The White House yesterday released its AI Action Plan, designed to make the U.S. a leader in artificial intelligence. Promoting the plan yesterday, President Trump highlighted the importance of a robust domestic energy sector to support it, citing the need for "all-out American energy dominance." The President promised the country would build as much new electricity capacity as China this year, signing an executive order to streamline permitting for new data centers and related power generation, prioritizing "reliable dispatchable power sources" like coal and gas plants, keeping existing generation on the grid and even reforming power markets.
The White House has also reportedly tapped a former mining executive to head an office at the National Security Council, highlighting the importance of strengthening U.S. supply chains from the mine up. David Copley, who was chosen earlier in the year to serve as the top mining official at the U.S. National Energy Dominance Council, is now reportedly senior director at the NSC according to unnamed sources.
The EPA appears poised in the coming days to propose to repeal the Endangerment Finding, which gives the U.S. government the authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. According to reports, the EPA is not debating the science of the finding, but the law that surrounds it, arguing that the EPA overstepped its legal authority under the Clean Air Act, making the case that the EPA administrator has limited power that applies only to specific circumstances. If the Endangerment Finding is repealed, it would impact regulations on everything from car emissions to factories and power plants.
That's your Mining Minute for this morning, highlighting some of the mining-related matters that are on our minds here in Washington and beyond. Follow us on the National Mining Association's channels, as well as on Minerals Make Life and Count on Coal, for more on the latest news and policies impacting mining.
