President Donald Trump is set to issue an executive order directing the U.S. Department of Defense to procure electricity from coal-fired power plants. This directive, first covered by The Wall Street Journal and affirmed by a White House official, comes as the administration aims to repeal the endangerment finding, a significant climate ruling affirming that greenhouse gases threaten public health.
“President Trump will take the most significant deregulatory actions in history to further unleash American energy dominance and drive down costs,” stated White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Environmental and security experts have criticized the order. “It’s expensive, outdated, and just puts us at risk,” said Erin Sikorsky, director of the Center for Climate & Security at The Council on Strategic Risks. “Coal is just going backwards for the Department of Defense.”
The order would commit the Defense Department to agreements with coal plants for electricity. Lauren Herzer Risi, director of the Environmental Security Program at the Stimson Center—a Washington, D.C. think tank—highlighted that the directive contradicts agency recommendations favoring on-site microgrids and distributed energy solutions.
Research by the National Laboratory of the Rockies, previously known as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, indicates that solar power with battery storage can boost energy security at military bases at “little to no added cost” during power outages.
The Department of Defense has stated it requires $5.1 billion to mitigate climate risks, per a 2024 U.S. Government Accountability Office report. The Air Force estimates $3.6 billion is needed to rebuild Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018. This cost is part of the broader challenges posed by climate change, as cited in the GAO report.
Risi argued that reinvesting in fossil fuels accelerates climate change, further destabilizing Defense Department facilities. The Defense Department and U.S. Department of Energy are collaborating to determine which facilities and coal plants will be impacted by the executive order. Concurrently, the administration will allocate funding to recommission and upgrade five coal plants in West Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, and Kentucky, the White House confirmed.
Additionally, Trump will receive the inaugural “Undisputed Champion of Coal” award from the Washington Coal Club, acknowledging the administration’s support for the coal industry.
Coal power use saw a slight uptick in 2025, as reported by the U.S. Department of Energy, partially due to rising natural gas costs, even as solar power continued to grow.
Sikorsky noted that increased reliance on coal could strategically disadvantage the U.S. by stifling investment in clean energy technologies that competitors like China prioritize. China’s coal-fired power generation fell by 1.9% in 2025 as new solar and wind installations met power demand growth, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie, a research and consulting firm.
The International Energy Agency projects that solar power will increasingly dominate as costs decline. Risi described reverting to coal as a retrograde step, stating, “It’s going to be expensive and require manpower. It’s short-sighted because it won’t last.”
Original Story at insideclimatenews.org