Washington (AP) -The Trump administration said on Monday that she would open 13 million federal state for coal mining and make $ 625 million available for the recommendation or modernization of coal-fired power plants, while President Donald Trump continues his efforts to reverse the years of decline in the US coal industry.
Measures from the energy and interior departments and the environmental protection authority follow the executive orders Trump issued in April to revive coal, a reliable but contaminated energy source that has been shrinking in the middle of the environmental regulations and the competition due to cheaper natural gas.
Environmental groups condemned the measures, which, as a Trump administration, complied with renewable energies, including freezing allocation for offshore wind projects, the termination of tidy energy control and the blocking of wind and solar projects in federal areas.
According to Trump’s command, the energy ceremony in Michigan and Pennsylvania had to pursue fossil power plants on power plants in order to continue to work on their age data in order to meet the increasing US performance requirements in growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars. The most recent announcement would enable the efforts to extend against possible power failures as a precaution.
Trump has also instructed federal authorities to identify coal resources in federal areas, to lift obstacles to coal mining and prioritize cabbage in US countries. A comprehensive tax bill, which was approved by the Republicans and signed by Trump, reduces the license fees for coal mining from 12.5% ​​to 7%. A significant decline in the officials that will aid to compete in the global markets.
“Mine, baby, mine”
The novel law also writes an increased availability of coal mining for federal states and rationalizes the checks of coal lease contracts.
“Everyone likes to say:” Drill, Baby, Drill “. I know that President Trump has another initiative for us, namely” My, Baby, my “,” Minister Doug Burgum said at a press conference on Monday. Event.
“By reducing the license fee for coal, increasing the coal height, which is available for leasing and the unlocking of critical minerals from minerals, we strengthen our economy, protect the national security and ensure that municipalities from Montana to Alabama benefit from well -paid jobs,” said Burgum.
Zeldin described coal a reliable source of energy that has supported American communities and economic growth for generations.
“Americans suffer because the former government tried to apply stubborn regulations on coal and other forms of energy that they considered unfavorable,” he said.
Trump clamped against renewable energies
Environmental groups said Trump wasted federal tax money by giving them to the owners of the oldest, most pricey and filthy power source.
“Subsidy of coal means supporting filthy, competitive systems from the last century – and saddling families with high costs and pollution, said Ted Kelly, director of tidy energy for environmental defense funds.
Solar, wind and battery stores are the cheapest and fastest options for the network, said Kelly and other lawyers to perform novel performance. “It makes no sense to cut off your best and most affordable options and at the same time to double the most expensive,” said Kelly.
EPA facilitates the pollution rules
The EPA said on Monday that it would delay seven deadlines in connection with wastewater pollution from coal -fired power plants. The industry has complained that the regulations raised as part of the bidges were costly and were able to accelerate the closure of coal -fired power plants.
Coal ash, the waste from the combustion of coal, can get into groundwater and distribute toxins. The bidges said that the rules aimed at holding arsenic and bringing out of fountain water, lowering the cancer rates and avoiding catastrophic spills.
“Donald Trump and Lee Zeldin give great pollution to throw tons and tons of poisonous pollution into our waterways without taking care of how many Americans will suffer from the drinking water or contaminated food,” said Laurie Williams, who is heading the Sierra Club beyond the coal campaign.
The EPA also said that it would open a 60-day public commentary period about possible changes to a regional darkness that has helped to reduce polluted haze, which depends on national parks, wilderness areas and tribal reservations. In March, Zeldin announced that the haunt of the haze would belong to dozens of pioneering environmental regulations that he wants to roll back or eliminate, including the realization that climate change harms human health and the environment.
Michelle Bloodworth, President and CEO of America’s Power, an industry group, said that the changes to the EPA rule and other administrative actions would aid to “protect America’s electrical reliability and to preserve their fleet of coal-fired power plants”.
The coal production has dropped steeply
Burgum, who also chair of Trumps National Energy Dominance Council, said the measures announced on Monday together with the tax law and former presidential and secretarial orders will “reduce plenty of, affordable energy and at the same time the dependency on coal sources and minerals.”
The Republican President has long promised that what he calls “beautiful” coal for fireplace plants and for other uses for other purposes, but the industry has decreased for decades.
The coal once delivered more than half of the US stream generation, but its share dropped to around 15%in 2024, and since 2010 after about 45%. Natural gas delivers about 43% of the US current, with the rest of nuclear energy and renewable energies such as wind, solar and hydropower.
Energy experts say that every bump for coal under Trump is probably transient because natural gas is cheaper, and there is a indefinite market for renewable energies such as wind and solar energy, no matter who holds the white house.
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The Associated Press Writer Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this story.
