March 13, 2025 - EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin fired the first shots Wednesday in the Trump administration’s campaign to save coal.

Proclaiming the “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” Zeldin promised to roll back more than two dozen regulations, including several that directly affect coal. He also promised to repeal the endangerment finding, the legal foundation under the Clean Air Act for federal regulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, which drive human-caused climate change.

There’s more to come.

Energy industry experts and analysts say a multifaceted plan is gaining momentum at the highest levels of the Trump administration to save dozens of coal plants that are scheduled to retire in the coming years. Coal advocates are pushing for major policy changes, and the fuel’s critics are pledging to fight.