November 5, 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rich Nolan, President & CEO, National Mining Association (NMA), issued the following comment on President Joe Biden’s Friday speech, in which he said his administration will “be shutting (coal) plants down all across America.”

Nolan said, “President Biden’s comment on our nation’s coal capacity – which provides stability for millions of American households and businesses in a time of energy-driven inflation – is completely incompatible with the state of the U.S. electricity grid, which is teetering on the edge in many parts of the country. U.S. consumers face an upcoming winter with some of the highest anticipated electricity prices in history. The nation’s foremost electricity reliability experts agree that forcing essential coal capacity off the grid – without reliable alternatives and the infrastructure to support them – will only deepen reliability and economic challenges. Look to our friends in Europe, who blindly rushed to close coal plants at a rapid pace and are now working from Germany to Denmark to bring those same plants back online. The global energy crisis is real and imposing costly burdens on people around the world and here at home; taking deliberate steps to intensify that crisis is reckless and unthinkable.”