President Donald Trump vowed to end the war on coal on Tuesday, and that's good news for coal stocks in the near term, energy expert Carl Larry told CNBC.
"Without regulation, without any kind of rules to back us off here now, we can use cheap energy sources and go forward from there," the principal consultant for Oil Outlooks and Opinions said in an interview with "Closing Bell" on Tuesday.
And as demand for natural gas moves higher, so will its prices — and that will make coal even more attractive, Larry said.
"No rules, no regulations here, it's just the tip of the iceberg. We can see this [becoming] more profitable and more efficient going forward."
Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday aimed at rolling back Obama-era climate policies. That includes an overhaul of the Clean Power Plan, a set of federal guidelines that give states a framework for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel-fired electricity plants, particularly those that burn coal.
"My action today is the latest in a series of steps to create American jobs and to grow American wealth. We're ending the theft of American prosperity and rebuilding our beloved country," Trump said before signing the order.
Trader Roberto Friedlander told "Power Lunch" on Tuesday that he'd still avoid coal stocks.
"The damage from the last eight years … is far-reaching and can't be overturned at this point," the head of energy trading at Seaport Global Securities said.
Kyle Cooper, a consultant for Ion energy, is also among those who are bearish on coal, despite the president's promises.
He also doesn't see a dramatic increase in jobs in the future.
"The number of jobs that are going to come back from the manufacturing side of coal, from the production side of coal, might be somewhat limited just because the companies keep getting better and better and keep getting more and more with less and less," he told "Closing Bell."