Brittany Patterson, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

From Appalachia To Wyoming: Youth From Coal Country Discuss The Future After Coal

On a recent Saturday, over Zoom, a group of seven high schoolers from Wyoming, eastern Kentucky and West Virginia gazed at an image of a gleaming, pale blue, coal-fired power plant.

“OK, so this one really interested us,” said Sarah Belcher, a senior from eastern Kentucky. “So we noticed your all’s coal facilities, they’re really new, state of the art. And around here, like they’re older, they’re really rusty. What has caused you all to be able to have that there?”

The power plant in the photo is Dry Fork Station, one of the newest coal-fired plants in the country. It’s located seven miles north of Gillette, Wyoming. The self-proclaimed “energy capital of the nation,” Gillette is surrounded by some of the most productive coal mines in the United States. In fact, Wyoming accounted for about 40 percent of all coal mined in the country in 2018.

This, like Appalachia, is coal county. But Wyoming’s coal industry, which it shares with nearby Montana in a region called the Powder River Basin, is only about 50 years old. In contrast, coal has flowed from mines across Appalachia since the mid-1700s. Appalachian coal, for decades, powered the rise of American industry and fueled the country’s growth and prosperity.

In recent decades, and sharply over the last 10 years, the coal industry in both Wyoming and Appalachia has faced severe declines. A combination of the rise of inexpensive natural gas as a result of the fracking revolution, the falling cost of renewable energy, and stricter environmental regulations has displaced coal as the primary fuel for electricity in the United States.

Last year, U.S. coal production nationwide reached its lowest since 1975, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Since reaching a record-high in 2008 of around 466 million tons, coal mining in Wyoming has been on a steady decline. In 2019, mines in the Powder River Basin produced 277 million tons. Federal data show since 2009, mining employment and coal production has fallen by about 50 percent in the Ohio Valley, outpacing the nation as a whole.

This decline has left coal communities reckoning with their future. And it’s why the Ohio Valley ReSource, with our partners at America Amplified and Wyoming Public Media, wanted to convene a group of young people from these two regions. Each participant submitted photos that showcased their community. While flipping through these images, we discussed stereotypes, community and the ways the coal industry impacts our lives. While bonded by coal, the two regions have taxed and benefited from the industry in vastly different ways, and that could determine how they fare after coal’s decline.

Regional Differences

“Since coal mining has gone down, towns are losing a lot of their older population, and they can’t keep [a] newer generation,” said Brooke Thomas, a senior at Oak Hill High School in Fayette County, West Virginia.

The four young women from eastern Kentucky and West Virginia explained the pain felt by coal’s decline, whether it’s crumbling schools, neglected infrastructure or seeing friends and family move away in search of better jobs, and suffer from the deadly coal miners’ disease, black lung.

“I want to stay. I just love it here. I don’t know what living here is going to look like or how I’m going to provide income for myself and my family,” said Makenzie Kessler, a senior also in Fayette County, West Virginia. “But I just love the area even though we’re on such a downhill when it comes to [things] economically.”

Aerial view of mountaintop removal in West Virginia. The “lake” in center is a coal sludge waste impoundment.

Halfway across the country, in Gillette, three students from Thunder Basin High School presented photos that told a different story. A storefront with brand new ATVs for sale parked out front, the smooth ice of an indoor hockey rink, the modern facade of the local high school.

“We have a lot of coal,” said senior Halle Hladky. “We’ve made a lot of money on it.”

Millions of dollars in taxes from the industry have paid for new roads, bridges and schools. Western states knew they had a unique opportunity to benefit from the industry when it was heating up in the late 1960s and early 1970s, said Mark Haggerty, an economist with the think tank Headwaters Economics.

At the outset, Wyoming and Montana both set high severance taxes on coal and created permanent savings funds.

“So in the ‘70s, there was a really strong agreement among the states in the West, that we were happy to have major coal development, we were looking forward to the opportunity for the jobs and the revenue, but the states were going to set the terms about how it took place,” he said. “Because it was new, there was a chance to really design the policies around it almost from scratch.”

He said they were intentional about making sure the revenue would last after the mining ended.

In Appalachia, fiscal policy around coal has looked very different, said Ted Boettner, a senior researcher with the Ohio River Valley Institute, a new Appalachia-centered think tank with a focus on equitable and sustainable policies.

“We’ve engaged in something that’s called regulatory capture where industry ends up playing a dominating role in the regulation of its industry, and that can have very pernicious effects in terms of making sure that any costs that are born on the public, and the people doing the work, are covered by the industry,” he said.

Neither Kentucky nor West Virginia has a permanent fund like that in Wyoming. In an effort to help the industry, West Virginia lawmakers in 2019 instead cut the coal severance tax two percent, punching an additional $60 million hole in the state’s budget.

Boettner pointed to the story of former West Virginia Gov. William Marland, who in 1953, suggested West Virginia enact a severance tax on the coal industry in order to raise revenue for the state, an idea that proved to be controversial. In 1962, he was discovered in Chicago driving a taxi.

“They at least had the foresight to think about the future in the 70s,” he said of the governors of many energy-rich states including Wyoming who socked away tax revenue from the industry. “Whereas in West Virginia nobody did that. And you can go to McDowell County to look at some of the results and what happens when all the value of what was produced by the workers in those areas leaves permanently and nothing’s left to help rebuild the economy.”

Quickening Decline

Four years ago, I visited Gillette as a reporter with E&E News’ ClimateWire. At the time, mines in the Powder River Basin had announced layoffs. With the 2016 presidential election underway, the “war on coal” was an oft-cited concern.

Downtown Gillette, Wyoming as pictured in 2016.

What I found in Gillette was a community shaped by its proximity to some of the most valuable coal reserves in the nation. Newly constructed subdivisions rose out of the hilly landscape. Shiny trucks, boats and campers dotted driveways. There were two frozen yogurt shops and two golf courses. Boutique shops lined the brick-lined downtown including a “cupcakerie” I frequented every day.

In the mid-2000s, the city and county began investing a sizable portion of revenues from the energy sector back into services for the community. Things like a state-of-the-art recreation center featuring a six-lane indoor track and a 42-foot climbing wall designed to resemble aspects of the nearby Devils Tower National Monument. There’s the Cam-Plex, the sports and rodeo complex. New schools, an expanded community college campus and more.

By investing in infrastructure and amenities, the hope is that people will stay in Gillette after coal is gone. Phil Christopherson is CEO of Energy Capital Economic Development, a public and privately funded group tasked with promoting, retaining and expanding business in Gillette. He said the community has successfully evolved from a boom town to a place people want to live.

To remain viable, the community must bring in new businesses and jobs, but the faster-than-expected decline of the coal industry is complicating the effort.

This week, Arch Resources, Inc. the second-largest coal company in the country, with mines in the Powder River Basin, announced it would divest from thermal coal and sharply reduce production in the area.

“The urgency is greater, but our resources are actually less,” he said.

There have been some promising developments. A new industrial park is almost full and it hasn’t been built yet. Three projects aiming to extract rare earth elements, a group of metallic elements used in many high-tech devices such as cell phones, from coal and coal by-products are in the works.

“The point is we are working and not saying ‘Well, we’re just waiting for coal to come back,’ because we realize we cannot depend on coal like we have the last 40 years,” said Gillette Mayor Louise Carter-King.

Haggerty, the economist, said research shows investment back into coal communities is key.

“The secret, and it’s not a secret, but the real opportunity of coal is not the coal industry itself. It’s the ability to leverage that wealth and those opportunities into a more diversified economy,” he said. “And there are some examples of communities who’ve been able to make that transition. And, you know, the key lessons are that you need to have that vision from early on right from the start.”

While Wyoming has approached taxing its coal industry differently than Appalachia, Haggerty said over the decades, the strong fiscal and environmental policies established over taxing western coal have been eroded. Instead of thinking of the windfall from coal as additional money, it has replaced the tax base.

A trainyard in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.

“We’re dependent on it. So when it goes away, even though we had much, much more of it, and we have these big savings funds, without a general tax base to fall back on that revenue, and those savings will not carry us very far,” he said. “So, we find ourselves looking at a very similar looming fiscal crisis.”

It’s a situation well known in Central Appalachia. According to recent data from the Appalachian Regional Commission, 190 of 420 Appalachian counties are considered distressed or at risk, in no small part due to the downturn in the coal industry. Falling coal tax revenue has caused some communities to cut services, including policing. In places such as Martin County, Kentucky, some residents don’t have access to clean drinking water due to the environmentally destructive legacy of coal mining and a chronic lack of investment in basic infrastructure.

Glimpse of the Future

At the end of the two-hour virtual meeting, we asked the students to share one thing they would take away from this conversation. For Gillette high school senior Turner Eiland, he wondered what’s ahead for his community and those of his counterparts in Appalachia.

“It seems like you guys are a glimpse in the future for what’s to come for our communities,” he said, speaking on the Zoom call. “I guess our communities are really similar in a lot of ways and I wish there was a better … I wish we had better solutions to help out both of our communities.”

The Ohio Valley ReSource gets support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and our partner stations.

Brittany Patterson produced this story in collaboration with Sydney Boles of WMMT and Cooper McKim of Wyoming Public Media and as part of America Amplified, a public media initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

America Amplified uses community engagement to inform and strengthen local, regional and national journalism.

Behind the Story:

Q: What did the people you talked to say about the experience of being interviewed for public media?

Sydney Boles: After the Zoom call, one student in Appalachia emailed to say how interesting it was to learn about the experiences of her peers in Wyoming. Because even though social media can show us worlds we might not otherwise get to see, nothing compares to a genuine conversation.

Q: What surprised you about this type of community engagement?

S. Boles: It was incredible to watch in real time as young people from two very different regions began to recognize the ways in which their experiences were similar. Given the space to express themselves, the students were curious, generous and vulnerable.

Q: What lessons do you have for others who want to do the same?

S. Boles: Make sure each participant feels valued — because they are! It’s worth the extra few minutes it takes to walk through any questions or concerns they might have about the process, so the participants are excited and comfortable from the get-go.

Ohio Valley Coal Mine Executive Bob Murray Dead At 80

Robert E. Murray, the founder and former president and CEO of Murray Energy Corp., formerly the largest privately held underground coal company in the country, has died. He was 80 years old.

Murray’s death was reported Sunday evening by television stations WTOV9 in Steubenville, Ohio, and WOWK in Huntington, West Virginia. According to the news outlets, a spokesperson for the Murray family and a coal industry official confirmed his death.

Murray last week announced he was retiring as chairman of the board of American Consolidated Natural Resources, the newly formed coal company that emerged following the conclusion of Murray Energy’s bankruptcy process this summer. Last month, the Ohio Valley ReSource reported the coal magnate had applied for federal black lung benefits. On his application, Murray wrote he was heavily dependent on the oxygen tank he was frequently seen using and was “near death.”

Murray was a larger-than-life and often divisive figure in the coal industry. He grew up in Ohio and got his first job cutting grass. He reportedly lied about his age so he could begin working in the mines as a teenager. Murray ascended through the ranks at The North American Coal Corporation taking over as president and CEO in 1983.

Murray earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Mining degree from The Ohio State University and graduated from the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University School of Business.

In 1988, Murray founded Murray Energy. He told the Wall Street Journal he used a combination of loans and sold his “children’s toys” in order to buy one of his former employer’s mines in Ohio to begin the company, which would eventually grow to one of the largest coal producers in the country.

Headquartered in St. Clairsville, Ohio, Murray Energy had a large presence in the Ohio Valley. The company produced low-cost bituminous coal at mines located close to its customers — largely coal-fired power plants. As coal-fired generators closed, that posed challenges for the company’s business model.

The company declared bankruptcy in October 2019, citing billions of dollars in debt, healthcare and pension liabilities. In filings, the company reported having more than a dozen active mines, largely in the Ohio Valley and Illinois Basin. Murray Energy gained notoriety following the 2007 collapse of the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah, which killed nine miners and rescuers.

Murray, a Republican, has shared a close relationship with President Donald Trump. The coal executive donated $300,000 to the president’s inauguration. Weeks later, Murray shared a detailed “action plan” with administration officials that outlined a series of environmental rollbacks and policy changes that would benefit the U.S. coal industry.

Murray, who was a vocal denier of human-caused climate change, donated extensively to groups that cast doubt on the global phenomenon. Records made public during the company’s bankruptcy process also showed Murray supported The Boy Scouts of America.

In July, 2016, Murray was diagnosed as having idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. In an interview with NPR in 2019, Murray said his lung disease was not caused by working underground in mines.

Murray is survived by his wife Brenda and three children.

$25 Million Federal CARES Money To Help Cover Past-Due W.Va. Utility Bills

Thousands of West Virginians who are behind on their utility bills due to the pandemic may be eligible to have some or all of that debt erased under a new grant program announced Wednesday.

Speaking during his COVID-19 virtual press briefing, Gov. Jim Justice announced he was setting aside $25 million in federal CARES Act money for past-due utility bills.

Residents who have been unable to pay all or some of their water, electricity, natural gas or sewer services between March 1 and July 31 should be receiving letters this week from their utility providers alerting them of their eligibility, Justice said.

Public Service Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Lane urged West Virginians not to ignore the letters, which are being sent out by utility companies.

“Don’t throw those bills away,” she said. “Open up the envelopes and return them to your utility company or to the Dollar Energy Fund.”

Customers have until Thursday, Nov. 12 to respond. After agreeing voluntarily to not shut off services during the early months of the pandemic, utilities resumed terminations after July 1.

The state’s five largest utilities — West Virginia American Water, Appalachian Power, Mon Power, Wheeling Power, Dominion Energy Hope and Mountaineer Gas — reported more than 133,000 delinquent accounts.

The PSC said it was unable to estimate the total number of residents who are delinquent on their utility bills due to the pandemic or the total amount owed.

Lane said it’s unlikely the $25 million grant program will wipe out all of the COVID-related unpaid bills, but it’s a start.

“We recognize that this generous grant program will not alleviate everyone’s delinquency, but the Public Service Commission itself has specially trained consumer affairs technicians who are available to assist customers in negotiating payment arrangements with the utility companies,” she said. “And the utilities themselves are continuing to work with customers who are behind in their bills and are offering payment plans.”

Recently a coalition of progressive advocate groups in West Virginia sent a letter to the governor’s office requesting the administration allocate unsent CARES Act funding to help struggling West Virginians impacted by the pandemic, including for utility services. The groups estimated residents statewide had up to $50 million in unpaid utility bills.

Some advocates expressed concerns over the July 31 cutoff date for the new program.

“People need help, not just people who were affected before July. This is too little. Maybe he will reconsider and add more to the fund, while extending the window for eligibility,” tweeted Karan Ireland, a Sierra Club campaigner and advocate.

WVU Researchers Tackle Lyme Disease As Climate Change Expands Its Reach

Researchers at West Virginia University have received a nearly $2 million federal grant to develop a vaccine for the tick borne illness Lyme disease.

The infusion of research dollars comes as cases of the bacterial infection, spread through the bite of an infected tick, are on the rise nationwide and in West Virginia.

Originally thought to be found primarily in colder, northern regions, today Lyme disease affects an estimated 300,000 people nationwide. In recent years reported cases in West Virginia have risen from 35 in 2000 to nearly 700 in 2018, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency now categorizes West Virginia as one of 14 states with a “high incidence” of the disease.

For many people, symptoms look like a bad cold or flu, sometimes accompanied by a bull’s-eye rash. If caught early, it can be treated with antibiotics. However, some who are infected with Lyme are left with devastating long-term health problems such as arthritis, meningitis and inflammation of the heart and brain.

“It may not have the high fatality rates, but it has a serious drain on the way people live their lives and contribute to society,” said Timothy Driscoll, an assistant biology professor and head of the Vector-Borne Disease Laboratory at West Virginia University.

The five-year grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is being led by Mariette Barbier, assistant professor in the School of Medicine’s Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cell Biology.

The team is focusing on developing a vaccine that would protect against the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, called Borrelia. The team is also approaching a Lyme vaccine differently than the way most vaccines are developed.

“Rather than taking the whole pathogen, and injecting it, what we’re asking is ‘what are the most important antigens that our immune system recognizes … and [we’ll] just use those,” Barbier said.

Climate Connection

Experts say climate change is playing a role in the expansion of Lyme disease. Richard Ostfeld, a disease ecologist with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, has studied ticks for about three decades. He said Lyme disease is spreading across the country, in part because of a warming climate.

“As the climate warms, the length of the warm period of the year increases,” Ostfeld said. “So, you get more frost-free days in the fall and in the spring, and that looks like it’s important in giving the ticks a greater chance to find hosts, animal hosts, like mice and chipmunks.”

But it’s not the only piece of the puzzle. Human expansion into habitat that was once wild increases the changes people will encounter tick-carrying creatures. Ostfeld said small mammals that are often tick carriers also survive well in our new strip malls and suburbs.

“And they are crucial in the proliferation of Lyme disease because they support tick population growth, and they support tick infection,” he said.

Vaccine development could take upwards of 10 years. There are other Lyme vaccine candidates in development, but as the range of Lyme disease grows, Driscoll said so too has the need for a preventative measure like a vaccine.

“As its range has increased, and we’ve seen it coming into West Virginia, we want to try to cut it off at the pass and see if we can not get knocked back,” he said.

If the WVU vaccine is shown to work in modeling, the team will work with potential commercial partners to put it through clinical trials, and eventually on the market.

Bob Murray Announces Retirement From Coal Company He Founded

After applying for black lung benefits, Robert Murray, founder and former president of the now-bankrupt coal company Murray Energy Corp., announced Monday he was leaving the business after more than 60 years in the industry.

Murray Energy emerged from bankruptcy protection last month as American Consolidated Natural Resources (ACNR). The 80-year-old Murray was named chairman of the board of the new company, which remains the largest privately-held underground coal company in the United States.

“No one has been more devoted to the industry and ACNR’s business than Mr. Murray,” said Robert Moore, the president and CEO of the new company. Moore is also Murray’s nephew. “When others shied away from the industry he dug in and worked hard for the industry and for our business.”

Murray has been named “chairman emeritus,” according to a press release. Eugene Davis will replace Murray as chair of the board.

Murray founded the company in 1988. The outspoken mining executive railed against Obama-era climate and mining regulations and has been an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump. Early in Trump’s term, the coal magnate delivered a detailed action plan aimed at helping the declining industry.

Last month, the Ohio Valley ReSource reported that Murray has filed an application with the U.S. Department of Labor for black lung benefits. According to the documents, Murray is reportedly in poor health, relying heavily on oxygen and “near death.”

Murray and his company for years fought against federal mine safety regulations aimed at reducing the debilitating disease, including spearheading a 2014 lawsuit over a federal rule that strengthened control of coal dust in mines.

Murray says he began working in the coal mines as a teenager. At the North American Coal Corporation, he ascended through the ranks from miner to being named president and CEO in 1983.

Murray mining operations have also had a number of high-profile mine safety incidents over the years, including the disastrous collapse of the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah in 2007 that resulted in the deaths of nine miners and rescuers.

PSC Gives Go Ahead To Raleigh County Solar Project

West Virginia regulators have issued a key approval for a proposed solar project in the southern part of the state that is estimated to generate enough power for 16,000 West Virginia homes annually — the first project approved under a new utility solar bill passed by the Legislature earlier this year.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission on Monday granted a siting certificate for a 90- megawatt solar farm in Raleigh County. The $90 million project by developer Raleigh Solar I, LLC, would consist of about 250,000 solar panels located on about 530 acres of largely undeveloped, wooded area east and west of Grandview Road immediately north of I-64.

Under the agreement, the PSC is requiring Raleigh Solar to begin construction within five years and finish within 10. According to the project’s website, developers hope to have the panels operational in late 2022 or 2023.

The project is being developed by Colorado-based Dakota Power Partners. The PSC says the company has agreed to use local union workers to build the project. Developers estimate it will create 150-200 construction jobs and 3-5 long-term, full-time positions.

This is the first siting certificate issued since the passage of Senate Bill 583. The bill, which was requested by economic development officials at the state Department of Commerce and at times was the center of contentious debate among lawmakers, creates a utility solar program in West Virginia. Supporters of the bill argued having access to solar power is crucial in order to help draw new businesses to the state. Opponents feared new solar generation could displace coal. West Virginia is ranked 48th in the nation for installed solar capacity, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

The bill also required the PSC to develop a specific administrative process to streamline the application of siting certificates from solar wholesale generators. A review of the PSC docket shows the Raleigh County project drew support from groups including the state Commerce Department and Sierra Club, as well as numerous state lawmakers.

“The presence of a 90-megawatt (MW) utility-scale solar energy generating facility in Southern West Virginia would be an extremely useful tool as we seek to recruit employers and encourage expansion of existing companies,” wrote Michael Graney, executive director of the West Virginia Development Office in a May 2020 letter to the PSC.

The siting certificate is conditioned upon Raleigh Solar receiving all other necessary permits and approvals, the agency said in a news release.