Parts of the coalition that helped elect President Donald Trump are pushing back against the administration’s energy policy of expanding coal power.
A letter signed by nearly 200 people representing dozens of health and environmental organizations — including many with specific ties to the “Make America Health Again” (MAHA) movement — urges Trump not to expand coal power to meet the electricity demand of artificial intelligence data centers.
“We write as Americans who appreciate the important steps your administration has taken to elevate America’s chronic disease crisis,” the letter states, praising Trump’s appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
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The letter goes on to raise concerns about the health effects of pollution from coal power plants. In addition to air pollution and the potential for coal ash to affect water quality, lung disease among coal miners has reached a 50-year high. And demand could rise driven by federal policy and the need for more electricity.
After years of flat or predictable growth, electricity demand is surging due to massive planned data centers across the country. The Trump administration is trying to stop the decline of coal power by ordering power plants to stay open past planned retirement dates and allocating federal funds to upgrade coal plants. Environmental groups that traditionally support Democrats have campaigned against coal power for decades, but the letter is a sign that pushback against coal power has traction among Trump’s Republican base.
While the letter expresses agreement with the Trump administration’s support for American leadership in AI and energy independence, it goes on to say, “rising electricity demand should not mean greater dependence on energy sources that increase toxic exposure for our children and most vulnerable communities or any attempts to expand corporate profits at the expense of community input, deliberation and due process.”
Who signed the letter?
The letter contains well known names from the MAHA movement alongside representatives from small farms and environmental organizations like the Center for Biological Diversity.
At least three people associated with Kennedy’s campaign for the presidency in 2024 signed the letter: author and speechwriter Charles Eisenstein; David Murphy, who was Kennedy’s finance director and founder of the group United We Eat; and Zen Honeycutt, founder of the nonprofit Moms Across America, which has campaigned against pesticides.
Other signatories also have ties to Kennedy. Aimee Villella McBride worked for the anti-vaccine advocacy group Children’s Health Defense, which Kennedy chaired for eight years. In 2024, Kennedy signed onto a lawsuit against banning TikTok alongside another signer, Kristen Meghan Kelly, who became a prominent social media influencer during the pandemic.
The letter also includes numerous names associated with state-level MAHA groups, organic farmers and healthy food advocates. Many of the same names appeared on two separate letters in May and August 2025 advocating for stricter controls of chemicals in the food system.
The coalition asks Trump and other cabinet officials to “reject coal expansion as the default answer to AI and data-center electricity demand,” in addition to strengthening pollution controls and committing to transparency and local input on data center proposals.
