Trump invokes Defense Production Act to back coal plants, aid Perry County

President Donald Trump moved to back coal plants and coal mines with federal defense powers, a decision that could carry real economic weight in Perry County, where coal-related paychecks have long supported families, contractors and small businesses.

The U.S. Department of Energy said June 4 that it will support 13 American coal-fired power plants and new coal export infrastructure with up to $500 million in Defense Production Act Title III funds. Trump said the package would protect 13 coal plants and 42 coal mines and support new coal construction and export infrastructure. The move comes under the Defense Production Act of 1950, the presidential authority used to speed up and expand domestic industrial supply for national defense needs.

For Perry County, the most immediate significance is not abstract energy policy but the possibility of steadier work in a region that has spent years absorbing coal’s decline. Eastern Kentucky has lost coal jobs across the board, and a Kentucky coal-industry economic analysis says coal employment has been falling for many years while Kentucky’s coal-producing counties rank among the poorest in the nation. In Perry County, that has meant more pressure on miners, equipment operators, truck drivers, maintenance crews and the local businesses that depend on coal pay.

The county’s ties to the industry remain deep. Kentucky River Properties says its Central Appalachian holdings are concentrated in Perry, Knott, Letcher, Leslie, Breathitt, Clay and Harlan counties, underscoring how much of the region’s coal economy still runs through southeastern Kentucky. Residents in Perry County, as well as nearby Knott County and Knox County, have viewed any new federal support for coal as a possible boost for the paychecks that still move through the area.

Still, the biggest questions remain unresolved. The federal announcement did not identify which Kentucky plants would qualify, and the current details do not show when any local benefit would reach Hazard or the surrounding coalfield communities. That leaves uncertainty over whether the money will protect current jobs, revive idle capacity or simply slow a decline that has already reshaped Perry County for years.

Local officials have tried to diversify the economy, including through the Coal Fields Regional Industrial Park in Hazard, a 235.8-acre site about 10.7 miles northwest of the city that Perry County promotes as part of its revitalization push. Even so, coal remains central to the county’s economic story, and the new federal action is being treated locally as a major win for a region that has waited a long time for investment tied to the industry.