Trump invokes Cold War-era law to boost US coal industry with $700m plan

United States (U.S.) President Donald Trump has raised widespread concerns after reports emerged that he plans to invoke a Cold War-era law in a bid to bolster the U.S. coal industry.

Speaking from the Oval Office on Thursday, the 79-year-old president announced $700 million investments in coal plants and a new export terminal.

Trump, a strong advocate of exploiting the U.S. fossil fuel resources instead of shifting to clean energy, has moved to expedite the oil and mining process and approved new drilling sites.

Since returning to the White House in January 2025, the administration has approved 76 new permits for what he described as “clean, beautiful coal.”

While announcing the funding, President Trump said: “Today, we are taking historic action to bring down the price of energy and the cost of living for all Americans with the power to clean, beautiful coal.”

He said all successful countries including China were using coal. While China remains the world's largest consumer of coal, it has also invested heavily in renewable energy and has expanded solar and wind generation capacity in recent years.

China’s power generation through coal has decreased by 1.5 percent.

Trump also took a hit at countries using renewable energy sources, such as wind, for power generation and declared them to be “failures.”

By invoking the Cold War-era Defence Production Act, President Trump will get emergency authority over domestic industries.

The funds will be distributed as:

• $75 million for a new coal export terminal in Oakland, California
• $425 million to support 13 existing plants
• $200 million in Department of Energy grants to build two new coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia

The government aims to create thousands of jobs for engineers, construction workers, railroad workers, miners and plans to save over $50 billion in energy production cost via investments made through a $700 million fund, officials say.

Critics have slammed the administration saying that Trump’s plan could drive up pollution and raise electricity costs for Americans.

Scientists widely agree that the combustion of fossil fuels is the largest contributor to human-caused climate change.