# What do we think about Trump meddling in the energy markets? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 1, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-think-about-trump-meddling-in-the-energy-markets/815280 "2018-06-01T20:49:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-think-about-trump-meddling-in-the-energy-markets/815280/1 "2018-06-01T20:49:43Z")
I’m kind of shocked to [read about this](https://apnews.com/ac33e072baa24955822df6aeb7df4354/Trump-orders-'immediate-steps'-to-boost-coal,-nuclear-plants): > [@](#): > > President Donald Trump on Friday directed Energy Secretary Rick Perry to take “immediate steps” to bolster struggling coal-fired and nuclear power plants to keep them open, calling it a matter of national and economic security. > [@](#): > > The directive comes as the Trump administration considers a plan to order grid operators to buy electricity from coal and nuclear plants to keep them open. The plan would direct regional transmission operators to buy power from coal and nuclear plants for two years to ensure grid reliability, “promote the national defense and maximize domestic energy supplies.” > > The Energy Department action, if ordered, would represent an unprecedented intervention into U.S. energy markets. > > A draft memo urges federal action to “stop the further premature retirements of fuel-secure generation” from coal and nuclear plants that have struggled to compete with natural gas and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the memo. > > The plan would exempt power plants from obeying a host of environmental laws and spend billions to keep coal-fired plants open. Good idea? Bad idea? Illegal idea? > [@](#): > > Robert Murray, chairman and CEO of Murray Energy Corp., the nation’s largest privately owned coal company, hailed the White House announcement. I mean, can the federal government even implement this? What would be their enforcement mechanism for transgressors? ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-think-about-trump-meddling-in-the-energy-markets/815280/2 "2018-06-01T21:30:59Z")
There’s a common complaint that liberals will just take anything at all that a conservative leader does and portray it in a bad light. The thing is, with Trump the accusations liberals make are objectively true. There’s no bias at work - he’s a worthless man and a worthless leader who has not done one important thing right. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-think-about-trump-meddling-in-the-energy-markets/815280/3 "2018-06-01T22:35:10Z")
I like the part where it says this is so the U.S. will maintain a fuel-secure means of generating power. Apparently Trump believes that we import sunlight and wind from other countries. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-think-about-trump-meddling-in-the-energy-markets/815280/4 "2018-06-01T23:00:34Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I like the part where it says this is so the U.S. will maintain a fuel-secure means of generating power. Apparently Trump believes that we import sunlight and wind from other countries. The Sun was a bad deal. Maybe the worst deal ever. Sad. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-think-about-trump-meddling-in-the-energy-markets/815280/5 "2018-06-01T23:51:09Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I like the part where it says this is so the U.S. will maintain a fuel-secure means of generating power. Apparently Trump believes that we import sunlight and wind from other countries. Too bad we can’t harness all the heat he’s taking from Mueller. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-think-about-trump-meddling-in-the-energy-markets/815280/6 "2018-06-02T00:06:54Z")
So can he legally do this? I’m thinking that this will be tied up in the courts for years. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-think-about-trump-meddling-in-the-energy-markets/815280/7 "2018-06-02T14:08:58Z")
Somebody should tell Trump that oil and coal are really derived from solar power (in the final analysis that is where the energy came from originally). Watch his brain short circuit. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-think-about-trump-meddling-in-the-energy-markets/815280/8 "2018-06-02T14:52:54Z")
Nuclear aside, power companies aren’t building coal plants anymore because they’re becoming increasingly uneconomic. That’s partly due to solar/wind getting much cheaper but mostly because natural gas has gotten a lot cheaper (and it’s a bit cleaner to boot). If the concern is “fuel-secure” plants and we’re going to (mind-bogglingly) ignore solar/wind, why not allow older coal plants to close as they have been and continue the process of moving to natural gas, which we have plenty of? Propping up coal plants doesn’t make economic sense and we have no shortage of natural gas for the fossil fuel route, so according to their own purported principles and motivations this is a nonsensical policy. Not that I’m surprised this assemblage of idjits can’t produce a coherent rationale.