Trump vows to authorize coal-fired power to counter China: Check out more Updates

US President Donald Trump stated that he intends to fight China’s economic advantage from coal-based electricity by authorizing his government to increase the production of fossil fuels. “I am authorizing my Administration to begin producing energy with BEAUTIFUL, CLEAN COAL immediately,” he stated in a social media post.

What he was referring to or how his social media directive would impact US policy was unclear. He has already issued an executive order proclaiming a national energy emergency and ordering the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase fossil fuel production and distribution. According to the US Energy Information Administration, coal accounts for around 15% of total US electricity output, down from more than 50% in 2000.

The decrease in coal-fired electricity in the United States has been fueled by competition from renewable alternatives and inexpensive natural gas, as well as government restrictions that have increased operational costs. Still, Mr Trump might use emergency powers to revive coal-fired electricity, replicating moves from his first term, when authorities planned to require grid operators to buy electricity from faltering coal and nuclear reactors in a bid to extend their lives. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Bloomberg Television last week that the government was considering using emergency powers to reopen coal-fired plants that have shut down and prevent others from closing.

Also in March, Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated that the government was working on a “market-based” strategy to slow the closure of US coal-fired power facilities. According to the America’s Power trade group, which includes utilities and miners such as Peabody Energy Corp and Core Natural Resources Inc, 120 coal-fired power plants are scheduled to close within the next five years, partly due to environmental regulations that have rendered them uneconomic. China has depended on coal-fired electricity to enhance the manufacture of various items, including solar panels, vital minerals, and semiconductors, and to drive economic growth, contributing to the country’s status as the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases contributing to global warming.

China’s yearly GDP in current US dollars increased from roughly US$361 billion in 1990 to around US$14.7 trillion (S$19.6 trillion) by 2020, while coal consumption quadrupled and carbon dioxide emissions more than tripled. China’s use of cheap coal power to run manufacturing has sparked bipartisan worry in the United States, where authorities are concerned that Beijing’s rising supremacy in creating clean-energy technology and other items would jeopardize US employment.