Whitehouse Condemns Trump’s Corrupt Subsidizing of Coal Industry

Washington, D.C.—Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), issued the following statement after the Trump Administration announced a $625 million subsidy for coal-fired power plants, a raft of regulatory rollbacks that would allow coal-fired power plants to increase air and water pollution, and the opening of more than 13 million acres of public land to coal mining:

“Coal is deadly for families and the planet.  Coal power is the most expensive and polluting of any energy source.  As Trump wages war on affordable, clean energy to appease his fossil fuel donors, he is jacking up Americans’ energy costs and tanking Americans’ health.”

Research shows that pollution from coal-fired power plants is nearly two times more toxic than that of other energy sources, and from 1999 through 2020, coal power was responsible for killing nearly 500,000 people nationwide.