American coal requires fighters in its corner. In our corner of Virginia, I am proud to be in the ring to support a vital industry for communities in Virginia’s Ninth Congressional District.
As such, I have supported legislation and signed many letters as one of the co-chairs of the United States House of Representatives Coal Caucus.
Some of those letters have gone to encourage the Trump Administration to be aggressive in promoting coal.
And the President, always a coal supporter, has heard our voice.
Perhaps no president this century has been as supportive of coal as President Donald Trump.
What has happened since Trump’s January 2025 inauguration?
Numerous pro-coal Executive Actions. I proudly attended events at the White House to celebrate announcements which invest in America’s beautiful clean coal, fight anti-coal actions taken by Presidents Obama and Biden and give coal a seat at the energy table.
The Obama-Biden “War on Coal” constrained American coal production, which encouraged the world to look elsewhere for coal.
Countries like India and China, looking to support the energy needs of their billion-plus populations, view American coal as a key resource.
According to a graphic online from Visual Capitalist, in 2024, China and India accounted for nearly 35% of U.S. coal exports.
China in particular is historically a major buyer of U.S. metallurgical coal, which is the type of coal used to make steel. The coal mined in Southwest Virginia is mainly metallurgical coal and had been sold to China in the first Trump Administration.
But the Chinese Communist Party took actions to disrupt American coal access to Chinese markets, threaten U.S. coal mining jobs and rattle our coal communities.
Data provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration notes the impact of Chinese tariff increases on U.S. coal exports. From 2024 to 2025, U.S. coal exports to China dropped a dramatic 92 percent!
In response to China’s anti-U.S. coal moves, I helped lead efforts to engage the Trump Administration.
As Chinese President Xi Jinping prepared to visit Washington for trade negotiations, I requested President Trump prioritize American coal in the negotiations.
Following the late September negotiations, President Trump announced that China will import at least 10 million metric tons of American coal in 2027 and another 10 million metric tons in 2028!
This announcement means the coal business in America will get a boost. Foreign belief in American coal will continue to present major opportunities for economic growth, domestic coal jobs and certainty for America’s coal operators.
I am proud to help secure this trade win for American communities. It is a positive outcome that confirms the strong demand for resources that our miners work every day to produce.
I am also fighting for another positive outcome that impacts our region’s coal.
Currently, one of the last remaining coal-fired power plants in Virginia is the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center (VCHEC) in St. Paul, Virginia.
As one of the 10 newest coal plants to be constructed in America, VCHEC employs world-class emissions control technologies that reduce carbon harms to the environment. Further, the plant cleans up waste coal sites, like gob piles, and eliminates mine drainage.
The current VCHEC owner and operator is Dominion Energy. However, Dominion is engaged in a new merger proposal with NextEra Energy.
Should the merger secure approval from Virginia regulatory authorities, it would potentially put the VCHEC under the control of NextEra.
As an advocate for VCHEC, I voiced the plant’s importance to both Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger and the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC), the regulatory authority responsible for reviewing the merger proposal.
With a SCC decision expected in January, I will continue to monitor discussion on the merger and its potential impacts on VCHEC.
Protecting our region’s coal assets through the VCHEC is essential to support coal jobs, provide net environmental benefits as shown by our clean coal technologies and serve reliably as well as affordable electricity.
Coal plants can be particularly helpful for our electric grid to withstand challenges and prevent the threat of blackout periods.
Accordingly, while the Department of Energy works to ensure there is enough energy available for American consumers, I believe Southwest Virginia coal is an indispensable resource that can help meet the growth in electricity demands.
Further, as a co-chair of the Congressional Coal Caucus, I will continue fighting and promoting energy solutions and trade relationships that boost the prospects for American coal.
