Investing.com-- Peabody Energy led aftermarket gains in U.S. coal stocks on Monday after President Donald Trump said he was authorizing his administration to begin producing increased amounts of coal.
Peabody Energy Corp (NYSE:BTU) rose nearly 5%, while peers including Warrior Met Coal Inc (NYSE:HCC), SunCoke Energy Inc (NYSE:SXC), and Core Natural Resources Inc (NYSE:CEIX) added as much as 2%.
Trump said in a social media post that he had authorized his administration to “immediately begin producing energy with beautiful, clean coal.”
Trump claimed that the coal industry had been “held captive by environmental extremists, lunatics, radicals, and thugs,” which allowed other countries to pull ahead of the U.S. by opening more coal power plants. But Trump did not specify just what his administration will do to increase coal use.
Trump’s post reflects the 47th President’s agenda of reducing environmental regulations and increasing U.S. energy production. He had in January signed a sweeping executive order aimed at increasing U.S. energy dominance, and has also flagged plans to heavily deregulate the oil industry.
Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency had last week signaled that it will revise soot standards and greenhouse gas limits imposed by former President Joe Biden on America’s coal producers.
The U.S. had pulled back sharply from coal use over the past three decades, with the country’s share of power generation from the black rock sliding to 19.7% in 2022 from 52.8% in 1997.
This trend- which saw widespread coal mine and coal plant closures- heavily pressured local coal companies, sparking several bankruptcies in the past decade.
Coal use was quashed by environmental concerns, while cheaper and more efficient fuels such as natural gas and renewables also pressured the industry.
But the black rock has remained a staple for power generation in other parts of the world, especially in emerging markets such as China and India.