Amid Coal’s Decline, What Comes Next for Appalachia

People in coal country are pleading for help as coal’s decline accelerates. This week on Inside Appalachia, we explore the economic and health impacts coal has had on coal communities in Appalachia. We’ll talk  about the past and the future of this industry, through the lens of its labor history, to the climate crisis. And we’ll hear from members of Indigenous communities on how they feel about the future of coal. 

Coal’s been in slow decline here for decades, but really accelerated in the last 10 years. That’s meant hard times for communities that have long relied on it for jobs and taxes. There are sixty six percent fewer jobs today in West Virginia coal mining now than there were 50 years ago -- and experts don’t predict a comeback. But we’re not alone; other places around the world face similar dilemmas. We learn what people in West Germany did fifty years ago - when coal executives and political leaders had to make tough decisions when it came to the future of coal, and their home.

What Is The Future For Appalachia’s Power Plants?

Lawmakers across our country and the world are debating the future of our energy policy. Scientists agree, to prevent the worst effects of climate change, we must significantly reduce our carbon emissions, and we have to do it quickly. 

For much of the world, the answer is to phase out coal, but the issue is political and complicated. Kentucky is one of those places that’s starting to shift away from coal — in a way that West Virginia is not. Curtis Tate is a reporter here at West Virginia Public Broadcasting who covers energy and the environment and he’s been tracking this story. Inside Appalachia producer, Roxy Todd, spoke with Tate about about where Kentucky and West Virginia are headed. Are we going to continue to produce electricity from coal, and for how long?

Indigenous Activists Talk About Coal And The Economy 

There’s a longstanding relationship between Appalachian coalfields and those in the Mountain West. During the anti-strip mining campaigns of the mid-2000s, concerned community members in both regions traveled to support each other’s efforts. Those connections continue today. 

Lessons From West Germany

The Mountain State isn’t the only place to reckon with the difficulty of transitioning away from a coal economy into something different.

West Germany emerged from World War II as one of the leading coal and steel producers in the world. Then, in the 1960s, oil emerged as a competitor, and the country found itself in the midst of an economic crisis. But there, the emergency prompted a strange and unusual alliance.

Pittsburgh’s Transition Away From Steel 

Another way to examine this issue is by looking at our neighbors to the north. In Pittsburgh, the collapse of the steel industry in the 1980s prompted existing businesses to retool for a new reality. But it took decades.

Smaller companies are more adaptable, and they were a big part of Pittsburgh’s renewal. Aided by lots of government funding, as well as help from philanthropic organizations, entrepreneurs created smaller start-up industries in tech, the arts, and restoration of the city’s historic resources.

Battle Of Blair Mountain

Also in this episode, we travel back in time a hundred years, to when West Virginia was home to our nation’s largest labor uprising. The Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921 was a watershed moment when coal workers decided their rights were worth fighting — and even dying — for. The armed insurrection pitted 10,000 coal miners against 3,000 heavily armed guards and state troopers.

Women Coal Miners

As a young woman, Anita Cecil McBride followed in her father’s footsteps and became an underground coal miner. Reporter Jessica Lilly visited with McBride to talk about her journey into the “m…