Hillary Clinton rolls out $30 billion plan to help coal communities
As the United States and other world leaders negotiate an agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, Hillary Clinton is rolling out a plan to help revitalize the American communities that will suffer from the move away from coal.
"The 20th century energy system is not coming back -- because of the shale boom, because of low-cost renewable energy, and because of the growing imperative to combat climate change," Clinton wrote in an op-ed published Friday in Charleston Gazette-Mail, a West Virginia newspaper. "But I believe that we can forge a 21st century energy future for the United States that provides a clean and secure engine for economic growth -- without leaving out or leaving behind our coal communities."
Clinton's plan -- which will cost about $30 billion, according to her campaign -- would ensure retirees in coal communities receive the benefits they were promised and the assistance they need, improve the infrastructure and government resources in coal communities, and it would provide grants to stimulate private investment.
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While coal accounts for about one third of U.S. power generation, domestic consumption has fallen by 25 percent over the past 10 years, the campaign noted.
A clean energy economy, the Clinton campaign said, "will create new jobs and industries, deliver important health benefits, and reduce carbon pollution. But we can't ignore the impact this transition is already having on mining communities, or the threat it poses to the healthcare and retirement security of coalfield workers and their families."
The first element of Clinton's plan would be a federal "backstop" to ensure retirees receive the benefits they are promised, even as power plants and coal transportation companies fall into bankruptcy. The proposal builds on the Miners Protection Act, which was introduced earlier this year by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia; Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia; Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania; and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.
Clinton would also bolster the federal black lung benefit program, making it easier for miners to get their deserved benefits.
Clinton's proposal also includes plans to support communities as they transition their economies. For instance, her proposed Secure Coal Community Schools (SCCS) program would compensate for the lost local revenue from the coal industry, helping to pay for schools until alternative sources of local tax revenue are built up.
To help create that revenue, Clinton would invest in new infrastructure projects in coal communities, including the completion of new new roads, bridges, water systems, airports, transmission lines and broadband. Her administration would also work with railroad companies to find the best ways to leverage rail capacity previously used to ship coal. In addition to investing in these infrastructure projects, Clinton promises to streamline the permitting process.
Clinton will focus on infrastructure, her campaign said, that "connects workers to new jobs and companies to new markets."
Clinton also intends to use existing funding in the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund to help finance projects that repurpose mine lands and power plant sites. As an example of a project to emulate, the campaign pointed to Google's plans to build a data center on the site of a recently closed coal plant in Alabama.
The Democratic frontrunner also proposes increasing public investment in research and development at universities and other institutions in coal-producing regions. She also intends on attracting new private investment by expanding the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program to ensure that coal communities qualify. Clinton would also offer companies a chance to eliminate capital gains taxes on long-term investments in hard-hit coal communities.
Lastly, Clinton is proposing a series of grants to promote local business development, job training, housing, arts and culture.
This article was corrected to note that Sen. Sherrod Brown is from Ohio, not Pennsylvania.
