Climate Changed

Trump Says He’s Looking at Emergency Aid for Battered Power Plants

  • Coal generator FirstEnergy asked U.S. to call grid emergency
  • Trump in coal country says, “We’ll be looking at that”
Photographer: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

President Donald Trump said his administration is considering taking extraordinary steps to keep some money-losing power plants alive.

FirstEnergy Corp.’s FirstEnergy Solutions unit asked Energy Secretary Rick Perry last week to exercise his so-called Section 202 authority to declare a grid emergency and keep nuclear and coal-fired power plants in the eastern U.S. operating by guaranteeing them profits. The unit filed for bankruptcy a few days later.