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Wright Visits Dairyland Power Cooperative and Defends Coal and Baseload Power

October 29, 2026 · U.S. Department of Energy · 0:05:11

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Energy Secretary Chris Wright delivered remarks at Dairyland Power Cooperative’s John P. Madgett coal-fired station, in the Department of Energy’s upload of the October 27, 2026 visit. Dairyland’s leadership, as they stated it, noted the cooperative’s 85-year history, the station’s 47 years of providing baseload power, and that Wright was the first Energy Secretary to visit. Rep. Derrick Van Orden also spoke, crediting coal and nuclear plants, as he stated it, with keeping Wisconsin homes heated through sub-zero winters.

Wright argued, as he stated it, that ten states which closed all of their coal plants through what he called misguided policies have electricity prices on average about 80 percent higher than the ten states that made no effort to shut theirs. According to Wright, those closures did not reduce emissions but moved them, while impoverishing Americans and driving businesses out of states such as those in New England and California.

Wright said, as he stated it, that the Trump administration is bringing back common sense, and that affordable, reliable, and secure energy lets people pay their bills, draws businesses and jobs to a region, and raises wages when jobs outnumber workers. He praised the workers who run the plant and called for people-focused energy policies across all fifty states.

Why it matters

The appearance is part of the administration’s energy agenda — expanding supply, grid capacity, and permitting — and its claims about prices, projects, and markets are the record against which its energy promises will be measured.

Sources: U.S. Department of Energy, “Secretary Wright Delivers Remarks at Dairyland Power Cooperative - October 27, 2026”, 2026-10-29 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-10-29). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.