Coal is having a moment.

Just last week, the Trump administration announced the opening of 13 million acres in federal lands for coal mining and said $625 million in funding would be available to recommission or modernize coal-fired power plants as a part of President Donald Trump effort to reverse the yearslong decline in the country’s coal industry.

The actions follow executive orders Trump issued in April to reinvigorate America’s coal industry, and Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering new energy policies that could affect the state’s coal-fired power plants.

In Harrisburg, Senate Bill 187 would establish an Independent Energy Office to help coordinate Pennsylvania's energy policy. The bill comes as the state grapples with how to balance environmental concerns with energy reliability and economic growth.

Pennsylvania has long been a coal powerhouse, and according to Rachel Gleason, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance who says the state’s unique position in the energy market gives it significant advantages.

“Pennsylvania doesn’t allow federal leasing in the state,” Gleason said. “So, permitting legislation doesn’t apply in the same way.”

Pennsylvania is the third largest coal-producing state, producing 41 million tons of it in 2024, according to the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance. In the first six months of 2025, Pennsylvania produced 20.8 million tons of coal, Gleason said.

The industry has faced significant challenges in recent years. Natural gas has largely replaced coal as the main source of electricity, and federal regulations have made coal plants more expensive to operate.

However, industry insiders say demand is beginning to shift back toward coal as the power grid struggles to meet growing electricity needs.

“The average person doesn’t understand the U.S. power grid is on the edge of not having enough power,” said Eddie Austin, a coal broker with RFI Resources who sells coal from J&J Svonavec Excavating and other coal mining operations to companies across the country and around the world.

“Renewables are great and there’s a place for them,” Austin said, “but without coal and natural gas, we’ll be in trouble because there’s not enough renewable energy to produce adequate electricity for the growing demand on the grid.”

Austin said coal usage has been increasing this year after recent declines due to water regulations on local power plants. “I think it’ll continue to increase, but it’ll never get back to where it was,” he said. “Until we find a solution that sustains power all the time, we’re going to need coal.”

Butler County doesn’t have large coal mines or power plants of its own. Most of Western Pennsylvania's coal comes from Greene and Washington counties, which Gleason identified as the state’s largest coal producers. “The Allegheny Mountain Region is predominantly metallurgical coal used in steelmaking,” she said.

According to data from the Pennsylvania Coal Caucus, the region’s biggest coal plants are in nearby counties: Keystone Electric Generation in Indiana County, Conemaugh plant in Armstrong County, and a waste coal facility in Cambria County that burns leftover coal from old mines.

These plants may benefit from potential federal intervention. Gleason indicated that invoking the Federal Power Act to extend the life of some coal plants set to expire is one possible solution.

The coal industry faces mounting pressure from plant closures and regulatory uncertainty. Austin said the ongoing challenges have impacted his business immensely with power plants. “Small strip guys have a hard time making a product that can work for the power plants with the current pricing,” he said.

One of the biggest obstacles facing Pennsylvania’s coal industry is the permitting process, which has become increasingly cumbersome.

“The biggest problem we’re going to see in the coal business in Pennsylvania is all the smaller coal guys are going out of business because it’s become too expensive to mine with all the current permitting issues,” Austin said. “There are not enough government workers in the permitting agencies to get permits reviewed and approved in under a year, year-and-a-half.” Austin said this understaffing creates lengthy delays that make it difficult for smaller operators to remain viable.

State Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-21st, is a member of the state’s Coal Caucus. Hutchinson said the Clean Air Act and changing regulations make it hard for coal companies to plan long-term investments.

“The industry looks for certainty, and there has not been a lot of certainty,” he said.

Austin agreed, stating the laws aren't the problem. He said the issue isn't about the fairness of regulations, but about changing rules midway through projects that complicates things.

Pennsylvania produces more electricity than it uses and sells power to 12 other northeastern states through a shared electric grid. This gives the state a strategic advantage, according to both Hutchinson and Gleason.

However, the power grid is already strained, and new demand could push it to the breaking point. Austin said data centers planning to locate in Pennsylvania pose a significant threat to grid stability. Austin said many people don't realize that some plants and large factories are already prohibited from operating machinery from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. during maximum load times because there isn't enough power to accommodate demand. Adding data centers to the mix will further stress the grid.

“We don't have enough power to cover day-to-day,” Austin said. “When they put those in, they're wanting to put power stations in just for those data centers. You can't add something like that to our grid and expect it to keep going.”

Coal's ability to provide baseload power is unmatched by other fuel sources in affordability, flexibility, reliability, resiliency and security. PJM, the regional transmission organization in which Pennsylvania participates, gives coal an Effective Load Carrying Capability of 83%, ranking third behind nuclear and diesel as a generation source.

Modern coal plants burn much cleaner than in the past, according to industry advocates. Hutchinson noted that new technology controls temperatures better and releases fewer harmful particles into the air.

“Seventy-five to 100 years ago, there was black smoke coming out, and the soot and residue wasn't healthy for people or the environment,” he said. “There's only a small fraction of that residue that escapes from the process today.”

Austin, who describes himself as an outdoorsman, said environmental protection and coal mining can coexist. “You can mine coal and not destroy the environment,” he said. “I don't believe it's the regulations so much as how they enforce them. They leave it up to interpretation, which causes the problem.”

With the surface mining method J&J Svonavec uses at former underground coal mines, Austin said the coal company leaves sites in better shape than they were before mining.

Hutchinson agrees with the concept of using surface mining to clean up old underground coal mines, noting that modern processes help reclaim land correctly and allow it to grow back into a natural state for other uses.

The coal industry supports more than 11,550 full-time jobs nationwide, with more than 5,100 jobs directly attributable to the industry. Statewide, the coal industry contributes nearly $3.8 billion in total economic output. The average annual salary of a Pennsylvania underground coal miner is $111,400.

Pennsylvania is blessed with valuable deposits of metallurgical coal, a necessary component to produce steel. In 2024, 2.8 million tons of Pennsylvania-mined metallurgical coal went to Pennsylvania steel production. Nearly 25 million tons of Pennsylvania-produced coal was distributed for power generation in 2024.

Despite challenges, industry leaders remain optimistic about coal's future role in Pennsylvania's energy mix.

“I would just like them to give it a fair shot,” Austin said. “It feels like coal is a dirty word. Everyone forgets this state was built on the shoulders of coal.”

“I believe we need all the energy we can get, but we shouldn’t be subsidizing certain kinds over others, nor should we be regulating certain types out of business,” Hutchinson said. “Let the different sources compete in a reasonable, regulatory climate that's not ever-changing.”

This article originally appeared in the September edition of Butler County Business Matters.