Gov. Patrick Morrisey (standing in left) is shown with President Donald Trump (sitting) at the White House for an expected commitment of hundreds of millions of federal taxpayer dollars toward propping up the coal industry in West Virginia and across the United States at a Thursday June 4, 2026, announcement of that support.
Gov. Patrick Morrisey (standing in left) is shown with President Donald Trump (sitting) at the White House for an expected commitment of hundreds of millions of federal taxpayer dollars toward propping up the coal industry in West Virginia and across the United States at a Thursday June 4, 2026, announcement of that support.
Courtesy photo
Coal has been on a decades-long, market-driven slide down in the United States’ energy portfolio amid the rise of renewable power production as an increasingly cost-effective alternative and supplement to fossil fuels.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration last month projected the nation’s coal production would drop 5.1% from 2024 by 2027 despite a 7.2% increase in overall electricity generation forecast for the nation for the same span.
But the Trump administration again moved to prop up coal Thursday afternoon, signaling commitment of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars toward bolstering increasingly uneconomic coal plants via a White House announcement led by President Donald Trump and attended by Gov. Patrick Morrisey, Trump cabinet officials and other Republican governors.
The Trump administration was expected to announce $425 million to be allocated via the Defense Production Act to support 13 coal plants across the country, a move the White House said would enable each facility to invest in upgrades that extend their operational life.
The Defense Production Act is a 1950 law that gives the president broad authority to incentivize domestic industry to expand production and supply of what are deemed critical materials and goods.
TerraPurus in Grant County, Wheeling Power to benefit
One of the companies signaled to receive funds was Wheeling Power, which co-owns the 55-year-old Mitchell Power Plant in Marshall County and has been slated to have a 2040 retirement date.
The White House was also expected to announce nearly $200 million from Department of Energy grant funding to help build two new coal plants in West Virginia and Alaska and restart a coal plant in Maryland, with the companies expected to at least match the funds for a $386 million investment.
The West Virginia recipient was expected to be TerraPurus Inc. in Mount Storm, Grant County.
A Wheeling Power spokesperson said Thursday any information about grants would be issued in a news release “as soon as we are made aware.â€
Trump declared at Thursday’s White House announcement that “the green new scam is over,†using a catch-all term to deride federal policy meant to be a guide toward renewable and otherwise more sustainable energy than what Trump has misleadingly called “clean†coal.
Health impacts tied to emissions from 10 coal-fired plants in West Virginia included an estimated 407 deaths, 4,101 asthma attacks and 162 heart attacks in 2019 alone, per an analysis of data from a federal health risk assessment tool derived by the Clean Air Task Force, an environmental group.
West Virginia’s share of electricity generation powered by coal has been by far the nation’s highest amid the state’s rise in electricity prices relative to other states in recent years.
West Virginia ratepayers faced a 90% climb in average residential electricity retail prices from 2005 to 2020, per EIA data. Only Michigan had a greater increase by percentage.
West Virginia job figures suggest the state’s coal industry has struggled under Trump despite his administration moving to weaken a wide range of regulations on the industry.
Mining and logging jobs in West Virginia fell 17.8% over the course of Trump’s first term to 17,100, climbed back up by 22.8% to 21,000 from January 2021 to January 2025 under then-President Joe Biden and then dropped again by 2.9% from January 2025 to January 2026 upon Trump’s White House return, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
But Morrisey framed the White House’s latest move aimed at boosting the coal industry at the White House Thursday afternoon as an economic boon.
“All West Virginians are so deeply grateful to you for your focus on protecting their energy jobs,†Morrisey told Trump.
CLICK HERE to follow the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Gazette-Mail and receive
