Officials from West Virginia applauded President Donald Trump’s signing of a series of executive orders aimed at bolstering the nation’s coal industry and providing energy security.
Trump signed four orders Tuesday, with provisions including:
• Reinvigorating the country’s “Beautiful Clean Coal Industry”;
• Preventing what the administration classifies as overreach by state governments;
• Strengthening the reliability of the nation’s electric grid.
The signing event was attended by West Virginia congressional representatives Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, Sen. Jim Justice and Rep. Riley Moore, all Republicans, as well as Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
“President Trump is the first president in my lifetime to highlight the critical need for coal to power our economy and ensure national security,” Moore said in a statement following the event. “Today’s executive order confirms our new Golden Age will be coal-fired!
“We have hundreds of years of coal reserves under our feet in West Virginia, and extracting them will be critical to powering our AI revolution and continuing to provide cheap and reliable electricity for consumers.”
“Not only does coal keep the lights on in America, but it is an essential natural resource that allows us to ensure energy reliability and economic stability,” Capito said. “The recent series of storms that caused thousands of power outages highlighted just how important it is that we have access to affordable and reliable energy sources like coal.
“These Executive Orders are welcome news for our miners and the entire industry, and I am glad we finally have a president that recognizes the need to support them.”
“West Virginia is a leader in energy and is well poised to power America. It’s all about energy, plain and simple — I know that, President Trump knows that, and Americans know that,” Justice said. “This order continues to highlight the President’s commitment to unleash American energy and shows an understanding as to how important the coal industry is to powering America. I’m proud to stand with him to ensure West Virginia can continue to lead the way in energy production for generations to come.”
“Big day for beautiful, clean coal at the White House for the signing of several executive orders that will help West Virginia coal miners,” Morrisey said in a post on the social media platform X. “Wonderful to see such a strong WV contingent present showing support for (Trump) and our coal jobs!”