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Impacts of the Reimagine Appalachia & Clean Energy Transition Programs for West Virginia

West Virginia Program for Job Creation, Economic Recovery, and Sustainability

In Impacts of the Reimagine Appalachia & and Clean Energy Transition Programs for West Virginia, PERI researchers Robert Pollin, Jeannette Wicks-Lim, Shouvik Chakraborty, and Gregor Semieniuk propose a recovery program for West Virginia that is also capable of building a durable foundation for an economically viable and ecologically sustainable longer-term growth trajectory. The program focuses on three areas: clean energy investments; upgrading West Virginia’s economic base through manufacturing, infrastructure, land restoration, and agricultural investments; and a just transition for displaced workers in the state’s fossil fuel-based industries. The authors estimate that about 41,000 jobs will be generated through the combined investment projects.

>> Article in The Washington Post
>> Press article in The American Prospect by Robert Kuttner

>> Report launch webinar
>> Press article in Charleston Gazette-Mail
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Report Impact Brief 
>> Infographic
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> Press release

>> Link for all PERI state-level, green economy transition programs

Summary

Screen Shot 2021 01 27 at 8.50.54 PMThe COVID-19 pandemic has generated severe public health and economic impacts in West Virginia, as with most everywhere else in the United States. This study develops a recovery program for West Virginia that is also capable of building a durable foundation for an economically viable and ecologically sustainable longer-term transition.

In our proposed clean energy investment project, West Virginia can achieve climate stabilization goals which are in alignment with those set out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2018—that is, to reduce CO2 emissions by 45 percent as of 2030 and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. We show how these two goals can be accomplished in West Virginia through large-scale investments to dramatically raise energy efficiency standards in the state and to equally dramatically expand the supply of clean renewable energy, including solar, geothermal, small-scale hydro, wind, and low-emissions bioenergy power. We also show how this climate stabilization program for West Virginia can serve as a major new engine of job creation and economic well-being throughout the state. Scaled at about $3.6 billion per year in both private and public investments, the program will generate about 25,000 jobs per year in West Virginia. We also present investment programs for West Virginia in the areas of public infrastructure, manufacturing, land restoration and agriculture. We scaled this overall set of investments at $1.6 billion per year over 2021 – 2030, equal to about 2 percent of West Virginia’s 2019 GDP. We estimate that the full program would generate about 16,000 jobs per year in the state. Overall, the combination of investments in clean energy, manufacturing/infrastructure, and land restoration/agriculture will therefore create about 41,000 jobs in West Virginia, equal to roughly 5 percent of West Virginia’s current workforce.

The study also develops a just transition program for workers and communities that are currently dependent on West Virginia’s fossil fuel-based industries. It estimates that about 1,400 workers per year will be displaced in these industries between 2021 – 2030 while another roughly 650 will voluntarily retire each year. It is critical that all of these workers receive pension guarantees, re-employment guarantees, wage insurance, and retraining support, as needed. We estimate that generous levels of transition support for all workers will cost an average of about $140 million per year.

The study shows how all of these proposed measures can be fully financed within the framework of the Build Back Better infrastructure and clean energy investment program proposed by President Biden during his presidential campaign.

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