Congressman David McKinley is determined to convince members of Congress that fossil fuels, especially coal, are essential to secure the U.S. electricity grid from blackouts.

But McKinley, a West Virginia Republican and chairman of the Congressional Coal Caucus, doesn’t feel like he’s making much progress, especially with his Democratic colleagues — many of whom want to phase out coal entirely. Federal policies also still don’t reflect the national security and grid resilience value McKinley says coal brings to the table.