Doug Burgham discusses coal energy after Trump’s executive order
Fox Business Correspondent Kelly Sabery has the latest in the Trump administration’s purpose to boost coal and rare earth mineral production on “Big Money Show.”
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgham discussed the coal industry and President Donald Trump’s recent executive order. Fox Business ‘Kelly Saberi Friday.
The president signed an executive order earlier this week, directing the National Energy Control Council to direct coal to be designated as a “mineral” and “mineral” as a “mineral” as a “mineral” as a “mineral,” according to the White House.
His orders included other measures, such as directing Bulgham to “recognize the Jewel Moratorium” which halted coal leases on federal land, and one order agency to “identify coal resources on federal land” to remove mining barriers and prioritize coal leases on federal land.
Trump has designated coal as a mineral: What does that mean for the industry?
Doug Burgham, North Dakota Governor and Secretary of the Interior, at a confirmation hearing held by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in Washington, DC on January 16, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Coal is very important to our economy at a very basic level,” Burgham told Saveri. “Coal is not only used in a thermal way. Produces electricitythis is necessary for almost everything, but certainly, for now, with electricity prices spiked under the Biden administration, it is necessary to lower prices for consumers across the country. We must defeat it again by getting more supply. ”
About 16% of US electricity generation came from coal in 2024, according to a short-term energy outlook released Thursday by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA).
Natural gas provided 42% of U.S. electricity last year, the report said. Meanwhile, renewable energy and nuclear power accounted for 23% and 19%, respectively.
Almost 41% of global power came from last year’s clean energy
Bulgham also said coal is important in the US competition. China and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
“In the AI battle we are opposed to China, it’s actually an AI weapons race. artificial intelligenceelectricity is worth more than any point in history. Because you can take kilowatts of electricity and actually make intelligence with it,” he said. I need more. And of course, coal is one of these basic levels. ”
The Secretary of the Interior spoke with Sabery while visiting Warrior Met Coal, an Alabama metallurgical coal mining company. Metallurgical coal is used to make steel.
According to Saberi, China is a major producer of metallurgical coal, but does not export it. She reported that Trump’s executive order “will have a direct impact on the “warriors.”
“Met coal has all the features that are essential to us for the production of steel,” Bulgham told her during an interview. “And as you know, President Trump Steel Industry The US places tariffs on people who may be dumping steel in the US, and is here supporting US steel companies. ”
Trump reimposed a 25% tariff on steel imports in February.
President Donald Trump will ask a reporter a question at a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House Oval Office on April 7th. (Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images / Getty Images)
“The products that are made here are harvested here and mined here are essential for us to regain the steel industry,” Bulgham told Sabery.
Bulgham told Saveri companies that want to build manufacturing plants and data centers in the US that they need steel to do so.
“If you want to make steel in the US, you need to fill up coal and they produce it here.”
Burgham said coal “is necessary to be listed on the important mineral list” as we are currently restricting certain minerals from the United States in our fight against China.
The American public “owns 700 million acres of underground,” and the government “discovers coal some of the rare earth minerals that China limits from us,” according to the Interior Secretary.
“So coal is absolutely essential to not only be used for electricity, but also for steel production,” he said. “But its coal resources have important minerals needed for defense and technology. So this is a triple victory for the United States to return to the coal business.”
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He also said that AI’s “part of the fight” with China “as a country, we are not only making sure that we have enough power to win the AI Arms race, but we are also enough to make sure that all the manufacturing plants that are coming have power.
Coal will play a role in it, he said.
Gridstrategies is projected in December that US electricity demand will increase by 15.8% by 2029, with data centers, manufacturing and electrification being its key contributors.
According to data from the reserve EIA, US coal production in 2024 was 512.1 million tonnes.
Coal barges in Pittsburgh on September 9th, 2024. (Getty Images/Justin Merriman via Getty Images/Bloomberg)
In its annual coal report released Tuesday, the EIA said the US produced “less than half” of coal in 2023 compared to 2008.
It has linked the decline in coal production, including natural gas and renewable energy, to “higher mining costs, increasingly strict environmental regulations, and competition from other sources of power generation.”
According to the EIA, the US is projected to produce nearly 490 million tonnes of coal in 2025.
Kelly Sabery contributed to this report