Washington, D.C. — A new report from the Center for American Progress examines how rural communities with deep economic ties to the coal industry can best manage the transition away from fossil fuels to a more diversified economy and resilient local budgets.
The report, informed by interviews with local and federal officials, finds that while coordination with federal agencies is working, these new partnerships still run up against the limits of a complex and siloed federal assistance system. There is no coherent rural policy or approach to this type of transition assistance.
The lack of a single federal policy framework to guide the process for transition planning places the risks of disruptive coal-fired power plant and coal mine closures onto workers and local governments. Local and federal officials say there is a need for flexible funding mechanisms to provide holistic support as well as a need to streamline and better coordinate federal programs.
The report recommends a National Transition Corporation as the most efficient and effective way to achieve the level of coordination and delivery of federal programs needed to support communities. A National Transition Corporation would also manage a new federal endowment to provide stable and predictable revenue to communities in transition. The corporation would have three main roles:
- Employing staff who would act as “navigators” to coordinate agencies and build trust with local communities
- Delivering revenue communities can count on
- Streamlining and coordinating federal transition programs
“A new transition and rural development corporation would offer the kind of help these rural communities need to make the transition to clean energy,” said Mark Haggerty, senior fellow at CAP and co-author of the report. “It would provide a coherent vision and strategy for connecting the people, resources, and reforms necessary to address this transition holistically.”
Read the report: “Achieving Federal Program Coordination Through a National Transition Corporation” by Sophia Corridan and Mark Haggerty
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].