Meet ‘Coalie,’ the Lethal Mascot for Dirty Energy

To the extent American children have a relationship with coal, it’s usually a negative one. Every kid knows the worst thing you can get on Christmas morning is a lump of the bituminous stuff as harsh payback for a year spent behaving poorly.

Which makes it a little weird that Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum is using an anthropomorphized lump of coal, dressed in yellow safety gear and Mickey Mouse gloves, as the adorable mascot of President Donald Trump’s “American Energy Dominance Agenda,” which includes bringing “clean, beautiful coal” back from the edge of extinction. Will this be the trick that staves off the coal industry’s well-deserved death?