While running for president in 2024, Donald Trump told oil and gas executives that he would pursue their policy priorities if the industry raised $1 billion for his campaign—and after returning to office last year, the Republican did just that, enriching those invested in fossil fuels, including himself, at the expense of the public and…
Page F3From§Eachthe wee small hours edition — 27 September 2026
Coal order courts rejected twice becomes the shortcut Trump used to kill fuel-economy rules for his billion-dollar donors
As it ran on the front
The log for the Michigan coal plant filled up fast this month. On September 11th a federal appeals court told the Energy Department, for the second time, that ordering a 64-year-old plant to keep burning past its own retirement date was outside the department's authority. The order stayed on the books anyway, per the Daily Caller's reporting last Friday — the same tool, pulled a third time, the same emergency clause, on a plant that set its own shutdown date for May 2025.
By September 14th the argument had migrated again, this time to the EPA, which moved to end limits on greenhouse gas emissions from the coal and gas plants responsible for roughly a quarter of the nation's climate pollution. Environmental advocates called it another gift to the fossil fuel industry — the fourth filing that month arguing the government had, for years, been doing something it was never allowed to do.…
…(cont) Then, Saturday night, the argument reached its biggest customer. President Trump announced he had finalized new fuel economy standards, terminating what he called Biden's EV mandate — the pollution standards automakers needed new electric or hybrid models to meet. The New York Post described the change as giving automakers more freedom to build gas-powered vehicles. The coverage does not dispute what got removed; it argues only over what to call removing it.
The itemized version of why arrived ten days ago, wholesale, in a Senate Democratic report. Running for office in 2024, Mr. Trump told oil and gas executives he'd deliver their policy priorities if they raised him a billion dollars. They raised it. The report's ledger runs coal plant to truck rule to power plant rule to fuel economy standard, four line items under one invoice.
None of the four received a receipt of payment reading "coal." None mention electric vehicles by name in the transaction. The industry paid for a policy, not a plant. Same invoice, different delivery address, hon.
“They call it "freedom to build gas-powered vehicles" — same freedom the coal plant got when a court told it no twice and the order went out a third time anyway. It's not four separate decisions, it's one billion-dollar check getting cashed at four different windows: the coal plant, the truck yard, the power plant, the dealership. Your kid still breathes whatever comes out of all four.”
“This is just cutting red tape so hardworking families can buy the truck they actually want instead of the one Washington mandated — deregulation, plain and simple. And sure, the coal order got kicked back by courts twice, but that's activist judges standing in the way of energy independence, not... okay, two separate federal panels agreeing isn't really "activist," let me rephrase that.”
Earlier in this story
- Energy Department orders Michigan coal plant to stay open again, having already lost the argument twice By The Wrecking Crew · the midnight edition, 27 September 2026
- Trump kills EV mandate using rulemaking shortcut a court already struck down twice this month. By The Wrecking Crew · the early evening edition, 26 September 2026
- Blocked from cutting $600 million in teacher grants, the administration announces a landmark move beyond college-for-all By Mort · the early bird edition, 26 September 2026
The receipts
The Trump administration is set to announce a major rollback of federal fuel-economy requirements for new cars and light trucks, giving automakers more freedom to build gas-powered vehicles.
New fuel-economy standards, which President Trump said he finalized Saturday, would kill a federal effort to speed the transition to electric vehicles.
President Trump announced Saturday he approved new fuel economy standards that eliminate an electric vehicle (EV) mandate introduced under the Biden administration. The 2024 EV mandate aimed to facilitate the transition from gas-powered to EVs by setting new pollution standards for automakers' vehicle fleets, which were intentionally…
President Donald Trump said on Saturday night he plans to scrap former President Joe Biden’s fuel economy standards meant to incentivize electric vehicle adoption, framing it as a “BIG DAY” for both workers and consumers. “I have just approved new Fuel Economy Standards that TERMINATE Sleepy Joe Biden and [former Transportation…
· Trump administration moves to relax fuel efficiency standards for commercial trucks from the morgue, 28 Aug 2026
· 'Actively Malevolent': Trump EPA to Eviscerate Rules on Planet-Heating Pollution From Power Plants from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.