The event is set to highlight how coal is a "reliable and affordable energy source that keeps the lights on during times of peak demand," the White House said. (Getty Images)
The president is set to sign the "Strengthen the United States National Defense with America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Power Generation Fleet" executive order Wednesday during the event — a new initiative for the Department of War to purchase electricity from coal-powered plants.
That order directs Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to enter into power purchasing agreements with coal-fired power plants to ensure that the Department of War has reliable power to strengthen the U.S. grid.
Also during the event, the president will announce that the Department of Energy will award funds to five coal plants to recommission and upgrade facilities in West Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina and Kentucky.
A White House official told Fox News Digital that will be the first of "many more announcements" related to awarding funds to coal plants across the nation.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin attends a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House on March 13, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Also during the event, the Washington Coal Club is set to name Trump the "Undisputed Champion of Coal."
The event comes after the Trump administration, in January, reinstated the National Coal Council, comprised of dozens of stakeholders from energy firms, utilities, governmental and tribal interests, saying that no industry affects Americans’ lives more.
The council is now chaired by Peabody Energy CEO Jim Grech and Core Natural Resources Chairman Jimmy Brock. The council cut its was reinstated four years after then-President Joe Biden dissolved the decades-old consortium.
It also comes after the Energy Department announced $625 million would be put toward reinvigorating the U.S. coal industry in response to Trump’s executive order calling for such, and another directive to "strengthen the reliability and security of the U.S. energy grid."
PINEVILLE, WEST VIRGINIA - AUGUST 29: Conveyor belts carry bituminous coal from the Road Fork 52 coal mine owned by Alpha Metallurgical Resources August 29, 2022 in Pineville, West Virginia. In 2020, West Virginia was the second-largest coal producer in the nation, after Wyoming and accounted for 13% of U.S. total production. In the 1950s, the West Virginia coal industry once employed 100,000 workers. In 2022, it employs just 12,000. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images) (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)
Wright’s office said in a release that the administration has saved more than 15GW of coal-powered electricity, in part through relaunching the council.
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In July 2025, a DOE analysis found that the loss of coal-fired power plants would make grid reliability unsustainable, while also finding that 100GW more peak-hour supply is needed by 2030.
Fox News' Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-host-clean-beautiful-coal-event-calls-americas-most-reliable-energy