President Donald Trump has identified the right destination, but the wrong path. The United States must, indeed, increase its energy production and improve its energy infrastructure, but coal is a dangerous, outdated, counterproductive method for achieving those goals.
Energy experts in the Northwest and beyond stress the need for increasing supply. The Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee last year warned that utilities will have difficulty keeping the lights on as demand grows. And a headline in The Washington Post last year ominously warned: “Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power.”
That demand is driven largely by data centers and artificial intelligence processors, which require extraordinary amounts of electricity. But even at the household level, where an increase in electric vehicles and the need to charge cellphones and other devices is evident, it is easy to see why demand is outpacing population growth.
In the Northwest, we have been spoiled for generations by the abundance of hydroelectricity. For nearly a century, the inexpensive, reliable, renewable energy has harnessed the power of the region’s rivers and powered our economy. And still, leaders in Washington state have recognized the need to develop alternative sources such as wind and solar to boost energy production.
Trump, however, is stuck in an era in which the burning of coal is the primary source of electricity. He recently signed executive orders that aim to boost domestic coal production, saying, “We will rapidly expedite leases for coal mining on federal lands and we’ll streamline permitting, we will end the government bias against coal and we’re going to unlock the sweeping authorities of the Defense Production Act to turbocharge coal mining in America.”
As an aside, this adds to the abuse of executive orders by presidents of both parties. Congress has abdicated its role as a co-equal branch of government and allowed for the development of an imperial presidency, one that unilaterally makes policy and spending decisions that should be the purview of the legislative branch.
That is a discussion for another time. For now, the focus is on Trump’s absurd embrace of an outdated industry. In 2001, according to the Energy Information Administration, the burning of coal accounted for 51 percent of U.S. electricity generation; by 2023, that number was 16 percent.
The decline is not solely the result of regulations that hamper coal production; it is the result of alternative sources that are cheaper, more efficient and cleaner to produce and use. The solar energy industry employs 279,000 Americans, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics; coal production employs 43,000.
On top of that are concerns about environmental degradation and health impacts brought about by the extraction and use of coal. Compared with other energy sources, coal is a large contributor to air pollution, water pollution and climate change, damaging the health not only of industry workers but throughout our communities.
The argument that other countries are burning coal does not mitigate our nation’s moral duty to reduce the use of a significant pollution source. Nor does it eliminate the economic opportunities of developing and investing in alternative energy, of being a global leader in industries of the future.
Efforts to boost the coal industry reflect antiquated thinking that ignores the realities and the possibilities of energy production. Yes, our region and our nation must find ways to increase the production of electricity. But clinging to the past is a not an efficient way to do that.
