Appalachia, my home, needs real support — not climate denial

I work as an energy policy advisor in Washington D.C. advocating for climate-driven energy policy and previously worked for a West Virginia Senator on energy, labor, and mine safety policy. I’m also a West Virginian who left the state primarily because of a lack of job opportunities. That story isn’t unique — even my grandparents who once asked if I’d ever move back home now tell me how glad they are that I got out. Appalachia, my home, needs a different future.

Tuesday, President Trump signed an executive order to roll back a number of environmental regulations that President Obama put into place. We all know why this and other actions he’s taken seriously imperil our ability to meet climate goals and, beyond emissions, these regulations often protect the most vulnerable and neglected people across the United States. Even if this did “bring back coal jobs,” it would be deeply problematic.

But it won’t and carrying out these actions in the name of coal miners and coal communities is disingenuous at best. Industry experts acknowledge that cheap natural gas and mining mechanization, not environmental controls, are the main causes of lost coal jobs. Rolling back regulations will do nothing to slow the decline of coal in Appalachia and help these communities maintain and create good-paying jobs.

Carrying out these actions in the name of coal miners and coal communities is disingenuous at best.

So, for lack of a better term, I’m pissed.

If Trump truly wanted to help the region, I’d suggest starting with these 6 straight-forward and frankly pretty simple suggestions:

1. Support the Miners Protection Act, which would ensure that thousands of miners who gave their lives and health to the mines don’t go without the pension and healthcare they were promised. (Trump declined to support this on the campaign trail and has remained silent on the subject since. I hope one of the coal miners he surrounded himself with while signing the executive orders asked him about it.)
2. Robustly fund the Appalachian Regional Commission to continue building desperately needed infrastructure that could enable a diversified economy. (Instead, Trump’s budget proposal defunds the ARC.)
3. Invest in carbon capture. West Virginia and Pennsylvania are home to the National Energy Technology Laboratory, a federal lab where the majority of federal carbon capture research is housed. Appalachia has long led in developing technologies to reduce the environmental and health impacts of burning coal. Fund it. (The Trump budget, while light on details, proposes deep cuts to the Office of Fossil Energy.)
4. Request funding for the Power Plus Plan, a $1 billion investment in Appalachian communities that is bipartisan and has strong local support, or roll out an analagous proposal. (No word from Trump on Power Plus or any similar effort.)
5. Stop feeding lies about what’s hurting the economy in Appalachia to a group of people that have generally been denied secure access to good education, high-paying jobs, clean water, internet access, and other basic services. (Trump has promised to “bring back coal 100%” by eliminating regulations and echoed that nonsensical line of thinking yesterday.)
6. Support the Affordable Care Act, that has disproportionately helped places like West Virginia where it allowed 210,000 people — in a state of 1.8 million — to secure healthcare. Beyond the loss of coverage, repealing the ACA is expected to result in 16,000 lost jobs in two years, $350 million in lost tax revenue, and $14 billion lost in federal money. The ACA also included provisions for miners suffering from black lung. (I think we all know what Trump has done here.)

So far, Trump is 0 for 6. Grandstanding against regulations that have nothing to do with the problems coal communities face is obnoxious. Doing so while refusing to support real efforts to help these ailing communities is deadly to Appalachia.

As long as Trump continues to use coal communities as a reason to move us backwards on climate action, I’ll continue writing about why he’s wrong and what he could do to actually help Appalachia.