President Trump announced roughly $700 million in federal funding to prop up the US coal industry on June 4, using the Defense Production Act as his primary lever. The core of the package, $500 million drawn from the DPA, will go toward upgrading 13 coal-fired power plants spread across 10 to 11 states, protecting an estimated 14 gigawatts of generating capacity.
The DPA, originally a Korean War-era law designed to ensure domestic production of materials critical to national defense, is being repurposed here as an energy tool.
What the money actually buys
Beyond the plant upgrades, $75 million is earmarked for the West Gateway coal export terminal in Oakland, California. That facility would serve as a pipeline to Asian markets hungry for coal imports.
The initiative also funds two entirely new coal plants, one in Alaska and one in West Virginia, plus the restart of a shuttered facility in Maryland. If completed, these would be the first new coal plants built in the US since 2013.
