Looking Back at 2025—and Forward with Confidence 

As the calendar turns, it is worth pausing to take stock of where we’ve been and where we’re headed. For America’s coal industry—and especially for the men and women of the West Virginia coalfields—2025 marked a turning point. After years of regulatory headwinds and policy uncertainty, the nation began to regain its footing. The change did not come by accident. It came because leadership changed, priorities changed, and common sense began to reassert itself. 

When President Donald Trump began his second term last January, he did so with a clear message: America would no longer apologize for producing energy.From day one, the administration moved to restore balance to federal energy policy—recognizing that affordability, reliability, and national security matter just as much as aspirational targets and glossy press releases. 

That shift has made a difference. Regulatory reform efforts in 2025 focused on removing onerous rules, restoring permitting discipline, and re-centering federal agencies on statutory authority rather than ideological agendas. The result has been greater certainty for energy producers, utilities, and investors. Markets function better when rules are clear and durable. Coal has benefited because it competes best on a level field. 

At the national level, the reassertion of American energy dominance has not been theoretical. It has been practical. The administration’s approach acknowledgedwhat grid operators and engineers have said for years: you cannot run a modern economy on intermittent power alone. Coal remains essential to grid stability, particularly during peak demand, extreme weather, and supply disruptions. In 2025, those realities became harder to ignore. 

Across the country, utilities and policymakers were forced to confront reliability challenges brought on by years of premature baseload retirements. The lesson was simple and sobering: you cannot replace firm, dispatchable generation with hope. Coal’s role in the nation’s energy mix—never gone, but often dismissed—has been reaffirmed by necessity as much as by policy. 

Here in West Virginia, we saw that same realism take hold. Governor Patrick Morrisey moved quickly to align state policy with the realities of energy production and economic development. His administration has made clear that West Virginia will not sabotage its own strengths. Coal is not a relic here; it is a foundation. 

The Governor’s and the Legislature’s actions in 2025 sent an unmistakable signal: West Virginia intends to be an energy state, not an energy spectator. By defending reliable generation, supporting in-state production, and pushing back against policies that export jobs while importing risk, state leadership helped stabilize confidence across the coalfields. 

At the federal level, West Virginia’s congressional delegation played an equally important role. Whether pushing back against regulatory overreach, advocating for permitting reform, or reminding Washington that energy security is national security, our members of Congress helped ensure that coal’s voice was heard. That coordination—state and federal, executive and legislative—made 2025 a year of regained momentum. 

For the West Virginia Coal Association, the past year was about more than policy wins. It was about rebuilding confidence. Confidence among producers making capital decisions. Confidence among miners wondering whether their livelihoods had a future. Confidence among communities that have endured years of being told—often by people far removed from reality—that their best days were behind them. 

That confidence is returning, not because anyone is pretending coal has no challenges, but because the industry is once again being treated honestly. Coal does not need subsidies or slogans. It needs fairness, predictability, and recognition of its value. In 2025, we made progress on all three fronts. 

Looking ahead, our vision for the foreseeable future is grounded and achievable. First, we will continue to press for durable regulatory reform that surviveselection cycles. Energy infrastructure requires long planning horizons; policy must reflect that reality. Second, we will work to strengthen coal's role domestically and globally where West Virginia coal has a healthy presence. Third, to expand coal consumption and utilization in a diversified, resilient grid—one that can meet rising demand from electrification, reshoring, and data-intensive industries. Fourth, we will focus on workforce stability and community investment. Coal jobs are not just paychecks; they are anchors for schools, small businesses, and local tax bases. Sustaining the workforce means sustaining the regions that power this country. 

Finally, we will continue telling the truth—plainly and without apology—about coal’s role in America’s future. Not as a slogan, but as a fact supported by engineering, economics, and experience. 

There is a new sense of optimism spreading across the country, and it is palpable in the coalfields. You hear it in conversations at mine sites. You see it in equipment orders and project planning. You feel it in communities that are tired of being written off and are ready to move forward again. 

Optimism does not mean complacency. There is work ahead, and challenges remain. But 2025 reminded us that policy choices matter—and that when leaderschoose realism over rhetoric, American energy workers respond. 

Coal helped build this nation. In 2025, the nation began to remember that. The years ahead offer an opportunity to turn renewed respect into lasting progress. The West Virginia coal industry stands ready to do its part.