Trump's Energy Chief Says Orders Empowering Coal Plants Helped Keep Lights On During Winter Storm

Trump's Energy Chief Says Orders Empowering Coal Plants Helped Keep Lights On During Winter Storm

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Friday that its use of emergency orders to keep aging coal-fired plants operating helped prevent a major blackout from power shortages during the brutally frigid weather that has gripped most of America for the past two weeks. Scattered outages occurred because of ice accumulation that felled local power lines, leaving hundreds of thousands without power, at least briefly. But the nation’s regional…

Increasing Electrical Demand Highlights the Reliability of Coal

Winter arrived in the USA with a vengeance as this edition was going to press. Most of the lower 48 states were facing frigid temps even by Canadian standards. Lately, the people who have grown accustomed to warmer winters were surprised by its return, and so were the utilities that provide power. While they won’t admit it publicly, they are likely happy that U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright forced them to keep coal capacity online.  Keepin…