Appalachia Poised to Be Part of Shift to Clean Energy
For over 150 years, the Appalachian region has provided the cheap energy that has powered the nation to become an industrial giant and build a middle class. At the same time, the enormous wealth pulled from the hills of Appalachia largely enriched other parts of the country while leaving environmental degradation and persistent poverty in its wake. As federal policymakers design policies to transition and invest in a clean energy economy, it is imperative that Appalachia can rebuild and grow a 21st Century sustainable economy that builds shared prosperity.
REGROW Act Could Provide $1.7 Billion to Clean Up Hazardous Wells in Appalachia
In early April, we released a report outlining the benefits of plugging and cleaning up orphan and abandoned oil and gas wells in Appalachia. Since that time, there have been several bills introduced in Congress to address the issue. These include the Orphan Well Cleanup and Jobs Act (HR 2415) in the House and the […]
Eliminate West Virginia Met Coal Subsidy to Assist Dislocated Coal Workers
Several weeks ago, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) released their plan for “Preserving Coal Country” amid national policy efforts to address climate change and regrow the economy with large-scale infrastructure investments. The UMWA plan listed several policy proposals to help coal mining communities, including a ‘true transition’ for coal miners that have lost […]
Repairing the Damage from Hazardous Abandoned Oil & Gas Wells
An analysis of the potential benefits of a large-scale federal program to plug abandoned oil and gas wells in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
A federal solution is needed to address hazardous abandoned wells
On Thursday the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources in the US House will be holding a hearing on the federal Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Program to discuss reauthorization of the program and how it can help local economies and the environment. The AML program was created in 1977 under the Surface Mining Control and […]
West Virginia Legislative Session Starts Shrouded in Secrecy & Bad Ideas
The West Virginia Legislature got underway on Wednesday, February 10th, and so far the legislative session has been marked by a lack of accountability and transparency, advancing legislation aimed at crippling public education, reducing workers’ rights, and securing large, regressive tax cuts that will hurt working families. When the legislature briefly convened on January 10th […]
Low-Wage Jobs Are the Future in Ohio River Valley Without Policy Change
If policymakers at the state and federal level want to build a strong economy with good paying jobs in the Ohio River Valley region it will require raising wages, improving job quality standards, and increasing disposable income of workers. That’s because most new jobs in the Ohio River Valley are projected to pay median wages […]
West Virginia’s Oil & Gas Industry Pushing for Millions in Property Tax Cuts
While West Virginians are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and trying to figure out if their kids can attend school, the oil and gas industry is working with the West Virginia State Tax Department to cut its property taxes by as much as $62 million per year. Last month, the state tax department released a […]
The Fracking Boom in Appalachia: Big GDP Growth, Small Amount of Jobs and Local Income
“If our economy seems to be growing but that growth is not sustainable because we are destroying the environment and using up scarce natural resources, our statistics should warn us. But because GDP didn’t include resource depletion and environmental degradation, we typically get an excessively rosy picture.” – Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize Winner The standard […]
Inequality is Robbing Workers of Pay in the Ohio River Valley
Workers in West Virginia should be making $117,000 a year on average — and they would be too, if only we had pursued the same economic strategies we had in the 1970s. Instead, we’ve taken power away from workers, lowered taxes on the wealthy, and designed an economic system that redistributes money upward. That $117k […]