Washington, D.C.– In response to the Trump administration announcing its plan to subsidize the coal industry with $625 million and the opening of additional millions of acres of public lands to coal leasing at a steeply discounted rate, the League of Conservation Voters released the following statement from former EPA scientist and Vice President of Federal Policy, Matthew Davis:

“Even as energy prices are skyrocketing because of Trump administration policies, today they are again prioritizing Big Polluters over hardworking families. Clean energy is simply the cheapest and fastest energy to bring online so we can all have lower costs and cleaner air and water. Meanwhile, energy analysts have found that ‘99 percent of existing U.S. coal plants are more expensive to run than replacement by local wind, solar, and energy storage resources.’  Yet the Trump administration is determined to help the coal barons who have seen their fortunes wane as wind, solar and batteries deliver cheaper, cleaner electricity for families across the country.

“The Trump administration is also using extreme measures to force coal-fired power plants to stay open, as they are doing with the Campbell plant in Michigan–these actions are already raising electric bills for families and making our air and water dirtier.  If the Trump administration actually cared about mine workers, they would be taking steps to protect their health like finalizing life-saving silica dust standards–not delaying them. By proposing to sell off 13 million acres of our public lands to Dirty Coal, the Trump administration is more than tripling what was passed as part of the Big Ugly Bill’s giveaway to fossil fuel, while lowering their royalty rate so coal companies pay less for the resources that belong to all of us. The Trump administration’s attempts to ban clean energy and prop up dirty and costly coal will not only cause costs to keep going up, but will also risk the health of our communities and threaten public lands that belong to all of us.”

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