← Videos · Energy & Permitting

Wright Delivers Remarks at the National Coal Council Meeting, Jul. 22, 2026

July 22, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:15:12

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright delivered remarks at the National Coal Council meeting, in the Department of Energy’s upload of the July 22, 2026 session, sharing the table with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, both of whom he credited with changing the federal government’s posture toward coal. Wright noted the gathering was much bigger than the council’s last meeting, which he called progress, growth, and confidence.

Wright argued that coal built the American electricity grid and manufacturing industry, and that the test of a power source is whether it is there at peak demand: during Winter Storm Fern at the end of January, he said, the United States set records for power demand in 22 states on the Eastern Seaboard, and dispatchable plants are what carry the grid at those moments, as he presented it. He also said global coal consumption set a record last year and that the record would be beaten again this year and for many years to come, as he stated it.

Why it matters

The Coal Council address is the industry-facing statement of the administration’s coal policy — the same policy Wright’s department funds at plants like Roxboro: coal treated not as a legacy fuel on its way out but as the dispatchable backbone the grid is judged by at its hardest moments.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: Secretary Wright’s coal claims as stated July 22, 2026 — record global coal consumption last year, to be beaten again this year, and record power demand in 22 eastern states during Winter Storm Fern. Flagged for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Delivers Remarks at the National Coal Council Meeting” (official upload, embedded above; remarks as delivered by Secretary Wright).