the leases of thirty-four US Mine Safety and Health Administration offices located in nineteen states.
During the past few decades, coal’s
Over half of the United States’ electrical generation capacity was formerly supplied by the coal industry. Operators went out of business, utilities increased their use of renewable energy, and coal-fired facilities were converted to use cleaner-burning natural gas, thus the industry has been steadily declining for decades.
In 2014, U.S. coal output reached 1 billion tons (907,000 metric tons). However, by 2023, the most recent year for which data is available, it had dropped to 578 million tons (524 million metric tons).
Approximately 900,000 miners were employed at the national height of coal employment in the 1920s. The population has been progressively decreasing since 1980, from an estimated 350,000 in 1950. Employment increased 4.2% to 45,476 in 2023 after the coronavirus epidemic in 2022. With 14,000 miners on staff, West Virginia easily outpaced Kentucky’s 5,000. The states of West Virginia (165) and Kentucky (112) are home to about half of the 560 coal mines in the United States. Because of automation and the availability of coal, Wyoming produced more coal than any other state, even though it only had fifteen mines.
The number of people killed in mining accidents has decreased dramatically during the last 40 years. The number of fatalities has been eleven or less in each of the last five years, as reported by MSHA.
Focusing on MSHA
U.S. mining safety rules are enforced by MSHA. All subterranean mines must undergo inspections every three months, while surface mines must undergo inspections every six months. According to Jack Spadaro, a former mine safety investigator and environmental expert for MSHA, the planned budget cuts by Musk’s purported Department of Government Efficiency would force inspectors to drive longer to reach a mine, which might result in fewer comprehensive inspections.
Terminating the MSHA leases is expected to result in a savings of $18 million, as stated on the DOGE website. The future of inspectors’ and other employees’ jobs in such departments is uncertain.
Kentucky is home to seven of the eight MSHA offices that will be shuttering, while Pennsylvania is home to four. Two of the states’ offices are being targeted, and West Virginia is one of them. Lexington, Kentucky, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, offices of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement are also being considered for closure. This would reduce the national footprint of an agency that was established during the Carter administration to restore land that had been damaged by strip mining and to reclaim abandoned and damaged mine lands.
The Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center recently reviewed publicly accessible data and found that from 2024 to 2025, approximately 17,000 health and safety inspections were carried out by MSHA personnel in the plants that were being considered for closure.
Is coal used for anything else except burning?
In their long-running arguments, proponents of the coal industry have pointed to other, cleaner applications for the fuel.
According to Core Natural Resources’ director of government affairs, Matthew Mackowiak, the company is aiming to develop a process that uses West Virginia coal to create a synthetic material that can be used as an anode for lithium-ion batteries. This would reduce the United States’ dependence on countries like China. Core Natural Resources is based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
Composite tooling for the production of nose cones and airplane wings for the American defense sector is made by a firm that Core recently bought; this company converts coal into carbon foam.
“Clearly, that’s something else to discuss in the future, whether there is any additional coal-fired generation,” Mackowiak stated. “But first and foremost, we must attend to the upkeep of our existing coal fleet.”