Transitioning from coal
Last weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a remarkably interesting discussion with a group of German journalists who were on a 10-day trip through Detroit, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., New York City … and Wheeling, W.Va. I am still not sure how Wheeling ended up on their list, but I, another West Virginia newspaper editor and a reporter from a Northern Panhandle TV station sat down with our eight guests and, frankly, began firing questions at one another.
In retrospect, whoever thought it was a good idea to have journalists question journalists was probably not a reporter.
But the remarkable thing was, I think, the candor with which each person answered questions ranging from the media industry to politics and spending a lot of time on coal.
It turned out some of the reporters were from regions of Germany that have experienced or are experiencing very similar economic and environmental predicaments to those in Appalachia. But they presented two different pictures of what the sharp downturn in their own coal industry did to the people. In one region, the death of the coal industry (brought about, if I understood correctly, mostly by extremely low prices that never recovered) left a population that even a generation later is heavily dependent on the German government’s social welfare system. It is a region with 10 percent unemployment and few prospects for new jobs to replace those lost with the coal industry.
In fact, as the reporter from that region spoke, I thought he could have been describing McDowell County –or, when he mentioned the equally desolate metals industry in that region, Brooke and Hancock counties. The upsetting thing was the idea that this downturn happened long enough ago that one would hope SOMETHING would have revived the economy. It hasn’t, according to the man speaking.
On the other hand, another region that was also heavily dependent on coal has leaders who saw the downturn — and impending environmental concerns — on the horizon and put together a plan. A 20-year plan. As gently as possible, the workers of this region were trained for new jobs that were brought in as officials heavily recruited other industries; alternative sources of electricity were brought online BEFORE the coal-fired plants were shut down. (Because, as the reporter describing that region put it, “Everyone understands you can’t just *snap* shut down the power plants. They have to be maintained at a certain level while the process continues …” I was strongly tempted to say “Well, not everyone …”)
Leaders in that state planned very carefully to avoid pulling the rug out from under the people who depended on the coal industry for jobs and affordable electricity; and by this reporter’s account, the plan worked. Granted, there were subsidies from the German government available to incubate industries brought in during the transition; but otherwise, there is little reason to think such a process couldn’t have been carried out in the United States.
Think of it. A 20-year plan to make the transition without doing any more harm to the citizens than absolutely necessary. (And yes, my friend, if you are reading this I can imagine you saying “We don’t have 20 years!”) But if someone in Washington had intended to truly carry out an environmental and economic transition that did little harm to the people, back in 2008, we’d be halfway there.
Instead, the administration and its Environmental Protection Agency tried to make its omelet by breaking as many eggs as possible.
We all know that story. It is one, by the way, with which the Germans were more familiar than one might think; particularly because that country continues to need coal from the United States, and will for many years.
I wonder, though, if there are any copies of that plan hanging around somewhere for an American Congressman or two to examine. Surely there are ideas that could be gleaned in what will have to be a massive effort to both undo the harm done over the past several years AND move forward into a transitioned economy that does a better job of protecting our environment. Here in West Virginia we tend to be so focused on our own struggle that we forget what happens to us, and our industry, affects the rest of the country; and is happening in other parts of the world, too.
It is reassuring to know that at least one region across the ocean faced the same struggles and found a way to overcome them.
Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com