Interior Secretary Doug Burgum discusses the Trump administration’s efforts to promote energy independence, countering China’s technological dominance and more on ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’

Recent news about coal company bankruptcies serves as a natural experiment on the clash between various federal and state goals, regulations, litigation, and market realities. It also underscores the importance of having a coherent overarching policy that helps achieve President Donald Trump’s energy agenda. 

In both of his campaigns, President Trump stated that he would like to see a revival of the U.S. coal industry, which has been decimated over the years. President Trump’s April 2025 executive order (EO) outlines various steps from lifting barriers to coal mining, to classifying the metallurgical coal used in steel production in the "critical minerals" category. 

While coal has been losing its prominence in electricity generation, both in the U.S. and other developed countries, it still represents one-third of global electricity generation. With the right investments and a drive to make coal more efficient and environmentally friendly, the U.S. can play a prominent role in the future of the global coal industry that includes investment in next-generation technologies to reduce coal’s environmental footprint. In fact, President Trump’s EO underlines "clean" several times and emphasizes........

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