The November 3 midterm elections mark the halfway point of the current administration’s term, which makes this a good moment to look back at how federal energy policy has changed since January 2025. Coal has been one of the most visible priorities. According to an Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) analysis reported by the Guardian, 90 of the 184 grid-connected US coal plants have received some form of federal support, including direct funding, exemptions from pollution standards, and orders to keep running past planned retirement dates. The White House puts the number higher, saying the administration has backed more than 100 coal plants and prevented the retirement of more than 17 gigawatts of capacity. For manufacturers and industrial facilities, the key questions are practical: what these changes mean for electricity costs, supply reliability and emissions reporting.
Over the past two years, the administration has used several federal tools at once to keep coal capacity online. The main measures are:
The administration presents these steps as protecting reliability and affordability. DOE has described its emergency orders as needed to help address critical grid reliability issues, and relied in part on findings from NERC’s Long-Term Reliability Assessment, which identified growing reliability risks. Some plant owners also argued that the 2024 standards were too costly. NorthWestern Energy estimated that bringing its Colstrip plant in Montana into compliance would cost about $500 million. The company says its equipment already removes 99.6% of filterable particulate emissions, compared with the 99.8% the rule would have required by 2028.
EDF takes the opposite view: these measures extend the life of plants that would otherwise retire, increasing both electricity costs and pollution. The courts have also become involved. In September 2026, the D.C. Circuit rejected DOE’s interpretation of “emergency” and vacated an order that kept a Michigan coal plant running past its scheduled retirement.
Two years in, the data show coal retirements slowing, while the long-term trend points down. Policy is not the only factor. Coal generation increased by 13% in 2025 due to more competitive fuel costs relative to natural gas.
According to EDF’s tracker, coal now generates only 17% of US power, down from over 50% 25 years ago.
Industrial power prices have risen over the past two years. In February 2026, all four sectors tracked by EIA showed year-over-year gains in average revenue per kilowatt-hour, with industrial up 8.6%. Demand is also growing: EIA forecasts industrial electricity consumption will grow by 1.0% in 2026 and 4.0% in 2027. Many factors drive prices, including natural gas costs, data center demand and weather, so coal policy is only part of the picture. It reaches industrial users through three main channels.
The underlying cost of coal is disputed. EDF’s analysis finds that clean power was less expensive than running coal at 168 of 170 plants in 2021, while other analysts point to the 2025 rise in coal generation as evidence that coal can still compete when gas prices are high.
The longer-term outlook depends heavily on policy. EIA describes coal’s future as almost entirely policy-dependent: with the 2024 EPA rules in place, coal generation drops below 1% by 2050; without them, it holds roughly 5%. For industrial energy users, the key developments over the next two years are:
Tracking energy use and emissions at the facility level makes it easier to separate policy-driven cost changes from demand-driven ones and to plan procurement accordingly.
