ORVI Insider #26: ‘Your County Is Getting a Bad Deal, and You Can Do Better’

‘Your County Is Getting a Bad Deal, and You Can Do Better’ (New York Times) 

For months, Senior Researcher Sean O’Leary has been meeting with elected officials in the Ohio Valley counties hardest hit by the decline of coal and the hollow economic returns of the natural gas boom to deliver a proposition: “I’m here to say your county is getting a bad deal and you can do better.” 

New York Times editorial board member Farah Stockman outlines O’Leary’s pitch, which follows the success story of Centralia, a coal town in Washington State where a coal mine closed and the town’s coal-fired power plant is in the process of being retired. The company that owns the mine and the power plant funded grants to workers, families, local businesses, nonprofits and local governments to foster clean energy development, energy efficiency and education. The results? Jobs in Centralia have grown at twice the rate of the nation.

Not Even Joe Manchin Wants to Pay For This ‘So Darn Expensive’ Coal Bailout (Columbus Dispatch) 

“You might not have believed there could be a strategy to save coal and natural gas that West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin would describe as ‘so darn expensive that it makes it almost impossible,’ Senior Researcher Sean O’Leary writes. But carbon capture, use, and sequestration (CCUS) is just that—according to ORVI research, if the nation’s operating coal- and gas-fired power plants were retrofitted with CCUS technology and the cost were to show up in our electric bills, the average residential customer would see their bill jump by $293 per year, an increase of about 21%. To effectively decarbonize the electric system without exorbitant rate hikes, policymakers should consider clean energy investment strategies like the one that supercharged the economy of Centralia, Washington, O’Leary concludes.

West Virginia’s Reliance on Coal is Getting More Expensive, and Residents are Footing the Bill (CNN) 

In the coldest months of winter, West Virginian Felisha Chase pays more for electricity than she does for her home. Her story is all too common in West Virginia, where coal-fired power generation constitutes 89% of the state’s energy grid. As coal becomes increasingly expensive, the cracks in West Virginia’s power system are becoming increasingly apparent. Fixing the system will require the early retirement of the state’s array of coal-fired power plants, Senior Researcher Sean O’Leary says. “These plants, even if they’re kept open, are going to be operating at such a low level there will be far fewer jobs and far less coal consumed than it is now,” O’Leary said. “It’s as if everyone walks around utterly oblivious to that fact, and it has huge economic implications. If anything, there’s a concerted effort to prevent that kind of reimagination of West Virginia as a different kind of energy state.”

Counting Votes and Losing Time: An Update on RGGI in PA (National Resources Defense Council) 

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is nearing a moment of truth in Pennsylvania. The potential last hurdle to enacting the initiative, which would set limits on carbon pollution from power plants, place a price on carbon, and reinvest the proceeds in PA communities, is a vote by the General Assembly, Mark Szybist writes. Ohio River Valley Institute research has demonstrated how enacting RGGI could ease the energy transition for economically struggling coal communities. 

Comprehensive Coal Ash Clean Up Drives Jobs, Economic Benefit (Farm and Dairy) 

Coal ash, the hazardous residue left behind when coal is burned to generate electricity, poses a threat to public health and the environment. A recent report from ReImagine Appalachia, Union of Concerned Scientists, Earthjustice, and the Ohio River Valley Institute demonstrates how comprehensive coal ash cleanup in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Indiana can create jobs while safeguarding the health and safety of frontline communities. 

Why West Virginia Is Left Especially Vulnerable by Manchin Blocking Key Climate Policy (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

Opinion: How to Talk to Your Grandchildren about Joe Manchin and the Climate (The Washington Post)

Why Are Natural Gas Prices High? Because Fracking Isn’t Really Profitable. (Barron’s)