“There are so many translatable skills that these communities are more of a natural place for investment to go, especially as these communities are transitioning,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters.
The coal industry has shed the most jobs in recent years among the fuel technology sector, losing more than 7,000 in 2021 for a nearly 12% year-over-year decline, according to the Energy Department. The Department of Energy will also make available through the IRA $450 million for clean energy projects on 18,000 current and former coal mine land sites encompassing 1.5 million acres across the country. The administration estimates that up to 90 gigawatts of power — enough for nearly 30 million homes — could be produced by converting the areas into clean energy projects.
The administration will also disperse $16 million from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to the University of North Dakota and West Virginia University for studies on how to extract critical minerals from coal mine waste that electric vehicles rely on. The critical mineral supply chain is currently dominated by
American workers.
Coal country: A stick? The fuck are we supposed to do with a stick?