Transitioning beyond the Appalachian coal economy

The following is an except from an article in KFTC's most recent newsletter, Balancing the Scales. Go here to read the entire article bts article: Appalachian Transition

The conversation is changing

At the East Kentucky Leadership Conference in April, Dr. Ron Eller, recently retired professor of Appalachian History at the University of Kentucky, threw down the gauntlet to the political leadership of eastern Kentucky, "We must look beyond an extractive based economy to one that values and enhances the landscape and the resources that it holds, to one that connects our own sustainability and future to that of the mountains themselves," Eller said.

Though elected officials have generally supported the idea of a more diversified economy, few have had the courage or foresight to talk about the coming day when coal will not dominate the economy or the politics of the region.

That conversation is now changing, thanks to Eller's challenge, the work of KFTC members, and the realities of the coal-based economy that continues to discard workers.

"Elected leaders from my region, as well as throughout this state and nation, need to be visionaries. They cannot continue to dance to the beat of the same fossil fuel drummer," said Mickey McCoy, a Martin County member, "A transition to renewable energy must begin. The same great workforce in Appalachia which now supplies the power plants with coal to burn can be used in the green industry."

Rep. Greg Stumbo responded defensively to Eller's challenge but nonetheless said, "The debate should be about what happens in the end, when in fact, there is perhaps no more surface mining, or the coal runs out or whatever happens."

The coal industry is already in transition

For decades the coal industry has sought ways to stay profitable, and high on the list has been to become more automated. Even as production has remained constant, coal employment continues its long historic decline due to ongoing mechanization of the industry. Coal employment in Kentucky is only about a third of what it was 30 years ago.

Kentucky's economic development, energy and tax policies all focus on continuing to prop up the coal industry, even as it sheds jobs in a job-starved region. A recent MACED report estimated that in 2006, Kentucky provided a net subsidy of nearly $115 million to the coal industry."

Now is the Time - Creating new jobs along side the old jobs

"We have a narrow window of opportunity in Appalachia today, global warming, the financial crisis, international recession and world terrorism create an opportunity for change, if we can seize the moment," Eller said. Clean energy jobs are the logical place to start and twenty years is considered a reasonable timeframe because it allows existing coal related workers to remain working and provides training for the next generation to become a green workforce.

According to an Apollo Alliance report, investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy could affect Kentucky's economy over 10 years with an additional 44,783 new jobs.

Based on those figures, if Kentucky were to invest $43 million per year (half of what coal industry is getting now) over the next 20 years, the state could transition the 18,000 coal-mining and 52,000 coal-related jobs into other employment.

Recent Appalachian Regional Commission studies concluded that a set of energy efficiency policies in the Appalachian region would save consumers almost $10 billion annually on their energy bills by 2020 and create more than 37,000 jobs.

But KFTC members know that the transition of the Appalachian economy is not just from one job to a different job, it is about a fundamental restructuring of the economy.

While many of the jobs associated with renewable energy and especially energy efficiency are not income equivalent with some mining jobs, they represent jobs for the many people who are unemployed or under-employed and new jobs to rebuild a skilled workforce in the region.

MACED has identified other new or expandable sources of good jobs, they include:

• Enhancing the quality and value of the region's forests and creating a sustainable forest products economy;


• Expanding a sustainable local food system;


• Restoring the land from the effects of past abusive mining practices;


• Providing residents access to clean drinking water and basic wastewater systems;


• Cleaning up illegal open dumps and abandoned landfills;


• Repairing and building parks and trails and promoting eco- and outdoor tourism;


• Restoring the region's watersheds.

It will not be easy, it takes real leadership

"We have to be honest about the challenges we face in creating a new economy. It will not be easy," points out Roy Silver, a KFTC member in Harlan County. "This is particularly challenging in light of the fact that coal-mining jobs [can] pay about $60,000 a year. We need to work with people on creating alternatives that pay a family living wage."

Ken Ward, a reporter for the Charleston Gazette, wrote, "Everyone should stop trying to make it sound easy, and explain that it's hard. REAL political leadership tells the public that something is hard, but that we're up to it and are going to work together until we succeed."

From KFTC's blog comes this post by "Todd," a Kentucky miner. "The only hope for eastern Kentucky is through a diversified economy. In which, I believe, coal should play a vital part. We, the citizens and taxpayers, need to have a much louder voice in the path for our state and country. I truly believe, with good, intense discussion from all sides (miners, environmentalists, etc...) we can come up with some solutions."

All indications are that a successful economic transition in Appalachia, and consequently Kentucky, is possible; but it won't be easy and Appalachia cannot do it alone.

Read Dr. Ron Eller's speech.

Read MACED's Economics of Coal and The Impact of Coal on the Budget