Trump’s coal revival never materialized. Despite grand promises of “beautiful, clean coal,” production dropped, and employment barely budged—adding just 1,000 jobs compared to the 90,000 lost since 2008. Market forces, not policy, dictated coal’s decline. Natural gas and renewables simply outcompeted it on cost. Coal capacity retirements actually accelerated under Trump. The gap between political rhetoric and economic reality couldn’t have been wider. More numbers tell the brutal truth.
While Donald Trump has promised a grand resurgence of the coal industry, market realities tell a different story. His vision of “beautiful, clean coal” powering hundreds of new plants sounds impressive on the campaign trail. But let’s get real. Coal has plummeted to just 16% of U.S. electricity generation in 2023, and nobody’s building new plants.
Remember Trump’s first rodeo as president? Coal production actually decreased. Jobs didn’t materialize as promised. Sure, he rolled back environmental regulations and lifted moratoriums on federal coal leasing. Fat lot of good it did. Coal companies still declared bankruptcy.
The inconvenient truth? Market forces don’t care about presidential promises. Natural gas prices collapsed thanks to the fracking boom. Solar and wind costs dropped over 70% in the last decade. Coal capacity retirements actually accelerated under Trump, surpassing the rates seen during the Obama administration. About 99% of U.S. coal plants can’t compete economically with renewable alternatives. Utilities aren’t stupid – they’re retiring coal capacity at record rates.
Look at the employment numbers. Coal mining jobs fell from 134,000 in 2008 to 81,000 in 2016. By April 2020, only 41,900 remained. Currently, about 43,000 people work in coal mining. Trump’s first term didn’t move the needle. His administration created only 1,000 coal-based jobs despite promising a complete industry revival.
But what about all that “clean coal” talk? Please. Coal remains the dirtiest electricity source, period. It pumps out greenhouse gases, causes respiratory illness, and leaves behind toxic ash. Those fancy clean coal technologies Trump mentions? Barely implemented. Renewable energy sources like wind and solar can achieve over 90% of the carbon emissions reductions needed in the power sector.
The Energy Information Administration sees coal dropping to 15% of power generation by 2025. Some utilities are delaying plant retirements due to data center demand, but that’s just postponing the inevitable. Investors have zero interest in funding new coal development.
Sure, Trump can promise regulatory rollbacks – reviewing the Clean Power Plan, streamlining permits, recalculating carbon costs. But he can’t change simple economics or convince Wall Street to throw money at a dying industry. Sometimes, even presidents can’t resurrect the dead.
