[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 70 (Monday, April 14, 2025)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 15517-15520]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-06380]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 70 / Monday, April 14, 2025 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 15517]]
Executive Order 14261 of April 8, 2025
Reinvigorating America's Beautiful Clean Coal
Industry and Amending Executive Order 14241
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. In order to secure America's
economic prosperity and national security, lower the
cost of living, and provide for increases in electrical
demand from emerging technologies, we must increase
domestic energy production, including coal. Coal is
abundant and cost effective, and can be used in any
weather condition. Moreover, the industry has
historically employed hundreds of thousands of
Americans. America's coal resources are vast, with a
current estimated value in the trillions of dollars,
and are more than capable of substantially contributing
to American energy independence with excess to export
to support allies and our economic competitiveness. Our
Nation's beautiful clean coal resources will be
critical to meeting the rise in electricity demand due
to the resurgence of domestic manufacturing and the
construction of artificial intelligence data processing
centers. We must encourage and support our Nation's
coal industry to increase our energy supply, lower
electricity costs, stabilize our grid, create high-
paying jobs, support burgeoning industries, and assist
our allies.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States
that coal is essential to our national and economic
security. It is a national priority to support the
domestic coal industry by removing Federal regulatory
barriers that undermine coal production, encouraging
the utilization of coal to meet growing domestic energy
demands, increasing American coal exports, and ensuring
that Federal policy does not discriminate against coal
production or coal-fired electricity generation.
Sec. 3. Strengthening Our National Energy Security. The
Chair of the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC)
shall designate coal as a ``mineral'' as defined in
section 2 of Executive Order 14241 of March 20, 2025
(Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral
Production), thereby entitling coal to all the benefits
of a ``mineral'' under that order. Further, Executive
Order 14241 is hereby amended by deleting the reference
to ``4332(d)(1)(B)'' in section 6(d) of that order and
replacing it with a reference to ``4532(d)(1)(B)''.
Sec. 4. Assessing Coal Resources and Accessibility on
Federal Lands. (a) Within 60 days of the date of this
order, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of
Agriculture, and the Secretary of Energy shall submit a
consolidated report to the President through the
Assistant to the President for Economic Policy that
identifies coal resources and reserves on Federal
lands, assesses impediments to mining such coal
resources, and proposes policies to address such
impediments and ultimately enable the mining of such
coal resources by either private or public actors.
(b) The Secretary of Energy shall include in the
report described in subsection (a) of this section an
analysis of the impact that the availability of the
coal resources identified could have on electricity
costs and grid reliability.
Sec. 5. Lifting Barriers to Coal Mining on Federal
Lands. (a) The Secretary of the Interior and the
Secretary of Agriculture shall prioritize coal leasing
and related activities, consistent with applicable law,
as the primary land use for the public lands with coal
resources identified in the report described in section
4(a) of this order and expedite coal leasing in these
areas, including
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by utilizing such emergency authorities as are
available to them and identifying opportunities to
provide for expedited environmental reviews, consistent
with applicable law.
(b) The Secretary of the Interior, pursuant to the
authorities in the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as
amended and supplemented (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), the
Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands of 1947, as
amended (30 U.S.C. 351-359), and the Multiple Mineral
Development Act of 1954 (30 U.S.C. 521-531 et seq.),
shall acknowledge the end of the Jewell Moratorium by
ordering the publication of a notice in the Federal
Register terminating the ``Environmental Impact
Statement Analyzing the Potential Environmental Effects
from Maintaining Secretary Jewell's Coal Leasing
Moratorium'', and process royalty rate reduction
applications from Federal coal lessees in as
expeditious a manner as permitted by applicable law.
Sec. 6. Supporting American Coal as an Energy Source.
(a) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency,
the Secretary of Transportation, the Secretary of the
Interior, the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of
Labor, and the Secretary of the Treasury shall identify
any guidance, regulations, programs, and policies
within their respective executive department or agency
that seek to transition the Nation away from coal
production and electricity generation.
(b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the
heads of all relevant executive departments and
agencies (agencies) shall consider revising or
rescinding Federal actions identified in subsection (a)
of this section consistent with applicable law.
(c) Agencies that are empowered to make loans, loan
guarantees, grants, equity investments, or to conclude
offtake agreements, both domestically and abroad,
shall, to the extent permitted by law, take steps to
rescind any policies or regulations seeking to or that
actually discourage investment in coal production and
coal-fired electricity generation, such as the 2021
U.S. Treasury Fossil Fuel Energy Guidance for
Multilateral Development Banks rescinded by the
Department of the Treasury and similar policies or
regulations.
(d) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of State, the Secretary of Agriculture, the
Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Energy, the
Chief Executive Officer of the International
Development Finance Corporation, the President of the
Export-Import Bank of the United States, and the heads
of all other agencies that have discretionary programs
that provide, facilitate, or advocate for financing of
energy projects shall review their charters,
regulations, guidance, policies, international
agreements, analytical models and internal bureaucratic
processes to ensure that such materials do not
discourage the agency from financing coal mining
projects and electricity generation projects.
Consistent with law, and subject to the applicable
agency head's discretion, where appropriate, any
identified preferences against coal use shall
immediately be eliminated except as explicitly provided
for in statute.
Sec. 7. Supporting American Coal Exports. The Secretary
of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of
State, the Secretary of Energy, the United States Trade
Representative, the Assistant to the President for
National Security, and the heads of other relevant
agencies, shall take all necessary and appropriate
actions to promote and identify export opportunities
for coal and coal technologies and facilitate
international offtake agreements for United States
coal.
Sec. 8. Expanding Use of Categorical Exclusions for
Coal Under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Within 30 days of the date of this order, each agency
shall identify to the Council on Environmental Quality
any existing and potential categorical exclusions
pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act,
increased reliance on and adoption of which by other
agencies pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 4336c could further the
production and export of coal.
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Sec. 9. Steel Dominance. (a) The Secretary of Energy,
pursuant to the authority under the Energy Act of 2020
(the ``Act''), shall determine whether coal used in the
production of steel meets the definition of a
``critical material'' under the Act and, if so, shall
take steps to place it on the Department of Energy
Critical Materials List.
(b) The Secretary of the Interior, pursuant to the
authority under the Act, shall determine whether
metallurgical coal used in the production of steel
meets the criteria to be designated as a ``critical
mineral'' under the Act and, if so, shall take steps to
place coal on the Department of the Interior Critical
Minerals List.
Sec. 10. Powering Artificial Intelligence Data Centers.
(a) For the purposes of this order, ``artificial
intelligence'' or ``AI'' has the meaning set forth in
15 U.S.C. 9401(3).
(b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Commerce, and
the Secretary of Energy shall identify regions where
coal-powered infrastructure is available and suitable
for supporting AI data centers; assess the market,
legal, and technological potential for expanding coal-
based infrastructure to power data centers to meet the
electricity needs of AI and high-performance computing
operations; and submit a consolidated summary report
with their findings and proposals to the Chair of the
NEDC, the Assistant to the President for Science and
Technology and the Special Advisor for AI and Crypto.
Sec. 11. Acceleration of Coal Technology. (a) The
Secretary of Energy shall take all necessary actions,
consistent with applicable law, to accelerate the
development, deployment, and commercialization of coal
technologies including, but not limited to, utilizing
all available funding mechanisms to support the
expansion of coal technology, including technologies
that utilize coal and coal byproducts such as building
materials, battery materials, carbon fiber, synthetic
graphite, and printing materials, as well as updating
coal feedstock for power generation and steelmaking.
(b) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of Energy shall submit a detailed action plan
to the President through the Chair of the NEDC
outlining the funding mechanisms, programs, and policy
actions taken to accelerate coal technology deployment.
Sec. 12. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
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(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 8, 2025.
[FR Doc. 2025-06380
Filed 4-11-25; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P