Climate Changed

Trump Has a Plan to Save Coal and Hobble Clean Energy

  • Tariffs, market rule and tax cuts threaten wind and solar
  • President favors coal and other large traditional power plants

Cooling towers are reflected in a puddle at a coal-fired power plant in Winfield, West Virginia.

Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
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President Donald Trump may soon have a chance to prove wrong the notion that economics will kill the U.S. coal industry and keep clean energy thriving.

Two initiatives pending in Washington -- one to prop up large traditional power plants and a second to impose tariffs on solar panels -- could let Trump upend wholesale electricity markets and tip the advantage away from renewables.