Perry backing rule to help coal and nuclear plants

Energy secretary Rick Perry is asking an independent federal agency to propose a rule that experts are saying would impose the biggest changes to America's electricity industry in decades and potentially help a wave of retiring coal and nuclear power plants by favoring fuel sources that can be stored on site. That puts coal and nuclear, both which store fuel on site, at an advantage over other sources, like renewable sources and natural gas, which isn't stored but piped when needed.

Between the lines: This is a complicated issue electricity experts will be studying for some time, but the simple upshot for now is that this is one way President Trump is trying to help coal and nuclear power, both which are struggling to compete against cheap natural gas and increasingly cheap renewable power.