Andrew Wheeler, nominee to be Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) admistrator, testifies before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee during a confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 16, 2019.
Credit: NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP/Getty

Amid a sharp decline in coal jobs, President Donald Trump on Monday pushed for a federal entity to keep open a coal fired power plant supplied by Murray Energy, a company with strong ties to the administration including Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler.

“Coal is an important part of our electricity generation mix and [the Tennessee Valley Authority] should give serious consideration to all factors before voting to close viable power plants, like Paradise #3 in Kentucky!” Trump wrote in a Feb. 11 tweet.

The TVA is a federally-owned generator that doesn’t receive taxpayer money and is funded through electricity sales instead. Paradise Unit 3, which is almost 50 years old, has been deemed too expensive to continue operating, and the TVA board is set to vote as early as Thursday on whether […]