U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said the different regions of the United States have different energy resources.
In Schuylkill County, that’s coal.
"The Biden administration counted success in how many coal plants they closed, and if you close coal plants, you close coal mines. And what did that mean? That meant more expensive electricity prices and greater risk of blackouts," he said.
Wright spoke with press after touring the Gilberton Power Company – John B. Rich Memorial Power Station Monday in Frackville. The plant turns coal waste into electricity. The secretary was joined by Republican U.S. Reps. Dan Meuser, Ryan Mackenzie and Rob Bresnahan, all in hardhats, during a tour of the plant.
The stop was part of Wright’s Great American Energy Comeback Tour, highlighting the Trump administration's recent actions "unleashing" America’s coal and manufacturing industries and other efforts underway to make energy more affordable and reliable, according to the Department of Energy.
"Pennsylvania is the center of America's industrial might, and it has been for two centuries. And with smart governance, the Republicans can keep control of Congress, and we can continue to roll back the nonsense of the Biden administration. We can truly see a jobs industrial renaissance in the United States that'll drive up wages and lower prices," he said.
Meuser is running for his fifth term in congress. Mackenzie and Bresnahan are both running for a second term.
Wright said federal support for companies, like the power station, keeps costs down for Americans.
"What we want to promote in the Trump administration is just common sense. Harvest the resources you have to make your people better off, to make your economy better off, and help us reindustrialize America," he said.
'Champions of American ingenuity'
Brian R. Rich Sr. is president of the Reading Anthracite Company, which owns the Gilberton Power Company. They power company heats the coal waste to boil water. The plant captures that steam to power turbines which are connected to generators. The steam is then cooled back to water and reused, he said.
Rich said the company cleans up the environment by using the coal waste that is still leftover to this day from the anthracite mining industry. He said they do it with very few emissions.
During the Obama administration many coal-fired plants closed because of regulations, he said.
“Our plant was still subject to those regulations, but we were able to operate below those limits that the EPA had established,” Rich said. “We tweaked the plant in some ways, to try to make it better, and we did … we managed to get through that difficult time.”
Rich said "the beautiful thing" about the Trump administration is that they encourage coal production. The company also mines for anthracite.
"These guys are champions of American ingenuity. I'm thrilled,” he said.
Wright learned that there is still "an enormous amount" of anthracite coal in the region. The Reading Anthracite Company is still an active mining company.
Wright said steel cannot be made without high carbon coal, like anthracite.
"So [it's] critical not just for American power, but for American industrial might and steel fabrication," he said.
Agreement ahead
Wright left Frackville for a stop in Clarks Summit with Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler.
There they signed a memorandum of agreement establishing a strategic interagency partnership to advance Trump’s American Energy Dominance Agenda.
The partnership will help channel investment toward the small businesses and industrial capabilities needed to expand reliable, affordable American energy, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
