--- title: What Donald Trump Meant by 'Clean Coal' in Phoenix Speech description: President Trump offered new hints during a campaign speech Tuesday about what he may mean when he uses the phrase "clean coal" canonical: https://time.com/4912730/donald-trump-clean-coal-phoenix/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-23T20:55:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:07:48.296Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Made a Confusing Reference to 'Clean Coal.' Here's What He Probably Meant og:description: It's not what you think. og:url: https://time.com/4912730/donald-trump-clean-coal-phoenix/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc47d3dea1380000/6988dade8fd2ee2f5b3588a0/donald-trump-digs-coal.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: donald trump digs coal og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Made a Confusing Reference to 'Clean Coal.' Here's What He Probably Meant twitter:description: It's not what you think. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc47d3dea1380000/6988dade8fd2ee2f5b3588a0/donald-trump-digs-coal.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Made a Confusing Reference to 'Clean Coal.' Here's What He Probably Meant  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 23, 2017 8:55 PM UTC  A man holds up a 'Trump Digs Coal' sign as President Donald Trump speaks during his campaign rally at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena on Aug. 3 in Huntington, W.V. A man holds up a 'Trump Digs Coal' sign as President Donald Trump speaks during his campaign rally at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena on Aug. 3 in Huntington, W.V.Justin Merriman—Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Aug 23, 2017 8:55 PM UTC President Trump loves to talk about “clean coal,” but even environmentalists were confused by his latest reference. During [a rambling campaign speech](http://time.com/4912055/donald-trump-phoenix-arizona-transcript/?iid=sr-link1) in Phoenix Tuesday, Trump brought up his support for coal-fired power plants and discussed a method of cleaning coal that seemed not quite right to many listeners. “We’ve ended the war on beautiful, clean coal,” he said. “It’s just been announced that a second, brand-new coal mine, where they’re going to take out clean coal — meaning, they’re taking out coal. They’re going to clean it— is opening in the state of Pennsylvania, the second one.” Those words—which seemed to describe physically cleaning chunks of coal—was met with confusion and ridicule online. The term “clean coal” is typically used to refer to the practice of sequestering carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants and either storing the carbon underground or putting it to use in other industrial processes. > [](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/900197643158269952) But it appears that Trump may have been talking about an entirely different technology. Some coal mining companies undergo a process to wash coal after its extracted to make it increase its quality. This purification process removes some of the pollutants that would otherwise enter the atmosphere, but it could hardly be described as “clean.” The CEO of the Pennsylvania coal mining company Trump referred to in his speech said on Twitter that the president was referring to the practice of washing coal, not capturing carbon. “We do clean coal in preparation plants. Every ton mined underground is cleaned at a preparation plant,” Corsa Coal CEO George Dethlefsen [wrote](https://twitter.com/JustinWorland/status/900197637516926977) on Twitter. “There are many common usages of ‘clean coal’ within the industry jargon.” Trump’s frequent references to “clean coal” have confused many energy and environmental experts. The technology makes little sense as an investment as part of a concerted effort to combat climate change—and Trump is an avowed skeptic of the science behind climate change anyway. The White House has also pushed [aggressive cuts](http://time.com/4887648/president-donald-trump-clean-coal/) to research programs that would help advance clean coal technology and has not publicly supported congressional efforts to strengthen incentives for its use. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4912730/donald-trump-clean-coal-phoenix/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4912730/donald-trump-clean-coal-phoenix/"},"headline":"President Trump Made a Confusing Reference to 'Clean Coal.' Here's What He Probably Meant","datePublished":"2017-08-23T20:55:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:07:48.296Z","description":"President Trump offered new hints during a campaign speech Tuesday about what he may mean when he uses the phrase \"clean coal\"","url":"https://time.com/4912730/donald-trump-clean-coal-phoenix/","keywords":["energy","Environment","climate change","coal","Arizona","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc47d3dea1380000/6988dade8fd2ee2f5b3588a0/donald-trump-digs-coal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc47d3dea1380000/6988dade8fd2ee2f5b3588a0/donald-trump-digs-coal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"donald trump digs coal","caption":"donald trump digs coal","creditText":"Justin Merriman—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/energy/","name":"energy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4912730/donald-trump-clean-coal-phoenix/","name":"President Trump Made a Confusing Reference to 'Clean Coal.' Here's What He Probably Meant"}}]}] ```