"The coal industry began to pivot away yesterday from a Department of Energy plan meant to help ailing coal and nuclear plants as the subsidy effort flounders amid political infighting.
The shift came as news began to trickle out of the White House that administration officials could be poised to scrap the DOE rescue package.
Industry representatives and administration allies noted that those dynamics could change with a single tweet by President Trump. But they acknowledged that the DOE plan might have tested the legal limits of seldom-used statutes to prop up struggling coal and nuclear facilities.
"I think the stories are accurate. No one is pushing back on it. There are significant legal issues, as they have found out," Fred Palmer, a former Peabody Energy executive, said after exiting a National Coal Council meeting yesterday."
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