Powering Our Communities
Rural America has been sold a lie: that their industries are evil, and their economies deserve to be depleted. They’ve been told their energy resources are dirty, their livestock waste water, and their way of life is backwards. Under President Trump, the forgotten man has been forgotten no more.
The administration’s new initiative to invest $700 million to reopen and expand capacity at 13 coal plants offers a different answer. America does not have to choose its decline.
It’s high time to restore one of the country’s greatest strategic advantages, our ability to produce reliable, affordable energy at home.
The Department of Energy plans to use Defense Production Act authorities to support additional coal generation capacity across 13 facilities. The goal is straightforward: to preserve dispatchable power, strengthen grid reliability, and ensure America maintains the electricity supply necessary for economic growth in the years ahead. As foreign adversaries bolster their energy supply, America is building to remain independent, compete, and power the next generation.
While this advancement has been needed for a generation, it matters far more today than it did even five years ago.
Artificial intelligence is now the defining global competition of the century. Advanced computing infrastructure requires additional electricity. While the need for AI grows, so does the need for baseload power generation— power we have access to right here at home.
While many Western governments spent years restricting domestic energy production out of fear of environmental impact, China rapidly expanded its capacity to support its manufacturing and industrial output. America cannot lead in artificial intelligence while pretending electricity appears by magic.
At the end of the day, reliable baseload generation is national security, and it has to be sourced from somewhere.
Clean coal remains uniquely suited for the role. As it provides steady output regardless of weather conditions, the resource can stabilize grids, reduce power volatility, and therefore support future growth in manufacturing and advanced computing.
President Trump’s effort also recognizes something the Washington establishment ignored too long: energy policy is labor policy.
Mountain towns and rural communities across Appalachia and other coal-producing regions have been forced to carry the burden of policies that accelerated plant closures and discouraged outside investment. During the Obama years, many of these communities experienced shrinking tax bases, population loss, and fewer opportunities for younger generations. It is no wonder so many have been forced to leave what many called home.
The people who extracted America’s resources and kept the lights on were too often treated as obstacles rather than partners, reducing their humanity to just a statistic.
By reopening existing facilities and building new ones, America will restore its skilled trades, creating construction jobs, supporting equipment suppliers, and generating long-term operational employment. This isn’t temporary, either. These will become careers that support families, sustain local businesses, and rebuild communities that helped build America.
This doesn’t just affect Appalachia, but everyone who pays their power bill each month.
When the American electricity supply becomes constrained while demand rises, prices increase. Expanding generation capacity places downward pressure on long-term energy costs and helps avoid shortages that drive bills higher. Affordable energy is not an abstract economic indicator, but determines whether factories expand, whether families can heat their homes, and whether businesses remain competitive.
This initiative reflects a broader principle championed by organizations like the American Security Coalition: economic strength, energy independence, and national security are inseparable.
America possesses extraordinary natural resources. We have the workers. We have the technology. We have the industrial base.
Now, increasingly, we have leadership willing to use them.