Tiffany Berger worked for over a decade at a coal power plant in Coshocton County, Ohio, eventually becoming a unit operator earning about $100,000 annually.
But in 2020, American Electric Power closed the plant and Ms. Berger struggled to find a job nearby that offered a comparable salary. She sold her house, moved in with her parents, and decided to help run their farm in Newcomerstown, Ohio, about 30 minutes away.
They sell some of the corn, beans and beef they harvest, but it’s just enough to keep the farm going. Ms. Berger, 39, started working part-time last year at a local fertilizer and seed company, earning just a third of what she used to earn. She said she “never dreamed” that the factory would close.
“I thought I would retire from there,” Ms. Berger said. ‘It’s a power plant. I mean, everyone needs power.”
The United States is experiencing a rapid shift away from fossil fuels as new battery plants, wind and solar projects and other clean energy investments pop up across the country. A comprehensive climate bill that Democrats passed last year could be even more effective than Biden administration officials estimated at reducing fossil fuel emissions.
While the transition is expected to create hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs, it could be devastating for many workers and counties who have depended on coal, oil and gas for economic stability.
Estimates of potential job losses in the coming years vary, but according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 900,000 workers will be directly employed by the fossil fuel industry by 2022.
The Biden administration is trying to mitigate the impact, especially by providing additional tax breaks for renewable energy projects built in areas vulnerable to the energy transition.
But some economists, climate researchers and labor leaders said they are skeptical that the initiatives will be enough. Aside from construction, wind and solar farms typically require few workers to operate, and new clean energy jobs may not necessarily offer comparable wages or match the skills of laid-off workers.
Coal-fired power plants have been closed for years, and the country’s coal production is down from its peak in the late 2000s. According to the Energy Information Administration, U.S. coal-fired generating capacity is expected to decline sharply by 2030 to about 50 percent of current levels. About 41,000 workers remain in the coal mining industry, up from about 177,000 in the mid-1980s.
The decline of the industry is not only a problem for the workers, but also for the communities that have long depended on coal for their tax revenue. The loss of income from mines, factories and workers can mean less money for schools, roads and law enforcement. A recent paper from the Aspen Institute found that regions exposed to coal’s decline between 1980 and 2019 saw long-term declines in income and labor force participation, increased use of Medicare and Medicaid benefits, and a significant population decline , especially among younger workers. That “leaves behind a population that is disproportionately old, sick and poor,” the newspaper said.
The Biden administration has pledged to help those communities weather the impact, for both economic and political reasons. Failure to adequately assist displaced workers could translate into the kind of populist backlash that hurt Democrats in the wake of globalization as companies relocated factories to China. Promises to restore coal jobs also aided Donald J. Trump in the 2016 election, earning crucial votes in states like Pennsylvania.
Federal officials have vowed to create jobs in hard-hit communities and ensure displaced workers “benefit from the new clean energy economy” by offering developers billions in bonus tax credits to place renewable energy projects in regions dependent on fossil fuels. fuels.
If new investments such as solar parks or battery storage facilities are built in those regions, known as ‘energy communities’, developers can be reimbursed as much as 40 percent of the cost of a project. Companies that receive credits for generating electricity from renewable sources can receive a 10 percent boost.
The Inflation Reduction Act also set aside at least $4 billion in tax credits that could be used to build clean energy production facilities in regions with closed coal mines or factories, among other things, and created a program that could guarantee up to $250 billion in loans to support facilities such as to reuse a closed power plant for the use of clean energy.
Brian Anderson, the executive director of the Biden administration’s interinstitutional working group on energy communities, pointed to other federal initiatives, including more funding for projects to reclaim abandoned mining areas and relief funds to revitalize coal communities.
Still, he said the efforts would not be enough and officials had limited resources to help more communities directly.
“We’re on the verge of possibly leaving them behind again,” said Mr. Anderson.
Phil Smith, the chief of staff of the United Mine Workers of America, said the tax credits for manufacturers could help create more jobs, but that $4 billion probably wouldn’t be enough to attract facilities to every region. He said he also hoped for more direct assistance for laid-off workers, but Congress did not fund those initiatives.
“We think that’s still something that needs to be done,” Mr Smith said.
Gordon Hanson, the author of the paper from the Aspen Institute and professor of urban policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, said he was concerned that the federal government was relying too heavily on the tax credits, in part because companies would likely be more inclined to invest in growth areas. He urged federal officials to increase unemployment benefits for distressed regions and funding for labor force development programs.
Even with the bonus credit, clean energy investments may not reach the worst-hit areas because a large number of regions meet the federal definition of an energy community, said Daniel Raimi, a fellow at Resources for the Future.
“If the intent of that provision was to specifically benefit the hardest-hit fossil fuel communities, I don’t think that happened,” said Mr. Raimi.
Local officials have had mixed reactions to the federal effort. Steve Henry, the executive judge of Webster County, Ky., said he believed they could generate investment in renewable energy and attract other industries to the region. The county experienced a significant drop in tax revenue after the closing of the last mine in 2019, and now employs fewer 911 dispatchers and deputy sheriffs as officials are unable to offer more competitive wages.
“I think we can recover,” he said. “But it’s going to be a long recovery.”
Adam O’Nan, the magistrate of Union County, Ky., which has one coal mine left, said he thought renewable energy would bring few jobs to the area, and doubted a plant would be built because of the inadequate infrastructure.
“It’s kind of hard to see how it’s reaching Union County right now,” Mr. O’Nan said. “We are best suited for coal at the moment.”
Federal and state efforts have so far done little to help workers like James Ault, 42, who worked at an oil refinery in Contra Costa County, California, for 14 years before being laid off in 2020. To keep his family afloat, he exhausted his retirement and took most of the money out of his 401(k) early.
In early 2022, he moved to Roseville, California, to work at a power plant, but was laid off again after four months. He briefly worked as a meal delivery boy before landing a job at a nearby chemical manufacturer in February.
He now earns $17 an hour less than at the refinery and can barely afford his mortgage. Still, he said he would not return to the oil industry.
“With our push away from petrol, I feel like I would be entering an industry that is dying out a bit,” said Mr Ault.
