Published: August 23, 2021 | Share This

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Chelsea Barnes knows it’s a great opportunity.

But some communities hardest hit by the coal industry’s decline might not be prepared to capitalize.

“A lot of them aren’t ready,” said Chelsea Barnes, legislative director of Appalachian Voices, an environmental nonprofit group.

An Oct. 19 deadline looms for regional coalitions to file concept proposals with the federal Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge, a competition for $1 billion in grants to help boost local economies. The EDA, a bureau of the Department of Commerce, has promised $100 million for coal communities. Another $200 million for coal communities would come through a grant program for public or private nonprofit groups and institutions of higher education as well as states, counties and cities.

A federal economic and energy interagency work group in April identified Southern West Virginia as the area of the country most in need of focused investment because of its high dependence on coal and coal power-plant jobs.

Barnes said the $300 million initiative announced July 22 “came with not a lot of notice” for communities to prepare grant applications — especially for the $100 million in funding earmarked for regional coalitions. Getting that money will be a tall task requiring intense collaboration.

“EDA is notoriously a very difficult agency to apply for funding for. It’s a more complicated application than even other federal agencies, so I think they have a lot of work to do to make that grant more accessible to disadvantaged communities.” Barnes said.

EDA officials said the bureau has held coal community stakeholder workshops about the initiative. The report the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization published in April singled out Boone County. Coal mining employed half the county in 2008 before dropping 80 percent over the next eight years. Coal severance taxes have dwindled to about $500,000 from $6 million 11 years ago.

Still, Boone County Commissioner Brett Kuhn said, he wasn’t familiar with the initiative.

National Energy Technology Laboratory spokeswoman Shelley Martin said the Boone County Community and Economic Development Authority was present at an online workshop Wednesday focused on West Virginia that outlined federal funding opportunities. Boone County Community and Economic Development Authority Director Kris Mitchell could not be reached for comment.

Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said he was familiar with the program and the county plans to apply for funding. But Carper acknowledged he hasn’t given the application process the attention it deserves because of challenges posed by COVID-19 and other virus relief funding oversight responsibilities.

“But I will be personally dealing with that,” Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said.

“Securing a federal grant is complicated for anyone, but it’s especially difficult for rural communities and organizations that may not have the resources, time and staff needed to navigate the complex federal funding application process,” Heidi Binko, executive director and co-founder of the Just Transition Fund, said in an email.

West Virginia coal communities could face similar challenges if they receive an influx of billions of dollars in federal infrastructure funding as allotted in a $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill that passed the Senate earlier this month.

“There’s going to be a lot of money going into states and communities that are going to have to figure out how to manage a lot more money than the states or localities have seen in a long time,” Barnes said.

The Rules Behind the Rewards

Co-chaired by National Economic Council Director Brian Deese, national climate adviser Gina McCarthy, and administered by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, the interagency work group in April highlighted the 25 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics areas of the country most affected by coal-related declines.

Five are in West Virginia: Southern West Virginia nonmetropolitan (No. 1); Wheeling (No. 3); Northern West Virginia nonmetropolitan (No. 11); Beckley (No. 23); and Charleston (No. 24).

The bureau defines coal communities as communities and regions that can reasonably demonstrate how changes in the coal economy have resulted or are expected to result in job losses and layoffs.

U.S. coal mining employment plummeted from more than 175,000 in 1985 to roughly 40,000 in 2020 — a 77 percent drop — according to the interagency work group’s report.

“There are certainly plenty of coal-impacted communities that I think are going to be ready and take advantage of that funding. Those are the communities that are more experienced at applying for federal grant opportunities,” Barnes said.

The Build Back Better Regional Challenge is a two-phased competition. In phase one, interested regions form coalitions of eligible entities and collaborate to develop a concept proposal that details a vision for developing or expanding a new or existing regional industry and three to eight potential projects that support that vision.

In December, the EDA will choose 50 to 60 phase one coalition finalists and award technical assistance grants of up to $500,000 each to further develop the coalition’s concept and collection of projects for their regional growth cluster.

Coalition finalists will compete to become one of the 20 to 30 coalitions awarded up to $100 million each in phase two, for which full applications are due March 15. Phase two awards will be announced no later than September 2022.

Grant applications for the Economic Adjustment Assistance program must be submitted by March 31. An award is expected by Sept. 30, 2022. The presumptive grant rate is 80 percent, though the EDA has discretion to reach 100 percent.

The Interagency Work Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization’s online workshop Wednesday had 131 West Virginia attendees that included city councilors, directors of community and economic development, and chief executive and operating officers, Martin said, adding that 25 participants came from federal agencies such as the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Wednesday’s workshop followed one Aug. 12 focused on Western Pennsylvania. The work group has also planned similar events for Colorado, North Dakota, and Arizona.The 25 most impacted regions for coal-related declines identified by the work group in its April report are scattered across 17 states.

“They’ve only hit a couple of [states with workshops so far],” and it kind of puts the other ones at a disadvantage,” Barnes said.

The EDA has encouraged workshop attendees to connect with the regional economic development representative for their state after workshops to build on project ideas and receive guidance on how to complete a grant application for the programs.

The bureau is also recruiting a coal communities coordinator — a new position — to better collaborate with coal communities and accelerate their ability to prepare economic development projects, according to bureau officials.

“Never Easy” But Worth it

The Just Transition Fund, which works to lessen economic distress in coal and power plant communities nationwide, is surveying its partners to understand what they need to access EDA programs.

Binko said the information will help the fund launch a new initiative in the coming weeks to provide effective technical assistance to help ensure funding supports those communities impacted the most by the transition away from coal.

The Stakes are High

“This is an historic opportunity for coal communities facing a difficult economic transition to get the support they need to scale up their own homegrown job-creation solutions,” Binko said.

Carper, who has served on the Kanawha County Commission since 1996, noted the loss of coal jobs has triggered a precipitous population drop-off in the eastern part of the county.

“Our smaller towns have just been devastated,” Carper said.

Carper and Andrew Gunnoe, deputy county manager and assistant county attorney, said Kanawha officials would not decide on how to allocate any potential EDA funding without seeking public input first.

Gunnoe added that county officials could seek funding for parts of a tourism and recreation master plan for the Upper Kanawha Valley since it is a coal-impacted area.

Kuhn would like to see Boone invest in developing manufacturing on the site of the former Hobet mine site.

James Simpkins, 73, was killed at the site in April after a silo his company, S&S Recycling, was hired to demolish collapsed on an excavating machine he was operating.

“We are looking for small victories that can morph into major ones,” Kuhn said.

The economic development wish lists for coal communities across Appalachia are long.

But for Barnes, the trouble accessing federal funding heightens the importance of the Biden administration’s Justice40 initiative directing 40 percent of federal investments from environmental and energy programs to disadvantaged communities.

“I hope the administration continues to think about ways that they can reach out to the more disadvantaged communities to make sure that they have an opportunity to access this funding or future funding,” Barnes said.

In the meantime, Carper is bracing for a challenging application process.

“Everything when you deal with the feds is confusing,” Carper said. “It’s never easy.”

Source: The Herald-Dispatch

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