(Source: Yale Climate Connections)
Senior Researcher Sean O’Leary joins Dr. Anthony Lieserowitz and Yale Climate Connections to discuss the remarkable economic turnaround taking place in Centralia, Washington. For years, Centralia and surrounding Lewis County relied heavily on jobs from a coal mine and a coal-fired power plant. But when the mine closed in 2006 and the power plant announced it would be retiring by 2025, Centralia negotiated a $55 economic transition plan with TransAlta corporation, the coal plant owner. Six years later, the town’s economy is thriving, with GDP and job growth double the national average.
Read “The Centralia Model for Economic Transition in Distressed Communities” here.