Trump Just Escalated His War on Coal Miners. Their Unions Are Fighting Back.

President Donald Trump unveiled a new barrage of executive orders last week aimed at revitalizing the nation’s ​“beautiful clean coal” industry. But in reality, it’s already clear that his empty words will do no such thing.

Flanked by burly white men outfitted in coal miners’ garb, the former reality TV star and failed real estate tycoon rhapsodized about his muddled plans to supercharge coal’s use and production, including scrapping environmental regulations that ​“undermine” its production and ensuring federal policy doesn’t ​“discriminate” against the fossil fuel industry. 

The astonishing impracticality of this plan did not appear in any way to be a factor in Trump’s decision, which was still applauded by people who should know better (even if they’d never admit it) like coal industry honchos and U.S. Sen. Shelley Capito (R​-​W​.Va). As much as Trump likes to posture toward saving the coal industry, his administration’s actions this April have made it clear that they — and he — don’t actually care about coal miners themselves. 

The very same day as Trump’s big coal announcement, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) published a notice on its website informing stakeholders that the agency would be pausing the enforcement of its rule titled, ​“Lowering Miners’ Exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica and Improving Respiratory Protection.” The rule would have cut the allowable exposure level of deadly silica dust—20 times more toxic than coal dust and a major cause of black lung disease among coal miners — in half. 

The rule was planned to take effect on April 14after decades of lobbying from coal miners, public health experts and worker advocates. When it was published in 2024, the Department of Labor estimated the new rule would result in more than 1,000 fewer deaths and 3,746 fewer cases of silica-related illnesses.

Trump’s attack on the regulations surrounding coal miners’ safety hasn’t stopped there. Through its proxies at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Trump administration has also announced the closure of 33 MSHA field offices in 19 states. As the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center noted in a March 2025 report, over the past decade, the agency already lost 50% of its enforcement staff for coal mines and 27% of its total staff. Those office closures will mean fewer inspectors and mine inspections, and fewer eyes on coal operators. 

“There are real consequences to these cuts and closures, and they are going to be intensely felt in coal country,” Quenton King, Federal Resource Outreach Manager at Appalachian Voices, said in a press release. ​“When black lung rates get higher, there won’t be a mystery — it will be as a result of these actions to let coal operators do whatever they want while miners pay the price.” continue reading