Coal provided 15% of U.S. electricity in 2024. Utilities are shutting coal plants because they lose money. The administration is now using the Defense Production Act to spend $700 million of taxpayer money propping up an industry the market has already moved past.
The April 2026 presidential determination declared coal supply chains essential to national defense. That is a stretch of wartime authority designed for genuine emergencies. Coal is not a national security necessity. It is the most expensive and most polluting source of electricity on the grid.
An independent analysis found that mandating coal plants stay open could cost ratepayers $3.1 billion per year. $185 million of the announced funding was taken from bipartisan infrastructure law money originally meant for carbon capture. $75 million is going to a coal export terminal in Oakland that the community has fought for a decade because of the health risks to a neighborhood where asthma hospitalizations run 88% above the county average.
Oppose the use of Defense Production Act authority to subsidize coal. Demand congressional oversight of DPA energy spending and redirect these funds toward energy sources that are cheaper, cleaner, and actually reduce costs for families.
