President Donald Trump’s move to rejuvenate the suffering coal industry and preserve coal-fired power plants has earned high praise from Republican lawmakers.
Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Ramis cheered for the president Presidential Order In an interview with the Diley Call News Foundation on Tuesday, it concludes former President Joe Biden’s moratorium on federal coal leases and eliminates barriers to launching new coal projects on federal lands. The Trump administration is trying to partially boost the coal industry to help Ramis meet the energy needs of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers that he called “welcome news” for his Wyoming homeland. (Related: Biden used Rickety Bridge to promote large infrastructure laws – years later, it’s still ravaged)
“Now, people are finally realising… If we’re going to compete with China in artificial intelligence, if we have enough energy for cloud computing, then we have absolutely all the energy sources,” Lummis told DCNF. “We need to consider how we can provide the cleanest air possible with the energy sources we have. Coal is one of them.”
“When I see how we can produce coal better these days, I think we’ll see a much bigger commitment to coal, coupled with the green light through his executive order,” Ramis added. “The President is going to get our country on track.”
A big victory over Wyoming and the West!
If you want to compete with China and use American innovation as fuel, you need all kinds of energy. No one is cleaner and better than Wyoming. https://t.co/cso4vj40dm
– Senator Cynthia Ramis (@senlummis) April 8, 2025
Lummis reflected Trump’s statement in his executive order that coal electricity is essential to meet the growing demand for electricity caused by electricity hungered AI data processing centers and some domestic manufacturing. Energy Secretary Chris Wright previously told DCNF that preventing coal-fired power plants from resigning will be part of the solution to address the needs of U.S. electricity demand.
“Now, big companies understand the relationship between having the advantage of AI by the US and being able to keep us very competitive in that space and being able to produce the right energy to fuel AI. “Wind and solar can become part of the equation of governing AI, but they can’t do it all.”
WASHINGTON, DC – April 8: US President Donald Trump speaks with coal and energy workers at an executive order signing ceremony in the Eastern Room of the White House on April 8, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Trump administration chose to roll back Biden-era environmental policies with the intention of helping to revive coal-fired plants to restore American energy independence. (Photo: Anna Money Maker/Getty Images)
Lummis torched Biden’s attempts to phase out coal production, including an 11-hour administration move to end federal coal leases in the Powder River Basin that spans parts of Wyoming.
“The Biden administration ignored the country’s needs by placing a suspension on coal leases,” Lummis told DCNF. “It was myopic and pointless for the Biden administration to push electric vehicles while denying the biggest source of energy, which is heated coal.”
John Kelly, envoy to the Special President of Genkie under Biden, in particular, said the United States will phase out coal as a source of energy completely by 2030. The Biden administration has issued a set of regulations to limit Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules.
Lummis said he’s looking forward to inviting EPA administrator Lee Zeldin to Wyoming to tour the state’s coal-fired power plants. The Trump administration’s EPA is now work Rewrites the Biden administration’s strict regulations on fossil fuel-fired power plants commonly known as Clean Power Plan 2.0.
“Every time we build a new coal plant, it gets cleaner because technology improves,” Ramis said of his hometown coal-fired power plant.
.@potus I understand that unleashing American energy means unleashing work, growth and independence. We are powering America pic.twitter.com/sy15rhiuy6
– Senator Cynthia Ramis (@senlummis) April 8, 2025
Lummis also told the DCNF that Trump’s efforts to boost coal production, along with other pro-energy efforts in his administration, could address voters’ concerns that the president is not enough to reduce inflation.
“It will have a dramatic effect on the overall price of energy. That means that because those groceries are used to transport those groceries, all of those groceries reach those shelves, which also affects grocery prices,” Lummis says.
Senate majority Wyoming Senator Whip John Baraso, Ramis’ fellow Wyoming Senator, praised Trump’s executive order for boosting the coal industry on Tuesday morning.
“For years, Democrats kept coal prisoners in reckless regulations. Joe Biden took coal offline,” Barrasso said on the Senate floor. “President Trump is in the deficit so that America can compete again. Coal is making a comeback.”
Ramis attended the White House ceremony, and Trump signed an executive order calling for the revitalization of the coal industry. The president is surrounded by coal miners wearing hard hats; praise Ramis is a commitment to coal miners and agitates the industry to meet the power needs of AI and data centers. “She believes I do that like these people,” Trump said of Ramis. “She has believed in more than me from day one, and that’s pretty good.”
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