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The date of the annual State of the Union address is fast approaching, and what’s a US President to do? If you’re US President Donald Trump, you lie, ramble, and try not to fall asleep. So, no surprises there. Still, it might be worth tuning in, if only to see who, or what, the President throws under the bus this time. There’s the US coal industry, for example…
Coal Under The Bus
Trump has been promising more jobs for coal workers ever since his first run at the White House in 2015. Things went swimmingly after he took office in 2016, or at least that’s how Trump portrayed the situation in his 2018 State of The Union address.
“We have ENDED the war on American Energy – and we have ENDED the War on CLEAN COAL,” the President announced.
Just 12 months after that speech, Trump apparently lost all interest in the idea of saving coal jobs. After all, nobody likes a loser, and coal jobs continued to shrink all throughout his first term in office.
Coal didn’t even rate a mention in Trump’s 2019 State of the Union speech. “We have unleashed a revolution in American energy — the United States is now the No. 1 producer of oil and natural gas in the world,” Trump enthused, congratulating the two fossil fuels that compete against coal for a share of the nation’s power generation profile, particularly in the case of gas.
Promises, Promises
During his second term in office, Trump has taken extraordinary measures to force old, uneconomical coal power plants to stay in operation, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he goes back to giving himself three cheers for saving coal jobs in this year’s State of the Union address.
Still, he’ll have to lie or at least ignore some inconvenient facts about his track record on coal. “In total, US coal power capacity has fallen by some 57 gigawatts (GW) during Trump’s first and second terms in office, compared with 48GW under Obama’s two full terms and 41GW under Biden’s single term,” the organization Carbon Brief noted on February 12.
“Even in relative terms, the US has lost a larger proportion of its remaining coal fleet for each year of Trump’s presidencies than for either of his recent predecessors,” Carbon Brief added.
Carbon Brief does note that coal power output rose 13% in 2025 compared to the previous year, as a fresh burst of electricity demand contributed to a more favorable economic environment for coal power in the US.
“Nevertheless, many utilities have still been looking to shutter their ageing coal-fired power plants,” Carbon Brief reminded everyone.
“The vast majority of US coal plants are nearing retirement. Three-quarters of US coal capacity is more than four decades old and only 14% is less than 20 years old,” the organization added.
Where Have All The Coal Jobs Gone?
Even if coal generating capacity continues to tick up over the coming years, that doesn’t necessarily translate into more jobs for coal miners. The domestic coal industry has been shedding jobs for generations alongside the rise of mechanization and other labor-saving practices. In the 10-year period between 2011 and 2021 alone — a period that includes Trump’s first four-year term — total coal mining employment in the US sank by 50%.
The bleeding has continued into Trump’s second term despite last year’s increase in coal power generation. More blood will be shed this year, partly due to weakness in the domestic metallurgical coal market.
“Since the beginning of 2025, West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky have lost more than 1,600 coal jobs, including several hundred layoffs announced Friday,” West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported on February 13.
Ouch! As noted by the news organization MetroNews, 530 employees of the coal mining firm Greenbrier Minerals are being laid off this spring. A subsidiary of the Australian firm Coronado Global Resources, Greenbriar states that its Logan complex in West Virginia is operating at a loss due to weak demand for the high-volatile coal used in steel making.
To stem the bleeding and satisfy shareholders, the company is shutting down seven of its mining operations in the southern part of the state. The layoffs are slated to begin on April 14.
No word yet on whether or not the Commander-in-Chief will order Greenbriar to keep its mines open. However, the publication Mining Weekly is among those taking note of ongoing issues that Trump cannot address simply by tinkering around with old coal power plants. “Coronado believes that the high-vol met coal market in the US is ‘structurally challenged’ with US metallurgical coal exports declining, reflecting softer demand and fewer accessible markets,” MW noted on February 16.
About Those Old Coal Power Plants …
In another ominous sign, on January 29 News 12WBOY received word that approximately 199 workers at a coal mine in Tucker County, West Virginia will also lose their jobs in April. “Mettiki Coal’s Mountain View mine in Davis will be ceasing production and closing permanently,” WBOY reported.
Mettiki’s parent company, the Oklahoma-based firm Alliance Resource Partners, L.P, cited recurring outages at a “key customer’s” coal power plant as the cause of the shutdown.
“We have recently been informed that the plant expects additional outages during 2026 and based upon current demand projections and contractual commitments for 2026, they are not in a position to commit to purchase any additional tons from Mettiki for the foreseeable future,” Alliance explained in a press statement.
“Due to the location of the mine and the low-volatile quality of coal the mine produces, Mettiki’s livelihood depends on this customer purchasing a minimum of one million tons per year for it to be viable under its existing operating plan,” the company added.
Alliance did not identify the customer. WBOY surmises that one likely power plant is Dominion Energy’s 61-year-old Mount Storm Power Station, 15 miles to the east in Grant County.
Somewhat ironically, Mount Storm is also home to a 21-year-old wind farm that is currently undergoing a makeover. The original array went online with 132 turbines. They are being replaced with fewer, but more powerful turbines. The 78 new turbines will increase the capacity of the wind farm by 85%, to 335.4 megawatts. The developer, Clearway Energy, expects the work to be completed sometime next year.
So, How Will The President Use His Free Air Time?
Coal workers are not the only ones getting the short end of the Trump stick. Farmers will probably fail to make the State of the Union cut, too. The American Farm Bureau Federation notes that 315 farms filed for Chapter 12 bankruptcy in 2025, an increase of 46% increase compared to 2024.
As AFBF notes, small farms that are not eligible for Chapter 12 bankruptcy can also succumb to financial pressure. All together, the US had 15,000 fewer farms in 2025 compared to 2024. “Farmland continues to face pressure from economic factors such as urbanization and low or negative returns per acre, particularly in row crops,” Pro Farmer reported on February 13.
So, what will Trump tell the nation about its state come Tuesday? Well, there’s always the White House ballroom and the Kennedy Center renovations, and all those shiny new concentration camps.
Also tariffs, if only because the topic gives Trump a chance to whine about the smackdown he received from the US Supreme Court on Friday.
Image: The US is bleeding coal jobs again, despite the best efforts of US President Donald Trump to keep old coal power plants up and running (J.H. Campbell power plant courtesy of Consumers Energy).
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