June 20, 2025 - U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright recently designated metallurgical coal used for steelmaking, a critical material. 

That designation has been a long-time coming. 

What you may not know is that met coal – as it’s called for short – was designated a critical material by the European Union more than a decade ago. 

Secretary Wright’s move now finally brings us more in line with our global counterparts -- providing recognition to a manufacturing input – and industry – strategically essential to our industrial base.  

How essential? Met is used to produce 70% of the world’s steel. 

From bridges and highways to pipelines and assembly lines, American infrastructure and manufacturing rely on this essential input and the men and women that produce it – more than 13,000 of them at more than 160 met mines. 

From reshoring key supply chains, rebuilding and modernizing our infrastructure and reinforcing our national security, those efforts are built upon the shoulders of a strong, domestic steel supply chain.

A supply chain that begins in American met coal mines. 

The question isn’t whether met coal is a critical material, it’s why has it taken so long to recognize it?