Coal advocacy group awards Trump trophy, trend continues
Flattering President Donald Trump with special prizes is all the rage in Washington.
WASHINGTON — In Donald Trump’s administration, flattering the president with special prizes is all the rage.
Apple presented Chief Executive Tim Cook with a custom glass shield during an August meeting where he announced $100 billion in new investments in the United States as the company sought relief from President Trump’s tariffs. In December, FIFA awarded Trump the first-ever Peace Prize, which included a trophy, certificate and medal.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Colina Machado followed suit, urging Trump to support her country’s democratic transition during their January meeting, and presenting him with the Nobel Peace Prize.
On February 11, coal advocacy groups took a page from the playbook, presenting President Trump with the “Undisputed Champion of Beautiful and Clean Coal” award at a White House event. The president announced funding for coal-fired power plants in five states and signed an order directing the Department of Defense to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants.
“You’ll never have a better friend in the Oval Office than me,” Trump said at an East Room event. “I’m not a coal expert, but I’ve been very good to coal experts,” he later said. “The quality of our coal should be the best anywhere in the world.”
The award was presented by the Washington Coal Club, an industry-linked organization, as the administration prepares to undo Obama-era scientific discoveries that have provided the Trump-like miners with the legal basis for federal regulations targeting greenhouse gases for more than a decade.
Jim Grech, president and CEO of Peabody Energy, presented Trump with the award after remarks in which he said the mining town was gaining new investment and feeling a new sense of pride because of Trump.
“Families are feeling safer, local businesses are growing again and abandoned communities are being revitalized,” said Grech, who is also chairman of the National Coal Council.
In 2025, the Trump administration reinstated a council that advises the Secretary of Energy on coal policy and advocates for coal use.
Republican officials in attendance included House Speaker Mike Johnson, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, one of the states President Trump has floated to fund coal-fired power plants, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin.
The White House announced earlier this week that the EPA will take action on February 12 to withdraw the so-called “endangered designation.” The findings state that current and projected concentrations of certain greenhouse gases in the atmosphere “threaten the public health and well-being of current and future generations.” Related EPA findings cite automobiles and engines as sources of greenhouse gas pollution.
President Trump said at his event that he wanted to put the words “beautiful and clean” in front of the award because the word “coal” gets a bad rap.
“I don’t use the word coal. You know, coal needs a PR job. Coal had a bad reputation at one point. So we’re not allowed to say the word coal anymore. Before that, we have to have beautiful, clean coal,” Trump said.
But experts say the term is a misnomer because it actually refers to a complex and inefficient large-scale system that captures the carbon dioxide produced by burning coal and either removes it from the air or injects it deep underground.
Contributor: Joey Garrison, trevor hughes, Dinah Pulver
