This post was originally published on Data Center Knowledge
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump signed a raft of measures he boasted would expand the mining and use of coal inside the US, a bid to power the boom in energy-hungry data centers and revive a flagging US fossil fuel industry.
Trump said he was “taking historic action to help American workers, miners, families, and consumers,” as he set in motion wide-ranging initiatives to promote electricity made from coal, including legal strikes targeting state regulations and policies that deter the fossil fuel’s use.
“All those plants that have been closed are going to be opened if they’re modern enough, or they’ll be ripped down and brand new ones will be built,” Trump said in front of executives, workers and lawmakers gathered at the White House on Tuesday. “We’re going to put the miners back to work.”
Taken together, the measures represent a sweeping attempt to ensure coal remains part of the US electricity mix, despite its higher greenhouse gas emissions and frequently greater cost when compared to natural gas or solar power.
The effort also underscores Trump’s commitment to tapping America’s coal resources as a source of both electricity to run data centers and heat to forge steel. The president and administration officials have
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