After six decades, the coal-fired JH Campbell power plant on the shores of Lake Michigan was set to close in May, after years of moving workers into other jobs and letting local communities decide what to do with the land.
Then came an order from President Donald Trump’s administration to keep the plant running, citing an energy emergency in the region brought about, in part, by the retirement of coal and gas power plants.
Trump has issued executive orders aimed at shoring up the coal industry, particularly to address fast-rising electricity needs for new data centres that power artificial intelligence tools.
For the JH Campbell plant in West Olive, Michigan, the rebound means resupplying its coal pile that once stretched the length of three football fields.
“It was down to just a little dollop,” said Jan O’Connell, a senior energy issues organiser with the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, an advocacy group.
“Now it’s all back up and running,” she told Context.
The move reflects Trump’s intention to end decades-long efforts to wean the United States off coal. Other moves include halting programmes designed to help coal-producing communities transition to other industries.
Shortly after the Campbell order, the Trump administration likewise mandated the continued operation of a gas plant that had been slated to close in Philadelphia. Both were designated as 90-day emergency orders that can be renewed.
In the past two decades, nearly 75 per cent of US coal plants have retired or planned to do so by 2030, according to Sierra Club tracking.
O’Connell said she worries the Campbell plant order could set a precedent.
“We’re afraid it’ll be a domino effect,” she said, “that they’re going to go from coal plant to coal plant and possibly wipe away their retirement dates.”
The administration sees the moves as a means to make sure the country has adequate energy, said Department of Energy press secretary Ben Dietderich.
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Coal communities need investment, and they need support as markets transition to cheaper and cleaner forms of energy. What Trump is giving them is denial, false hope and… a lot more pollution.
Jason Walsh, executive director, BlueGreen Alliance
“For years, American grid operators have warned decommissioning baseload power sources such as coal plants would jeopardise the reliability of our grid systems,” Dietderich said.
“This administration is committed to ensuring Americans have access to reliable, affordable, and secure energy that isn’t dependent on whether the sun shines or the wind blows.”
States including Illinois, Georgia, Maryland and West Virginia have recently delayed coal plant retirements, according to Clean Energy States Alliance, a coalition of state energy agencies, with others looking to follow suit.
Long decline
Data centre-driven energy demand rose by 12 per cent from 2017 to 2024 and is expected to double by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency, with more than half of that energy demand expected from AI data centres.
Trump has declared US global AI dominance a priority of his administration, citing the technology and its energy needs as an issue of national security.
The coal industry is seen as key to delivering on those energy needs, although the industry has been in a decades-long decline, and experts say it is unclear the extent to which the new orders will halt that slide.
Coal produced 39 per cent of US electricity in 2014, but by last year that had dropped to 15 per cent, said Daniel Bresette, president of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a Washington think tank.
Nevertheless, the Trump administration orders combined with the rapid growth of energy-hungry data centres could boost the industry, he said.
“We’re just not sure how much,” he said.
White House assistant press secretary Liz Huston said in an email that Trump’s moves are “fully unleashing American energy dominance, driving down costs, and fuelling economic prosperity.”
The coal industry says the moves have brightened its prospects.
Emily Arthun, chief executive of the American Coal Council, said the industry group is “very optimistic of the economic impacts” of the executive orders, which “are already setting the stage for regulatory shifts.”
She noted that the orders highlight the role of coal in meeting the demands of data centres and AI.
It is not clear how major tech companies will respond to an increased role for coal in powering their data centres.
Many major tech companies have net-zero emission and other sustainability goals, and large companies’ demand for clean energy such as from solar will grow to 275 gigawatts by 2035, according to estimates from the Clean Energy Buyers Association, an industry group that includes Google, Meta and Microsoft.
That would be enough energy to power more than 200 million average American homes.
Several industry groups and major companies declined to comment or did not respond to inquiries on the prospect of coal-fired electricity powering their data centres.
‘False hope’
Meanwhile, some environmental experts warn the federal efforts to bolster the coal industry are overlooking coal communities themselves seeking to move beyond the declining industry.
“Coal communities need investment, and they need support as markets transition to cheaper and cleaner forms of energy,” said Jason Walsh, executive director of BlueGreen Alliance, which brings together labour and environmental groups.
“What Trump is giving them is denial, false hope and … a lot more pollution.”
Congressional budget negotiations that concluded this month gutted clean-energy tax credits, he said, including a bonus for investments in so-called energy communities as well as a green bank to invest in sustainable economic strategies for coal communities.
“Folks in coal communities now recognise that there’s no going back,” Walsh said.
“The problem, though, is that this administration is now cutting them off from resources that are necessary.”
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