OFFS - Meet The Energy Department's Cute New Mascot: It's Coalie, Urging Us To "Mine, Baby, Mine!"
Can a lump of coal ever be … cute? It’s a question no one was thinking about until last Thursday, when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted a cartoon of himself on X kneeling next to “Coalie” — a combustible lump with giant eyes, an open-mouthed grin, and yellow boots, almost like a carbon-heavy Japanese video game character.
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Some felt a similar dissonance when Interior Secretary Burgum posted the image of Coalie. Chelsea Barnes, director of government affairs and strategy at Appalachian Voices, an environmental nonprofit, said the character was mocked by some of her friends and colleagues who work to support coal communities because of the serious damage they see firsthand from coal. “There’s nothing funny about climate change,” she said. “There’s nothing funny about black lung disease. There’s nothing funny about the water pollution that many people in Appalachia experience because of coal mining.”
Part of the problem was that the timing was bad, Barnes said. The day after Coalie showed up on Burgum’s social media feed, Trump signed a law that redirects $500 million in funding originally set aside for cleaning up abandoned coal mines to the Forest Service and federal wildfire management programs. On top of that, the administration has been trying to roll back safety programs for miners. To people who care about the health of people working in mines and living near mines, Barnes said, Coalie “comes across as a middle finger, in a way.”
For Coalie’s creators, the backlash was a bit surprising, according to Simone Randolph, the communications director at the Interior Department’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, or OSMRE. The thing is, Coalie wasn’t initially intended as a mascot for “American Energy Dominance.” Its story actually started way back in 2018, when a social media manager at OSMRE put googly eyes on a picture of coal. “Coalie” became a running joke in the office and an icon on their Teams channel, evolving into different versions over the years, Randolph said. “If you walk down our hallway in the D.C. office, people have pictures of Coalie on their doors.”
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https://grist.org/culture/trump-coal-mascot-coalie-cute-burgum/
= new reply since forum marked as read
"Coalie" isn't wearing pants.
How a Googly-Eyed Lump of Coal Became the Trump Administration’s Newest Mascot
"Coalie" is ready to help unleash "Beautiful, Clean Coal" on behalf of President Trump's Interior Department. Mine, baby, mine!
Written by Tristan Espinoza | Published on January 30, 2026
Image courtesy of OSMRE.
If you’re a true coal mining-head—or maybe just a fan of Jimmy Kimmel—then you already may have heard of “Coalie,” an anthropomorphic lump of coal who is the newest mascot for the primary bureau within the US Department of the Interior that regulates coal mining.
Ever since Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted a cartoon image of himself and Coalie on social media in late January—promising to unleash “Beautiful, Clean Coal” on behalf of President Trump—the googly-eyed, hard hat-wearing hunk of combustible carbon has become something of a flashpoint. Cute, for sure, but also criticized as a “lethal mascot for dirty energy,” a “cheerful mouthpiece for several dubious claims,” and a “middle finger, in a way” to people who care about the health of people working in and living near mines.
Link to tweet
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Hello hatrack 
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