Reinvigorating America's Beautiful Clean Coal Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241
The order designates coal as a national energy security priority, immediately grants it the status of a 'mineral' under an earlier order unlocking emergency production authorities, and directs more than a dozen federal agencies to remove regulatory barriers to coal mining, exports, and investment.
It formally ends the Obama-era Jewell Moratorium on new federal coal leases and requires agencies to eliminate any policies that discourage coal production, coal-fired electricity generation, or coal financing — a sweeping reversal of the prior administration's energy transition agenda.
What this order does
What it orders
The order directs the Chair of the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) to immediately designate coal as a "mineral" under EO 14241, entitling it to emergency production authorities under that order. It directs the Secretary of the Interior to publish a Federal Register notice terminating the Jewell Moratorium's associated Environmental Impact Statement, effectively reopening federal lands to new coal leasing. It also amends a statutory citation in EO 14241. Multiple agencies are directed to identify and then revise or rescind all guidance, regulations, and policies that seek to transition the nation away from coal, including financing-related preferences at institutions such as the Export-Import Bank and the International Development Finance Corporation. Agencies are also directed to identify categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act to speed coal approvals, assess coal's suitability as a critical material for steel, promote coal exports internationally, and study the potential for coal-powered infrastructure to support AI data centers.
The order requires implementation "consistent with applicable law" and includes a standard provision that it creates no enforceable legal rights for private parties. Actual regulatory changes require future agency rulemaking, and the coal leasing program restart depends on administrative steps the order initiates but does not complete by itself.
Who it affects
Coal mining companies and their workers, federal coal lessees seeking royalty rate reductions, energy developers on federal lands, AI data center operators, U.S. export financiers and multilateral development institutions, allied countries that import U.S. coal, and communities near federal coal-bearing lands in the Interior West and Appalachia.
Why it matters
Coal companies can immediately access emergency production authorities previously reserved for minerals, and new federal coal leases — blocked since 2016 — become available again. Energy developers face fewer environmental review hurdles, while federal financing agencies must strip anti-coal preferences from their programs, directly affecting what energy projects the U.S. government will fund abroad.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The order works in overlapping waves. The NEDC Chair's mineral designation is immediate. Within 30 days, agencies catalog anti-coal regulations and policies and identify potential categorical exclusions; within 60 days they must consider rescinding those policies and submit a consolidated federal-lands coal resource report. A 90-day action plan on coal technology follows. Interior is directed to prioritize coal leasing and process royalty reduction applications expeditiously. The Secretary of Commerce leads export promotion in consultation with State and USTR. Reports flow through the NEDC Chair or the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy rather than to Congress.
Actions and deadlines
- NEDC Chair designates coal as a 'mineral' under EO 14241, granting coal all associated emergency production benefits
- Secretary of the Interior publishes Federal Register notice terminating the Jewell Moratorium Environmental Impact Statement
- Secretary of the Interior processes royalty rate reduction applications from federal coal lessees as expeditiously as permitted by law
- EPA, DOT, DOI, DOE, DOL, and Treasury identify guidance, regulations, and policies seeking to transition the nation away from coal
- Secretary of State, Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, DFC CEO, EXIM Bank President, and other relevant agency heads review charters, regulations, and guidance for anti-coal financing preferences and eliminate them where appropriate
- Each agency identifies existing and potential categorical exclusions under NEPA that could expedite coal production and export to the Council on Environmental Quality
- Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, and Secretary of Energy submit a consolidated report on federal coal resources, impediments to mining, and proposed remedies to the President
- Heads of all relevant agencies consider revising or rescinding Federal actions identified in the 30-day anti-coal regulatory review
- Secretary of the Interior, Commerce, and Energy submit a report identifying regions for coal-powered AI data center infrastructure and assessing expansion potential to the NEDC Chair
- Secretary of Energy determines whether coal used in steel production qualifies as a 'critical material' and, if so, adds it to the DOE Critical Materials List
- Secretary of the Interior determines whether metallurgical coal qualifies as a 'critical mineral' and, if so, adds it to the DOI Critical Minerals List
- Secretary of Energy submits a detailed action plan on coal technology funding mechanisms, programs, and policy actions to the President through the NEDC Chair
Agencies directed to act
Authority and reach
What this order changes
Amends Executive Order 14241