The Biden Administration Has Forgotten Coal Mining Towns

June 27, 2024

President Biden has led an aggressive anti-fossil fuel campaign throughout his presidency. At the same time, he continually promised better clean energy jobs, even spending billions in taxpayer dollars to establish a working group to help transition coal miners. However, towns across the country that rely on the jobs provided by the fossil fuel industry feel forgotten and overlooked. This week, the Biden Administration visited Pennsylvania and heard firsthand how their policies have hurt American families. 

The Daily Caller reports, 

“In a bid to ease coal communities into the green energy shift away from fossil fuels, Biden established the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, and rolled out over $1 billion in tax credits through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Post reported. Yet, residents in hollowed-out towns that largely depended on a bustling coal industry say that the Biden administration has left them by the wayside. “We get overlooked all the time,” said LuAnn Zak, assistant director of the Indiana County, Pennsylvania, Office of Planning and Development told the Post.”

Despite all the promises made, a recent study found that less than 1% of fossil fuel jobs transition into green energy jobs,

“Biden has claimed his green energy agenda will usher in a new jobs boom in the U.S. However, a study from The University of Pennsylvania, Wake Forest University and labor market firm Lightcast, found that less than 1% of fossil fuel-related jobs transition into green energy jobs, and that the supposed benefits of the transition are unlikely to be evenly distributed geographically or socioeconomically across the U.S.”

President Biden and his administration have made it clear they want to shut down coal plants across America. Unfortunately, the cost of doing so has lost America’s energy independence, and many coal miners across the United States have lost their jobs. These towns like the one in Pennsylvania are keeping the lights on, and the current administration should be ashamed of its treatment of these men and women.