By Charles Young 

June 13, 2021 - Brian Anderson, director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory, believes he knows how to help communities in Appalachia prepare for a greener, more sustainable future.

Anderson, who was tapped to lead the Biden administration’s Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, recently served as the keynote speaker for the 10th annual Marcellus and Manufacturing Development Conference hosted by the West Virginia Manufacturers Association.

Biden’s executive order establishing the Interagency Working Group laid out a mission of trying to “reinvigorate the communities that have already been left behind” as the nation begins to shift away from coal-fired power generation toward natural gas and renewable resources, Anderson said.

Brian Anderson, director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory and executive director of Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization, attends the annual West Virginia Manufacturers Association conference in Morgantown. 

Staff photo by Charles Young

The National Energy Technology Laboratory, which has locations in Morgantown, Pittsburgh and Albany, Oregon, has developed new technologies for the past 111 years that aim to solve problems in carbon and carbon management, Anderson said.

“So this new role for me and for the National Energy Technology Laboratories fits directly within the mantra that we have,” he said. “And that’s to empower workers who are revitalizing their communities.”

In both of his roles, Anderson said, his goal is to not only reduce the overall environmental impact of energy production, but also to ensure that members of the “communities that built our country” can have access to good-paying, family-sustaining careers.

There have been two significant shifts in coal industry employment trends over the last 50 years, Anderson said.

“The first was in the mechanization of the mine, and the second was the shale revolution and also deeper penetration in renewables on the power specter,” he said. “Coal employment in West Virginia and the United States has declined significantly even just over the last 12 years.”

The nation currently produces about 23% of its electricity from coal, a significant decline from 53% in 2008, Anderson said.

“If we look back up even further, we’ve seen a tremendous decline in coal mining and coal mining employment over the last 50 years, and West Virginian has certainly borne the brunt of that when you look at many of our southern counties,” he said.

The Interagency Working Group is comprised of 11 federal agencies, including the Department of Energy and the Appalachian Regional Commission, Anderson said.

“The establishment of the IWG was for us to break the mold in which the federal government operates and try to put together comprehensive programs for the revitalization of our communities that we see all across Appalachia and all across our country that have already seen economic dislocation and are likely to see economic dislocation as we move forward through increasing energy transition,” he said.

The Interagency Working Group recently issued an initial report of findings and suggestions to catalyze economic development in traditional energy communities. The report included plans for $109.5 million in funding for projects directly supporting job creation.

The $109.5 million also includes $75 million in a funding opportunity to engineer carbon-capture projects and $19.5 million in funding awards for critical mineral extraction from coal and associated waste streams, according to information from the Department of Energy.

The report identified nearly $38 billion in existing federal funding that could be accessed by energy communities for infrastructure, environmental remediation, union job creation and community revitalization efforts.

The funding includes the more than $260 million in existing resources already mobilized by the Department of the Interior to support abandoned mine land reclamation, predominantly in Appalachia.

The report also identified 25 priority communities hard-hit by declines in coal production and consumption, Anderson said.

The initial report issued by Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization identified 25 'priority geographies' hard-hit by declines in coal production and consumption, including several in West Virginia. 

NETL/DOE

“First we identify priority communities — not surprisingly, 45 of the 55 counties in West Virginia fall under these priority communities — that are heavily dependent on coal and power plant jobs,” he said. “West Virginia encompasses four of the 25 different communities. (There are) 21 other communities across the country, many of whom are where you might expect and some of them where you don’t.”

The Interagency Working Group’s goal is not to just retrain former coal miners to install solar panels, Anderson said.

“Our goal is to transform manufacturing in the United States and adjust supply chains to where they run through our impacted communities that have been suffering from dislocation over the last 50 years and the last 10 years,” he said.

“We will work to ensure that as we continue through the energy transition, replacing coal-powered generation through natural gas and renewables, that we do right by the people in the great state of West Virginia and all over,” he said.