The Trump administration’s crusade for coal-based energy was dealt two setbacks during President Donald Trump’s “Energy Week” in late June. Mississippi Power suspended commercial startup of a “clean coal” lignite gasification and carbon-capture combined-cycle generating project in Kemper County, Miss., whose costs exceed $7 billion. Also, a U.S. federal appellate court in Virginia on June 29 overruled a lower court order for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to analyze how its regulations have affected coal-industry jobs.
Trump said on June 29 that the U.S. has a 250-year resource of “big beautiful coal,” but industry jobs have dwindled in past years from automation and low natural-gas prices. Those prices also are a key factor in the Kemper decision. In February, Mississippi Power said an updated market analysis shows that a drop in projected long-term natural gas prices of 25% to 30% have had a negative effect on the project’s economic viability.