April 10, 2025 - WV Attorney General J.B. McCuskey attended the coal-related executive order signing ceremony recently and won extra support for a New York lawsuit directed at the state.

On WAJRs “Talk of the Town,” McCuskey said it was an unforgettable experience to witness in-person President start what could become the resurrection of the coal industry.

“It was really fascinating and phenomenal to get together with a lot of friends in the coal industry,” McCuskey said. “CEOs, not just from West Virginia but also Kentucky and Ohio and watch him stand up for one of our most important industries.”

The executive orders signed by the President include efforts to save coal plants that were likely to be retired, using the Federal Power Act to allow the Energy Secretary to direct any power plant to keep operating, waiving some rules implemented by states, and directing the U.S. Attorney General to identify and take action against state laws that are anti-coal. The orders also reopens federal lands to leasing foe the purpose of coal mining.

“For him to say the federal government will no longer discriminate against coal as an energy form invalidates an enormous amount of improper and irrational federal legislation and federal action over the last 40 years,” McCuskey said.

McCuskey said the orders stop the government from picking winners and losers in the energy sector. Additionally, the moves set the stage for a robust improvement of the electricity grid and expansion of the use of coal.

“Unwinding that idea is an absolutely enormous step for us to continue to rebuild America’s grid and energy infrastructure,” McCuskey said. “Because we know we can’t do it without what Donald Trump would call “clean, beautiful coal.”

In New York, the 2024 Climate Change Superfund Act established the $750 billion Climate Change Adaptation Cost Recovery Program. Modeled after the EPA Superfund, it’s proposed to be funded by those engaged in fossil fuel extraction or crude oil refining from 2000 to 2024 requiring annual payments for 25 years.

One of the commitments made by the President was to offer the resources in the U.S. Department of Justice to help fight the newly passed New York law.

“Any time you have that amount of legal horsepower working alongside you makes so much of our case easier to finish, easier to do and makes so many things of the things we need to do to win happen,” McCuskey said.

According to McCuskey, the fight is an important one while California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Minnesota, and Connecticut are considering similar measures.

“If we don’t win this case it is absolutely going to steamroll and spiral out of control,” McCuskey said.

McCuskey believes litigation in the New York case could begin soon.