Trump redirects carbon capture funds to coal for AI data centers

The Trump administration is moving $185 million from the bipartisan infrastructure law's carbon capture program to support new coal power plants, alongside over $500 million from the Defense Production Act. The funds will help build two new large coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia, restart a shuttered Maryland plant, and support 13 existing coal facilities. The administration argues coal is essential to meet AI data center electricity demand, though critics say this misuses taxpayer money originally intended for carbon capture technology. Both new coal plants are explicitly designed to power data centers, but neither has secured key permits, transmission access, or committed offtake from hyperscalers. The West Virginia project claims it will include carbon capture, but the DOE's funding notice does not require immediate CCUS installation. This comes as a national debate grows over whether the public should pay for AI energy infrastructure, with hyperscalers having signed a non-binding ratepayer protection pledge in March.