National Economic Transition (NET) Platform is much needed

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CONTACTS:
Trey Pollard, Just Transition Fund, tpollard@justtransitionfund.org
and Cat McCue, Appalachian Voices, cat@appvoices.org

NATIONWIDE – Today, 80 local, regional, and national organizations and leaders unveiled their National Economic Transition (NET) platform to give federal and national leaders and policymakers the framework for an ambitious national transition program that supports the people and places hit hardest by the changing coal economy.

This NET platform was crafted by local, tribal, and labor leaders living and working in coal communities, along with non-profit sector partners, during a year-long collaboration led by the Just Transition Fund.

Amid the sharp decline of the coal sector over the past decade, these community leaders have already developed and implemented local policy solutions that help tackle the climate crisis and spur inclusive, equitable, and sustainable economic growth in places that once relied on coal.

The NET platform presents national leaders with a path to scale up these solutions in coal communities across the country by making a big, bold investment in the platform’s proposed comprehensive national transition program that, when implemented, will create vibrant, resilient, inclusive communities.

This year, U.S. coal consumption is set to decline by more than 23 percent and the closure of more coal facilities will likely be accelerated by COVID-19 and the economic decline. As a result, communities that once relied on coal, like coal mining communities in Appalachia, the Illinois Basin, Montana, Wyoming and elsewhere as well as communities with coal fired power plants from the Navajo Nation to Central Minnesota all face a potentially devastating crisis.

This crisis could mean more job losses, the further erosion of the tax base, and cuts to vital services layered on in places already struggling following previous recessions amid decades of inequality and widespread poverty. This perilous situation makes challenges for low-income communities, communities of color, and tribal communities already disproportionately left behind by the status quo even more significant.

As the national conversation continues to focus on economic development, racial inequity, and the climate crisis, the NET platform gives leaders the opportunity to help address these serious challenges in coal communities by enacting solutions that local leaders already know work.

To address these crises from Appalachia to the Navajo Nation, the NET platform urges national leaders to invest in the development of a national transition program built on seven pillars of policy recommendations that put communities in the driver’s seat, including proposals to:

……….National Economic Transition (NET) Platform……..

>> Develop local leadership and capacity to lead the transition — especially Black, brown, women, and Indigenous-led organizations and community members.

>> Create entities to coordinate transition-related programs and equip communities with the resources they need.

Recognizing the community-driven innovation on transition solutions and the need for a coordinated national transition program, the Just Transition Fund launched the NET project in early 2019. With the facilitation of Dialogue + Design Associates, a community engagement and design firm, a diverse planning team of representatives from coal communities across the country worked to draft this platform and refine it over the course of a year through an extensive idea-generation and feedback-gathering process.

That process included a series of in-depth interviews with community leaders and members of coal-impacted communities, an in-person meeting of coal community and transition leaders in June of 2019, three regional stakeholder meetings in Appalachia, the Midwest, and the West, and a digital engagement campaign to gather input from the broader public from coal-affected regions in the fall of 2019.

Community organizations and NET partners released statements in support of the NET platform and are available to discuss its release.

See the comments that appear below ….

Former Senator John D. Rockefeller IV

Building a Resilient WV by Taking Control of the Mountain State’s Future

Article by Duane Nichols, FrackCheckWV.net, April 9, 2016

On April 8^th, the WVU Center for Energy and Sustainable Development in the College of Law sponsored their “National Energy Conference 2016.”  These conferences are video recorded and made available on the world-wide-web. Program information is available at: http://energy.law.wvu.edu/conference2016

The “keynote speaker” was former US Senator and former Governor John D. Rockefeller, IV, who came to WV as a VISTA Volunteer in 1964. Senator Rockefeller described his optimism and hope for the economy and well being of the residents of the State.  He continues to work to advance the health and welfare of everyone.  And, education is an essential component of this.

Samuel Petsonk, Attorney with Mountain State Justice, spoke on “Current Federal Policy Proposals for Coal-Reliant Community Support.”  He summarized the POWER + Plan now underway in West Virginia.  This program is administered under the WV Hub organization.

What is the Hub?

The WV Hub is a statewide, non-profit organization that helps communities come together to set goals for their future and connects them to the rich network of resources they need to meet those goals. In our network there are resources for:

Convening community conversations, Training community leaders, Recruiting volunteers, Building infrastructure, Reclaiming abandoned buildings, Sustaining healthy food production, Teaching political action, Developing small businesses, Adopting healthy lifestyles, Finding funding for projects, Fostering community life …

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What is POWER +?

POWER + is the second phase of the POWER Initiative.

POWER (Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization), is a coordinated effort among multiple federal agencies to provide coordinated investments in communities negatively impacted by changes in the coal industry and power sector.

POWER + will provide investments in communities impacted by changes in the power sector and coal industry, through a competitively awarded series of grants. These funds will help communities to: diversify their economies; create good jobs in existing or new industries; attract new sources of job-creating investment; and provide reemployment services and job training to dislocated workers in order to connect them to high-quality, in-demand jobs.

For West Virginia, POWER + represents a significant opportunity for collaboration amongst regions, sectors and organizations to secure federal funding support for integrated economic development plans and projects.

KEY POINTS:

### The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) will provide $50 million this fiscal year for projects that will help rebuild the economies of Appalachian communities suffering from the decline of the coal industry.

### The U.S. Economic Development Administration will have an additional $15 million available for coal-impacted communities across the nation.

### Other federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture will also award funds through POWER +.

### It is anticipated the ARC will have an additional $50 million to help rebuild Appalachian communities in FY 2017.

### ARC funding will support a range of economic development planning and implementation activities, including developing entrepreneurial ecosystems, facilitating access to capital investments and new markets, and addressing barriers related to adequate water, sewer, and telecommunication infrastructure.

### Preference will be given to applications that involve regional collaborations and strategic partnerships.

Beginning in 2015, The Hub has served the pivotal role of convening potential applicants and facilitating collaboration between the various agencies, organizations and individuals with a vested interest in diversifying the economy of West Virginia’s coalfields.

That collaboration is actively encouraged by the funding organizations, and will be essential to West Virginia being able to attract the greatest possible share of the available funds, for the greatest impact.

Anyone interested in POWER + funding opportunities is urged to contact The Hub’s Executive Director.

The latest information about POWER +, including the ARC’s funding criteria and call for applications documents, will be made public as soon as they are available.

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Appointment of Stephanie Tyree Marks Beginning of New Era at The Hub

From an Article by Hub Staff, www.hub.org, April 8, 2016

Stephanie Tyree was instrumental in organizing the regional POWER information meeting at Hawk’s Nest in 2015.

It gives us tremendous pleasure to announce that Stephanie Tyree is the new Executive Director of the WV Community Development Hub.

Stephanie is a superb choice. She understands and embraces the collaborative culture we have created at The Hub.

We conducted a nationwide search and received dozens of applications from highly qualified and experienced individuals in West Virginia and 13 other states. We were impressed with the diversity of the applicants and appreciative of their interest in and knowledge of The Hub. A number of the out-of-state applicants were hoping that securing this position would give them an opportunity to return to their home state.

The Hub has always embraced change, and continued evolution is necessary for our work to succeed.

The transition of The Hub’s leadership to Stephanie Tyree will officially begin at Hubapalooza, our annual community development network event, on April 28. We encourage each of you to join us there in welcoming her to this new role. Stephanie will move into the role of Executive Director on June 1.

Frack Checked Videos Feature Wes Wilson and Tony Ingraffea

Article from EcoWatch

Date: Nov. 2, 2013

Colorado is the midst of a David vs. Goliath fight, in which four municipalities will be voting November 5th  on ballot initiatives to protect their communities from fracking. The gas and oil industry has already spent $600,000 on misleading ads and mailers to fight local residents’ rights to home rule. By next week it may well be more than $1,000,000. 

Colorado has been called the ground zero of fracking. It has more than 50,000 fracking wells, many within hundreds of yards of schools, homes and public parks. Gas and oil companies are virtually self-regulated, with devastating consequences, as we saw in the recent flooding of thousands of fracking sites that were allowed to be built on a flood zone. Governor Hickenlooper, in fact, is such a supporter, he once claimed to have  drunk fracking fluid. 

Local groups have taken it upon themselves to try to limit gas and oil activity in their communities. If the initiatives pass, Fort Collins, Broomfield, Boulder and Lafayette would join the city of Longmont by instating local municipal fracking bans and moratoriums.  

Because the anti-fracking local campaigns don’t have the spending power of the oil and gas industry, Frack Free Colorado released these video to combat the misinformation campaign laid out by the industry. These videos feature local and national experts who touch on economics, air pollution, groundwater contamination and renewable energy solutions. The first video features EPA whistleblower Wes Wilson and the second features Cornell scientist Tony Ingraffea.

As reported today in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, the gas industry companies are  reaching out to communities via fairs and other projects.  These global giants are looking to improve local ties.   Projects in West Virginia may well have influenced the Wellsburg city council to remove the ban on drilling and fracking within the city limits.  New Martinsville has now removed a ban.  And, the Morgantown ban has been overturned in the local Circuit Court.

At a conference in Morgantown in June, the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia touted their new “Just Beneath the Surface” campaign and website.  President Mike McCown said it’s designed to provide factual information to anti-drilling groups he referred to as “wing nut organizations … friends of the whatever” – groups that he argues should be supporting one of the state’s most promising economic engines.

In the Northern Panhandle, local residents have seen natural gas explosions, fires, spills, traffic accidents, allegedly unauthorized earthmoving and alleged drinking water contamination as a result of the drilling.  Yet McCown insisted that “Our industry is safe.”  He said,  “I take accidents very seriously. We must keep our people and our environment safe.”  Then, “We understand there is a disturbance to the area, but the benefit is of a much greater value,” he added of the drilling.

The Marcellus “drilling news” out of Binghamton, NY has been reporting on landowner groups and issues. Barbara Jarmoska lives in a “Marcellus sacrafice zone” in north-central Pennsylvania.  She lives on 20 acres of rural PA land and will not lease because of the risks and potential damages to this land.  She asks, what are the true costs of Marcellus fracking? A family in western PA has recently reported that drilling has contaminated their water supply, saying that their water has started turning black.

Tina Spencer Wooddell in Taylor County, WV, recently received copies of five (5) permits in the mail for her property, from the same company who has had two spills onto this property from the neighbors land, in the last eight months. These permits show her water well placed between two pits. She and her husband own the surface land only. She said, “They want to take up the entire back part of our farm, some of the pretties views we have and right above a watershed.”

The WV Surface Owners Rights Organization has already described “the industrialization of rural West Virginia” due to the development of shale gas in the State.  A royalty owners meeting is set for the Greenbrier Hotel on September 7 thru 9  at which advice on solving royalty underpayments will be presented.  NOTE:  See also The Human Story in the Impacts section of this web-site: /impacts/the-human-story/