As efforts from Washington, D.C., to reduce the size of the federal government continue with a sense of urgency that has yielded mixed results, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., was right to urge U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reverse course on a reduction in force effort that has affected the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Morgantown.
“I believe in the president’s vision to right size our government, but I do not think eliminating the NIOSH coal programs and research will accomplish that goal,” Capito wrote to Kennedy Monday. “The mission and work conducted by the specially trained NIOSH employees is not duplicative of any other government program.”
Shelley Moore Capito
Among many other things, that work helps keep West Virginia’s coal miners safe and healthy.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his support of our region’s miners and the coal industry. But a loss of approximately 200 jobs at NIOSH could remove some support for miners’ wellbeing.
“I am concerned that the RIFs at NIOSH will undermine the vital health programs important to so many West Virginians,” Capito said. “I urge you to bring back the NIOSH employees immediately so they can continue to support our nation’s coal industry.”
The NIOSH employees in Morgantown study workplace-related respiratory diseases, they provide black lung screenings for coal miners, they do research on rock dust that helps find ways to prevent explosions. NIOSH research has produced the pillar design that helps prevent roof collapse in underground mines.
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Efforts to Save the U.S. Coal Industry Heat Up
President Donald Trump’s administration is making changes that could benefit the struggling U.S. coal industry.
Coal once provided more than half of U.S. electricity. But the industry has been in decline for decades.
In 2014, U.S. coal production was at one billion tons. By 2023, it had fallen to 578 million tons, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
President Trump issued executive orders this month. He allowed some coal-fired plants set for retirement to keep producing electricity. Those plants help meet rising demand for power. The President granted nearly 70 older coal-fired power plants a two-year exemption from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals. He also allowed mining on federal land.
Today, about half of the nation’s 560 coal mines are in West Virginia and Kentucky. With just 15 mines, Wyoming produces the most coal. That’s due to automated equipment and more accessible coal.
The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) enforces U.S. mine safety laws. MSHA officials must inspect each underground mine quarterly. They inspect each surface mine twice per year. The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has called for cuts to MSHA. As part of those cuts, some inspection offices are set to close.
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Things to Know About the US Coal Industry and Proposed Changes Under the Trump Administration
President Donald Trump's administration has proposed several changes that would affect the struggling U.S. coal industry.
Trump issued executive orders this month to allow mining on federal land. He has used his emergency authority to allow some older coal-fired power plants set for retirement to keep producing electricity to meet the rising demand amid the growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars.
The Republican president also granted nearly 70 older coal-fired power plants a two-year exemption from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals.
Trump's government efficiency team, run by Elon Musk, made plans earlier this year to terminate the leases of 34 U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration offices in 19 states.
Coal's decades-long decline
The coal industry once provided more than half of U.S. electricity production. But it has been in steep decline for decades as operators went out of business and utilities installed more renewable energy and converted coal-fired plants to be fueled by cheaper and cleaner-burning natural gas.
U.S. coal production was at 1 billion tons (907,000 metric tons) in 2014 and fell to 578 million tons (524 million metric tons) by 2023, the latest year available, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Coal employment nationally peaked in the 1920s when there were about 900,000 miners. It was at about 350,000 in 1950 and has declined steadily since 1980. After the coronavirus pandemic, employment rebounded from 2022 to 2023, rising 4.2% to 45,476. West Virginia employed the most miners at 14,000, followed by Kentucky at 5,000. About half of the nation’s 560 coal mines are located in West Virginia (165) and Kentucky (112). Despite having just 15 mines, Wyoming was the highest-producing coal state due to mechanization and more accessible coal.
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Powering Ohio’s Future: Coal Still Matters, Innovation Can’t Wait
By Vivek Ramaswamy
Right now, California faces rotating power outages previously only seen in third world countries.
Pretty soon, they’ll be coming to Ohio too — unless we do something about it now.
Fortunately, President Donald Trump took a major step earlier this month to address this looming crisis by issuing three executive orders to revive the coal industry — keeping aging coal plants online, accelerating mining leases on federal lands, and rolling back burdensome climate regulations.
Coal shouldn’t be treated like a four-letter word in America; we should embrace it. Last year, the rest of the world burned more coal than ever in history — while the U.S. used less coal than we ever have.
Republican Vivek Ramaswamy is a candidate for governor of Ohio
This makes little sense as a purported solution to address “global” climate change, especially as the utilization of coal in the U.S. is far cleaner than places like China, where coal production has largely shifted.
Ohio has an opportunity to lead the way in our region to address the looming electricity shortage, and coal remains an important source of baseload power — that is, the minimum amount of electricity needed to power the grid, 24/7. Currently, Ohio is part of the 13-state PJM Interconnection, which projects capacity shortfalls as soon as next year. That means higher prices in the short term — and potential rotating outages if we don’t act. In fact, the most recent capacity auction saw a nine-fold price increase over the prior year, a clear warning to ratepayers and policymakers alike.
Driven by AI data centers and manufacturing, Ohio’s peak energy demand will be 50% higher in 2034 than it is today. The arrival of high-tech sectors is an exciting development for Ohio’s economy–but only if we have the energy to sustain them.
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Yes, It Is An Energy Supply Emergency
With so much understandable focus on meeting soaring new power demand from the AI revolution and hyperscale data centers, it’s easy to forget the nation entered this moment already facing a grid reliability crisis.
The reshoring of industry, electrification and the rapid loss of dispatchable power were already enough to push grid operators to warn of imminent power supply shortfalls at the very start of the Biden administration. The data center boom and AI arms race have now made a deeply challenging situation doubly so.
The PJM grid, the nation’s largest and home to the world’s data center capital in northern Virginia, has become the bellwether for the nation’s ability to affordably and reliably manage the collision of eroding power supply with soaring new power demand.
Not only does PJM meet the electricity needs of 65 million Americans in 13 states and the District of Columbia but it has long been a grid reliability bulwark for surrounding regions.
According to new analysis from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Electricity Reliability Corp., PJM helped bail out surrounding grids this January by exporting nearly 8 gigawatts (GW) of power during crippling winter storms that pushed 71 GW of capacity offline across much of the nation.
And yet, the stability it offers may be disappearing.
“You can’t export something you don’t have, and as PJM loses its surplus generating resources, there won’t be anything to export,” FERC Chairman Mark Christie observed at a recent meeting. “That’s a huge problem.”
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