The U.S. is about to hold the government’s biggest coal sales in over a decade even as demand wanes

Sales are part of President Donald Trump’s aspirations for companies to dig more coal from federal lands and burn electricity. However, most of the power stations served by these mines are planning to quit charcoal burning completely within 10 years, as well as showing the Associated Press data analysis.

Three other mines are prepared for expansion or new rental contracts under Trump, the demand is low, as power stations use less coal, and in some cases they have been closed, according to US energy information management data and non -profitable energy control data.

This market facts raises a basic issue about pushing the republican administration to revive a strongly polluted industry that was a long decline: Who will buy all this charcoal?

The question is asked about the embrace of coal enthusiastic administration, a leading contributor to climate change. It also shows the uncertainty in the introduction of these policies in the markets in which energy -intended customers make long -term decisions with enormous effects, not only for their ability to be feasible but for the future of the planet, in a constant political scene.

Hurrying to approval of projects

The sales of the upcoming lease contract in Montana and Wyoming are located in the powder river basin, the homeland of the most productive American coal fields.

Officials say they will advance from the two, despite the closure of the government. The administration has exempted from leave from workers who treat and rent fossil fuel permits.

Democratic President Joe Biden worked last year to prevent future lease contracts in the region, noting her ability to make climate change worse. Burning coal from the lease contracts that are sold in the coming days would generate more than a billion tons of carbon dioxide that is sowing the planet, according to the Ministry of Energy.

Trump rejected climate change as a “deception function” during a speech on September 23 to the United Nations General Assembly, an evaluation he puts in dispute with scientists. He praised the coal as “beautiful” and the abundance of American supplies while mocking solar energy and wind. Administration officials said on Wednesday that they cancel 8 billion dollars of grants for clean energy projects in 16 states that the Democrats won, Kamala Harris, in the 2024 presidential elections.

In response to an order from Trump on his first day in his post in January, sales of renting coal that were suspended or stopped and rushed to approval, with refusal considerations of greenhouse gas emissions. Administration officials have advanced the coal and rental sales in the state of Utah, Northern Dakota, Tennessee and Alabama, as well as Montana and Woewang.

Interior Minister Doug Burgum said on Monday that the administration opens more than 20 thousand square miles (52,000 square kilometers) of federal lands to mining. This is a larger area than New Hampshire and Vermont.

The administration also reduced property rights rates sharply for coal from federal lands, and the coal power plant in Michigan ordered to stay open at the planned retirement dates and pledged $ 625 million to recommend or update coal factories amid the increasing demand for electricity from artificial intelligence and data centers.

“We are returning American miners to work,” said Burgum, surrounded by Republican coal and political workers. “We have a request curve coming to us in terms of the demand for electricity that passes literally via the ceiling.”

Decrease in coal

The discovery of AP is that the power stations served by mines on public lands burn less than coal reflecting a decrease in industrial level that began in 2007.

Energy and economists were not surprised. They expressed doubts that coal would regain hegemony in the energy sector. The Ministry of Interior officials did not respond to questions about the future demand for coal from public lands.

But it will take some time for more electricity from natural gas projects and planned solar projects on the Internet. This means that Trump’s actions can give a short -term stumbling block to coal.

“Ultimately, coal will be removed from the market,” said Baliwal. “The economy will only eat coal generation over time.”

Coal sales in Montana and Woyj are requested by Navajo Nation. Navajo Transitional Energy Co. These mines provide 34 power plants in 19 states.

Twenty -one plants is scheduled to stop burning coal in the next decade. It includes all the five plants that use coal from the Spring Creek mine in NTEC in Montana.

In files with federal officials, the company said the fair market value of 167 million tons of federal coal adjacent to the Spring Creek mine was slightly more than $ 126,000.

This is less than one tenth pence per ton, which is a small part of the charcoal that it brought at its peak. By comparison, the last sale of a large -scale lease in the Powder River Basin, also for 167 million tons of coal, has achieved a $ 35 million offer in 2013. Federal officials refused to do so as very low.

NTEC said the low value is supported by the previous government’s reviews, which predicts fewer coal buyers. The company said that the taxpayers will benefit in the coming years from royalties on any coal mining.

The company said: “The charcoal market will decrease significantly over the next two decades. There are fewer coal mines that expand their reserves, and there are fewer purchases of thermal coal and there are more regulatory restrictions,” the company said.

In the center of Wyoming on Wednesday, the government will sell 440 million tons of coal near the NTEC mine. It is scheduled to stop slightly more than half of the 29 -year -old power plants by burning coal by 2035.

Among them is the raw skin plant in North Colorado. This is due to the end of coal in 2029, but it will continue to make electricity with natural gas and 30 megawatts of solar panels.

Aging plants and optimism

The largest coal company in the United States provided a more optimistic experience on the future of coal. Since nuclear and new gas factories are years away, Peabody Energy suggested in September that the demand for coal in the United States may increase 250 million tons annually – an increase of approximately 50 % over current sizes.

Pepodi’s projection was based on the hypothesis that current power plants can burn more coal. This amount, known as plant capacity, has decreased by about half in recent years.

“It is clear that the American coal is in the return position,” James Grish, President of Pepodi, said at a recent phone conference with analysts. “The United States has more energy in its coal reserves more than any country in any energy source.”

Large online power plants have not been distributed in the United States since 2013. Most of the 40 -year -old plants are older. Necious Kumar, an energy consulting group, said that the money that the administration has pledged to renew old plants will not reach a large extent, given that the one kettle component in the factory can cost $ 25 million to replace it.

This leads to the issue of who will buy coal.

Kumar said: “I do not see where you consume all this charcoal in the remaining facilities.”