In some parts of the country market managers hold auctions for the excess capacity they might need in an emergency. Some regions encourage demand-side measures, rewarding customers who conserve or who are willing to shift their electricity consumption from peak to off-peak periods. Others are encouraging “behind the meter” (customer-owned) generation such as rooftop solar panels, while still others are installing batteries and other forms of electricity storage to improve system reliability. And some states are subsidizing old nuclear power stations to ensure they don’t leave the system.

Why subsidize nuclear and not coal? Because nuclear does not kill tens of thousands of Americans prematurely each year. Coal does.

Coal companies and their patrons in the Trump administration suggest coal-fired power plants are more reliable because they maintain a fuel supply on site, while natural-gas-fired power plants obtain their fuel in real time through the pipeline system. But this too is a red herring: Shipments of coal by rail are as interruptible as shipments of natural gas by pipeline. For example, Hurricane Harvey forced one Texas coal-fired power plant to switch to natural gas when its coal pile became saturated and unusable.