Coal is the climate's worst enemy

Coal accounts for almost half of all carbon emissions since the industrial era. It generates far more CO2 per unit of energy than oil or gas.

Twenty years of whiplash

Obama's Clean Power Plan would have forced utilities away from coal. Trump repealed it, and the Supreme Court later blocked such mandates.

Biden tried a workaround

The 2024 rule gave utilities a choice: retire coal plants in the 2030s or install carbon capture machines. Either way, emissions would drop significantly.

Trump wipes it all away

The EPA announced Monday it will eliminate all federal carbon regulations for electricity. Utilities can now warm the Earth as much as they want.

“For over 15 years, the Obama and Biden administrations implemented a war on coal to destroy reliable and affordable energy.”

The rules never took effect anyway

The constant whiplash between administrations meant neither the Obama nor Biden rules did much to speed decarbonization, especially compared to IRA subsidies.

Coal declined without the rules

Coal power has plummeted over 20 years thanks to cheap natural gas from fracking. Power sector emissions have fallen by almost half.

Huge public health costs

The Biden rule would have prevented $370 billion in health damages. In 2035 alone, it would have stopped 1,200 premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks.

AI is keeping coal alive

Rapid power demand from data centers has led to a resurgence in coal. Utilities are pushing back retirement dates for their coal plants.

Southern Company changes course

The massive utility planned to retire its Mississippi coal plant by 2028. Now it will keep it online into the 2030s to power data centers.

The trend may be unstoppable

Coal plants are aging and expensive to repair. The next president may still need regulations, but by then the sector could be on its last legs.

“We have more electricity demand than we did before, which is, on the margins, going to make it easier for a coal plant to stay on.”