Earthjustice Responds to Trump Administration Coal Industry Giveaways

This morning, the Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Energy (DOE), and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced several actions to benefit the coal industry. DOE Secretary Chris Wright announced $625 million to further subsidize coal fired-power plants. The EPA released a proposal to delay and gut regulations for wastewater from coal-fired power plants (Effluent Limitation Guidelines), and pledged to gut the Clean Air Act’s Regional Haze Rule. DOI announced that it intends to open 13.1 million acres of federal land for leasing to mine coal.

“Expanding mining and spending taxpayer money on burning coal, while rolling back vital health protections, will only exacerbate the deadly pollution and rising electricity bills that communities are facing across the country,” said Jill Tauber, Vice President of Litigation for Climate & Energy. “Clean energy and other climate solutions are driving significant growth in our economy, but this administration is choosing to throw its weight behind fossil fuel industries and stymie progress. Earthjustice will continue to take the administration to court to oppose unlawful actions to prop up coal at the expense of the American people.”

Background

Earthjustice represents public interest groups challenging DOE’s illegal emergency orders forcing the continued operation of aging fossil plants that utilities had planned to retire and replace. An analysis prepared by Grid Strategies estimated the cost to utility customers could exceed $3.1 billion per year if the DOE continues to issue mandates that fossil fuel power plants scheduled to retire between now and the end of 2028 continue to operate. By contrast, the retirement of the J.H. Campbell plant in Michigan was projected to save the utility’s customers an estimated $365 million in reduced capital and maintenance costs (see page 35).

Last year, EPA estimated that power plant wastewater delivered toxic pollutants into the public water systems serving more than 30 million people. The public health and environmental benefits of requiring power plants to meet zero-discharge standards were at least three to six times greater than the costs to industry, including reduced incidences of cancer and cardiovascular disease, reduced lead exposures in children, and reduced drinking water treatment costs. More about Effluent Limitation Guidelines.

Toxic coal ash is contaminating water at nearly every current and former coal plant site in the U.S. In 2023, the EPA designated coal ash a national enforcement priority, acknowledging widespread noncompliance with federal coal ash regulations. The Trump administration pledged to gut the Legacy Coal Ash Rule and will issue a proposal in January 2026.

Earthjustice recently filed a lawsuit against the EPA challenging the approved West Virginia Regional Haze State Implementation Plan, which violates the agency’s long-standing interpretation of the Clean Air Act and regional haze regulations.

Despite coal’s continuing decline, more than 400,000 acres of public land are currently leased for coal mining. In fact, more than 43% of all domestic coal and over 85% of all coal mined from public lands comes from the Powder River Basin region in Montana and Wyoming. Earthjustice successfully fought to end new coal leasing in the Powder River Basin in 2024 and is currently opposing attempts to undo those protections.