Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, said ensuring jobs for displaced miners — including 7,000 coal workers who lost their jobs last year — is crucial to any infrastructure bill taken up by Congress, reports the Associated Press.
“I think we need to provide a future for those people, a future for anybody that loses their job because of a transition in this country, regardless if it’s coal, oil, gas or any other industry for that matter,″ Roberts said in an online speech to the National Press Club.
“We talk about a ‘just transition’ all the time,″ Roberts added. “I wish people would quit using that. There’s never been a just transition in the history of the United States.″
Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) was at the event, and per Ars Technia, he said “Ensuring our coal miners aren’t left behind as America transitions to a cleaner energy future is one of my top priorities. While the industry has been in a steady downturn in job opportunities, maintaining those good-paying jobs as we reduce emissions is both possible and it’s our responsibility.”
Cecil Roberts, @MineWorkers President, joins @HoppyKercheval to discuss the union’s plan for preserving coal country. WATCH: pic.twitter.com/TOdkFO7DjK
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) April 20, 2021
The decline of coal – but little transition
Nearly all the coal produced in the U.S. goes for electricity generation, but its share has been eroded in recent years by growing natural gas-powered generation and rising share of renewable energy generation.
Employment in America’s coal mines has also declined in recent years – down to 44,000 at the end of last year – as a decline in coal use has left the industry stagnating and a number of coal companies taking bankruptcy.
Between 2009-2019, the share of electricity generated by coal in the US dropped from 46 percent to 20 percent, according to the Energy Information Administration. Natural gas rose from 22 percent to 39 percent, while solar and wind increased from 2 percent to 11 percent.
As the energy sector in the U.S. continued to do away with coal-fired power plants, miners were the most impacted by the switch, and the government, at that time, had no plans to transition coal jobs to renewable energy jobs. Now, minors, and others who have lost their jobs because of mine closures can see a brighter future in the renewable energy sector.
The UMWA’s plan and priorities
UMWA President Roberts told The New York Times on Monday: “There needs to be a tremendous investment here. We always end up dealing with climate change, closing down coal mines. We never get to the second piece of it.” Now, the UMWA has a plan.
They would like for the government to subsidize a transition to renewable energy in heavily coal-dependent Appalachian economies, including tax credits for manufacturing wind turbine and solar panel parts, as well as funding for reclaimed mines that damage the environment and public health in the surrounding areas.
Strangely enough, these are the exact same recommendations the previous administration had turned down, saying coal was going to rise again.
The UMWA also would like to see increased research into carbon capture technology, which has attracted the support of Republicans as well. Back in August last year, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) called the technology “one of my top policy priorities” in the leadership position.
“We’re trying to, first of all, insert ourselves to the extent that we can in this conversation because our people, a lot of coal miners in this country, their families have suffered already some traumatic losses,” Roberts told NBC News in a separate interview.
The ball is now in Biden’s and the U.S. Congress’s court. Biden’s infrastructure proposal includes $16 billion to plug hundreds of thousands of “orphaned” oil and gas wells and clean up abandoned coal and hard rock mines that pose serious safety and environmental hazards. This is exactly what Roberts wants – to put miners to work, and this would be a start.
Biden’s plan also includes tax incentives for renewable energy and billions in spending to deploy carbon capture and storage, two other elements of the union proposal.
Then, there are proposals that have been on the table for several years, like processing coal waste to extract critical minerals, and moving some of the electric vehicle supply chains to hard-hit regions like Appalachia, to add jobs, particularly in the area of battery manufacturing.
So, OK Congress. What are you waiting for?
