Leases awarded in Alabama and Utah, new mines approved in Tennessee and Wyoming, more than 13 million acres opened to coal mining this year.
The Trump administration’s drive to boost United States’ coal production is gaining momentum with coal lease bids awarded in Alabama and Utah, new mine permits issued in Tennessee and Wyoming, and late-September’s opening of more than 13.1 million acres of federal mineral estate across six western states to coal-mining.
President Donald Trump’s January “National Energy Emergency Declaration” and “Unleashing American Energy” executive orders, and his April “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry” executive action, have loosened regulations, streamlined permitting, and classified coal, a sedimentary rock, as a critical mineral.
Those orders and policy actions are being implemented under the federal fiscal year 2026 budget, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law July 4, as key components in increasing energy production to meet spiking electricity demand largely spurred by artificial intelligence and data center development.
The United States has the world’s largest coal reserves but coal’s use in energy generation has declined dramatically, from 45 percent in 2010 to 10 percent in 2024, the U.S. Energy Information Administration documents.
According to the administration’s October 2024 Annual Coal Report, which charts the industry through Dec. 31 of the previous year, while the number of producing coal mines nationwide increased from 548 to 560 in 2023, that is significantly down from 853 active mines in 2015.
Despite 2023’s addition of 12 coal mines and an increase of 1,894 employees to a total coal workforce of 45,476—there were more than 880,000 U.S. coal-miners in 1923. Coal production decreased to 512 tons in 2024—the lowest national coal output since 1964.
That trend appears to be reversing, especially with the Trump administration’ slashing royalty rates, split 50/50 between the federal government and states, from 12.5 percent to 7 percent for coal extracted and sold from federal mineral estate—the 700 million acres of sub-surface minerals owned by the U.S. government nationwide—with a series of lease sales and new mine permits.
The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which orchestrates lease sales for federal mineral estate beginning at $3 an acre, has awarded bids by existing coal mines in North Dakota and Wyoming to expand onto adjacent lands and extend operational timelines.
By John Haughey
