Direct subsidies are from deductions made on taxes and direct government investment into modernizing the equipment on older coal power plants. One way they do

Direct subsidies are from deductions made on taxes and direct government investment into modernizing the equipment on older coal power plants. One way they do this is Percentage Depletion. A mine take out 10% of the available coal, they can deduct 10% of the value of the mine, to the point where the total deductions can exceed capital costs. There is also deduction that came about because they wanted to promote domestic energy production and reduce dependence on foreign energy fuel, which between the year 2002-2010 awarded $12.2 billion in tax credit to coal alone.