Trump Directs Pentagon to Purchase Coal Power to Revive Domestic Industry
Washington D.C., Wednesday, 11 February 2026.
Bypassing market trends, the President orders the Pentagon to purchase coal electricity, deploying $175 million in defense funds to upgrade aging plants and artificially sustain the domestic mining sector.
Strategic Defense Procurement
In a decisive intervention into the energy market, President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign an executive order on Wednesday, February 11, directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to enter into agreements to purchase electricity specifically from coal-fired plants for military operations [1][2]. This administrative action leverages the purchasing power of the Department of Defense to establish a guaranteed revenue stream for the thermal coal sector, effectively bypassing standard market competition where coal has increasingly lost ground to cheaper alternatives [2][5]. The directive marks a significant shift in defense procurement policy, prioritizing the sustenance of traditional energy infrastructure over cost or carbon efficiency.
Broader Regulatory Strategy
This financial support is part of a wider deregulatory campaign aimed at expanding domestic extraction. Following President Trump’s recent directives declaring a national energy emergency, the White House has completed a review of new rules to streamline mining exploration on U.S. Forest Service lands [3]. The proposal seeks to update regulations for the first time in decades, allowing companies to conduct small-scale exploration for hard rock minerals on plots of five acres or less without submitting a full plan of operations or securing explicit permission, merely requiring agency notification [3].
Industry Alignment and Market Realities
To formalize these announcements, coal executives, miners, and energy industry leaders have convened at the White House on Wednesday [1][5]. While the administration frames the executive order as a necessary measure to revive a critical domestic industry, the move effectively serves as a lifeline for a sector that analysts have described as facing “natural extinction” due to economic headwinds [2]. By mandating Pentagon purchases, the federal government is stepping in to provide stability to an industry that has struggled to compete with the falling costs of natural gas and renewable energy sources.