Offhanded remarks by President Trump during his speech Tuesday night in West Virginia are raising questions over what role the military will play in a coming plan to save coal power plants.
Trump said Tuesday night that the administration has “a military plan that’s going to be something very special” for coal, but White House officials are not explaining exactly what the role of the military might be.
Meanwhile, Democrats are pressing for answers on the plan and how it might be undermining the independence of federal electricity regulators.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the president meant by a military plan, although the administration has been examining ways to save coal plants from closing prematurely as a matter of national security.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry was directed by Trump last month to develop a list of policy options and legal authorities to save coal and nuclear power plants, which are being forced to close due to increased competition from natural gas and renewables.
But Trump saying it is a “military plan” raises the question of whether the Department of Defense will be involved.
Earlier this month, Anthony Pugliese, the chief of staff at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said at an industry conference that the Department of Defense is part of a plan meant to ensure that energy resources are able to survive a military strike on the nation, or a severe weather event.
Echoing something similar, Trump told supporters Tuesday night that coal is an “indestructible” resource in times of war that is “very important” to the country.
“In times of war, in times of conflict, you can blow up those windmills; they fall down real quick,” Trump remarked. “You can blow up those pipelines … you’re not going to fix them too fast.”
“You can do a lot of things to those solar panels,” he added. “But you know what you can’t hurt? Coal. You can do whatever you want to coal.”
Pugliese said the plan the administration is working on would involve FERC, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and the White House National Security Council “to identify the plants that we think would be absolutely critical to ensuring that not only our military bases but things like hospitals and other critical infrastructure are able to be maintained, regardless of what natural or man-made disasters might occur.” Pugliese made the remarks to the American Nuclear Society.
The White House did not respond to emails to explain what Trump’s “military plan” would entail. Nevertheless, Democrats have their own questions they want Kevin McIntyre, Trump’s FERC chairman, to answer.
Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the top Democrats on both the Senate and House energy committees, wrote McIntyre Wednesday to say that they are “deeply troubled” by Pugliese’s comments, calling what he described as “an ill-conceived plan to interfere with the operation of the nation’s wholesale electric markets.”
“We believe this action would violate the requirement that FERC remain a neutral and unbiased decisionmaker,” the Democrats wrote.
They want to know if Pugliese’s statements have the support of any of FERC’s commissioners, including McIntyre. They also want to understand if Pugliese is undermining the commission’s role as an independent agency, which is meant to be free from political objectives.
“Left unchecked, we believe such statements must ultimately call into question the impartiality and independence of the Commission itself,” the letter added.
The plan to save coal and nuclear plants is seen by critics as undermining the objectives of the large electricity markets that FERC oversees, which are meant to spur competition and ensure fair and reasonable rates for consumers.
Dave Anderson, policy and communications chief at the Energy and Policy Institute, saw the remarks “as Trump attempting to communicate a plan he doesn’t really understand, beyond the basic concept.”
Anderson’s group calls itself a watchdog that looks to expose myths perpetuated by the fossil fuel industry about renewables. He believes Trump was making a passing reference to the plan Trump ordered Perry to develop. Anderson said via Twitter that the plan is a long shot.
“The Trump administration seems to believe that reframing its efforts to bail out the coal industry as a matter of national security will work, even though last year’s attempt by Rick Perry to subsidize ‘fuel secure’ power plants failed,” Anderson said, referring to FERC’s rejection of Perry’s 2017 proposed plan to keep coal and nuclear plants up and running.
