Hillary Clinton’s Plan for Revitalizing Coal Communities
From Central Appalachia to the Powder River Basin, coal communities were an engine of
US economic growth for more than a century. Coal powered the industrial revolution, the
20th century expansion of the middle class, and supplied as much as half of US electricity for
decades. The hard-working Americans who mine, move, and generate power from coal put
their own health and safety at risk to keep our factories running and deliver the affordable
and reliable electricity we take for granted.
But today we are in the midst of a global energy transition. The shale revolution, low-cost
renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements, and pressing concerns about the
impact of coal combustion on public health and the global climate are reducing coal
demand both in the US and around the world. Coal now accounts for only one third of US
power generation1, with domestic consumption falling by 25% over the past ten years2. In
China, nuclear and renewable energy are growing three times faster than coal-fired power3,
with more wind and solar capacity added last year than the US and Europe combined.4
Building a 21st century clean energy economy in the United States 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. This
is particularly true in Appalachia, where production has been declining for decades, but
impacts are beginning to be felt in the Illinois Basin and Western coalfields as well. And it’s
not limited to mining communities: reduced coal shipments impact barge and railroad
workers, and power plant closures can contribute to local job loss and economic distress.
Hillary Clinton is committed to meeting the climate change challenge as President and
making the United States a clean energy superpower. At the same time, she will not allow
coal communities to be left behind—or left out of our economic future. That’s why today
Clinton announced a $30 billion plan to ensure that coal miners and their families get
the benefits they’ve earned and respect they deserve, to invest in economic diversification
and job creation, and to make coal communities an engine of US economic growth in the
21st century as they have been for generations.
HONORING OUR COMMITMENTS
Clinton will ensure that we honor our commitments to the coal miners, transportation and
power plant workers, their families and their communities, who have given so much to our
country.
1 Between January and July of 2015 coal accounted for 35% of US power generation

http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/#electricity
2 January-July 2015 vs. January-July 2005, http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/#coal
3
China Electricity Council, January-September 2015 vs. January-September 2012
4 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2015

 ▪ Ensure health and retirement security: Weak global coal demand and a sharp
drop in global coal prices have pushed a number of mining companies into
bankruptcy. Clinton has fought,5 and will continue to fight, against attempts by these
companies to use bankruptcy proceedings to shirk the healthcare and pension
commitments they’ve made to their retirees, many of whom suffer from black lung
disease and other job-related illnesses. As part of this promise, Clinton will put in
place a federal backstop that ensures retirees get the benefits they have earned and
deserve, building on the bipartisan leadership of Senators Manchin, Capito, Casey
and Brown6, and will expand these protections to any power plant or transportation
company retiree who loses his or her benefits due to a coal market-related
bankruptcy.
▪ Reform the black lung benefit program: Clinton supports sweeping reforms to
the federal black lung benefit program to prevent coal company-funded doctors and
lawyers from withholding evidence or willfully misdiagnosing patients in order to
deny medical care to sick miners7. She will empower those who have been
wrongfully denied benefits to reopen their cases, help miners secure legal
representation, and adjust black lung benefits to reflect cost of living changes.8
▪ Safeguard funding for local schools: Coal mining and power plants are a major
source of public school revenue in many coal communities, and a decline in coal
production or a power plant closure can leave local school districts with a
significant funding gap. To address this, Clinton will establish the Secure Coal
Community Schools (SCCS) program. Similar to the Secure Rural Schools program
that helped offset lost local revenue from a decline in timber sales on federal lands,9
the SCCS will mitigate declines in coal-related revenue until alternative sources of
local tax revenue arise through economic growth.
INVESTING FOR THE FUTURE
Coal is not the only resource mining and power plant communities possess. From
Appalachia to the Uinta Basin, coal communities have rich human and cultural capital,
diverse natural resources, and enormous economic potential. Clinton will partner with the
local entrepreneurs, community leaders, foundations and labor groups working to unleash
that potential, making federal investments that help people to find good jobs without
having to move and build a strong, diversified economic future.
5 http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/26/usa-election-clinton-idUSL1N12Q29Q20151026
6

http://www.manchin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4cf8b15b-01a1-46ab-91c9-fec2f2ba6e2c

7 http://www.publicintegrity.org/environment/breathless-and-burdened
8

See Reps. Cartwright and Scott and Sen. Casey’s Black Lung Benefits Improvement Act of 2015,
http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/press-release/reps-cartwright-scott-senator-casey-introduce-sweepingreforms-black-lung-benefits
9 http://www.fs.usda.gov/pts/

 ▪ Build infrastructure for the 21st century: The infrastructure in coal communities
today was built to mine, ship, and burn coal. Unlocking new drivers of economic and
employment growth in these communities will require new infrastructure that
connects workers to new jobs and companies to new markets. Clinton’s
infrastructure investment program will include a focus on economic diversification
and revitalization in coal communities, building new roads, bridges, water systems,
airports and transmission lines, including completion of the Appalachian
Development Highway System. She will also work with the Department of
Transportation and the railroad companies to develop a strategy for leveraging
available rail capacity previously used to ship coal to support broader economic
development in coal-producing regions.
▪ Repurpose mine lands and power plant sites: With rich soil and abundant water,
abandoned coal mines can provide prime real estate for new investment – whether
in forestry, agriculture, or manufacturing. But significant remediation, site
preparation, and infrastructure development is often required before this land can
be successfully repurposed for new economic activity. Clinton will unlock existing
unappropriated resources from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund to help
finance this work. Clinton will provide similar support for redevelopment of retired
coal power plant sites to attract new investment, such as Google’s plans to build a
data center on the site of a recently closed coal plant in Alabama.10
▪ Expand broadband access: In the 21st century, reliable high-speed internet access
is as economically vital as traditional infrastructure like roads, rail and bridges.
Many coal communities lag far behind the rest of the nation in level of internet
connectivity. Clinton will increase high-speed broadband access and adoption in
coal communities, improving education and healthcare delivery and connecting
local entrepreneurs and workers to the global economy.
▪ Expand clean energy on federal lands and from existing dams: Most Western
coal production takes place on federal lands, but coal is far from the only energy
resource these lands possess. For example, Wyoming is the nation’s largest coal
producer, but also has the richest wind resources in the Western electrical grid.
Clinton will work to capture this potential by streamlining federal permitting both
for the renewable energy projects themselves and the transmission lines required to
get that renewable energy to market. Existing dams are another large source of
clean energy potential. The Department of Energy estimates 12 gigawatts of
generation capacity could be added to these dams, enough to power Alaska,
Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont combined.11 More than half of this
potential is in large coal-producing states. Clinton will launch a major public works
project aimed at electrifying existing dams in partnership with the Army Corp of
Engineers, private hydropower developers, local utilities and labor unions.

10 http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/25/technology/google-coal-data-center/
11

http://nhaap.ornl.gov/content/non-powered-dam-potential

 ▪ Increase public investment in research and development: To help seed the next
wave of innovation and industry creation, Clinton will increase public investment in
research and development at universities, national labs and other institutions in
coal-producing regions. Given the important role that carbon capture and
sequestration (CCS) technology can play in meeting long-term global climate change
objectives, Clinton will support CCS R&D and demonstration projects, both in the
electric power sector and in industry.
▪ Attract private investment through an improved New Markets Tax Credit and
zero capital gains taxes: Complementing the public investments in infrastructure,
land, energy, and innovation described above, Clinton will attract new private
investment by extending and expanding the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC)
program so all communities suffering from a decline in coal production or a coal
plant closure qualify. The NMTC program has steered billions in investment to low
income neighborhoods since it began in 2000. Clinton will also offer companies a
chance to eliminate capital gains taxes on long-term investments in hard-hit coal
communities.
LOCALLY-DRIVEN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Every coal community is different and successful economic diversification and
revitalization must be locally driven and comprehensive in scope. Promising communitybased initiatives have begun to take shape, including SOAR in Southeastern Kentucky and
Reconnect McDowell in West Virginia. Unfortunately most existing federal economic
development programs available to coal communities are complex, fragmented, and overly
prescriptive. Those that are the most successful, like the Appalachian Regional Commission
(ARC), are severely underfunded. Clinton will improve coordination across existing federal
programs and establish a Coal Communities Challenge Fund that awards new
competitive grants in the following areas through qualified local entities with integrated
economic development strategies:
▪ Entrepreneurship and small business development: Nationally, small businesses
are the leading source of new job creation, and that holds true for coal communities
as well. Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) and other federal
programs have a vital role to play in providing the capital small businesses need to
grow, but many new entrepreneurs first need support in preparing their business
for that growth. Clinton will increase funding for technical assistance for
entrepreneurs and small businesses in impacted coal communities, through
programs like the Innovation Center at Ohio University in Athens.
▪ Education and training: Job training programs are of little use if they are not
paired with job creation. That’s why the Coal Communities Challenge Fund is
focused on both. Community colleges play a critical role in providing marketable
skills, and under Clinton’s New College Compact, students will be able to attend
tuition-free. Clinton will also increase federal support for local education and

 training programs designed as part of a comprehensive economic development
strategy, expand successful models like Coalfield Development Corporation’s “33-63” program in West Virginia,12 and offer businesses a tax credit for every apprentice
they hire.
▪ Health and wellness: Building strong communities starts with supporting healthy
families. Coal communities have higher than average rates of diabetes, addiction and
other diseases. In addition to her national plans to provide high-quality and
affordable health care and address the quiet epidemic of substance abuse, Clinton
will award competitive grants to community health centers that develop holistic
public health and economic development strategies like the Williamson Health and
Wellness Center in West Virginia.13 Clinton will also support the growing number of
local food and agriculture businesses in Central Appalachia and other coal
communities that are improving public health and strengthening local economies.
▪ Arts and culture: A community’s artistic and cultural capital can be as important in
attracting new jobs and investment as its roads, rail lines and bridges. The rich
cultural history in Appalachia and other coal communities is a unique asset that can
be leveraged for economic growth. Clinton will increase funding for the local arts
and culture programs that are designed to support broader economic development,
like the Crooked Road project in Southwestern Virginia.14
▪ Housing: Attracting new jobs and investment to America’s coal communities will
require upgrading local housing stock. Energy efficiency improvements are
particularly important given the high share of household income many families in
coal communities spend on their electricity and natural gas bills. Housing upgrades
can also be an important source of job creation and economic growth in and of
themselves. Clinton will award competitive grants to programs that improve the
quality and energy efficiency of local housing, building on and expanding successful
models like the How$mart program in Eastern Kentucky.15

++++++++++++++++++++++
Clinton’s plan for revitalizing coal communities is just one pillar of her
comprehensive energy and climate agenda, which includes major initiatives in the
following areas:
1) Clean Energy Challenge: Develop, defend and implement smart federal energy and
climate standards. Provide states, cities and rural communities ready to lead on
12 http://www.coalfield-development.org/
13

http://williamsonhealthwellness.com/
https://www.myswva.org/tcr
15
http://www.howsmartky.com/
14

 clean energy and exceed these standards with the flexibility, tools and resources
they need to succeed.
2) Modernizing North American Infrastructure: Improve the safety and security of
existing energy infrastructure and align new infrastructure we build with the clean
energy economy we are seeking to create.
3) Safe and Responsible Production: Ensure that fossil fuel production taking place
today is safe and responsible, that taxpayers get a fair deal for development on
public lands, and that areas that are too sensitive for energy production are taken
off the table.
4) Energy and Climate Security: Reduce the amount of oil consumed in the United
States and around the world, guard against energy supply disruptions, and make our
communities, our infrastructure, and our financial markets more resilient to
climate-related risks.
5) Collaborative Stewardship: Renew our shared commitment to the conservation of
our disappearing lands, waters, and wildlife, to the preservation of our history and
culture, and to expanding access to the outdoors for all Americans.