As part of a commitment to a clean energy economy, Hillary plans to revitalize coal communities: (HRC)
....today we are in the midst of a global energy transition. The shale revolution, low-cost renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements, and pressing concerns about the impact of coal combustion on public health and the global climate are reducing coal demand both in the US and around the world. Coal now accounts for only one third of US power generation, with domestic consumption falling by 25% over the past ten years. In China, nuclear and renewable energy are growing three times faster than coal-fired power , with more wind and solar capacity added last year than the US and Europe combined.
Building a 21st century clean energy economy in the United States will create new jobs and industries, deliver important health benefits, and reduce carbon pollution. But we can’t ignore the impact this transition is already having on mining communities, or the threat it poses to the healthcare and retirement security of coalfield workers and their families. This is particularly true in Appalachia, where production has been declining for decades, but impacts are beginning to be felt in the Illinois Basin and Western coalfields as well. And it’s not limited to mining communities: reduced coal shipments impact barge and railroad workers, and power plant closures can contribute to local job loss and economic distress.
Hillary Clinton is committed to meeting the climate change challenge as President and making the United States a clean energy superpower. At the same time, she will not allow coal communities to be left behind—or left out of our economic future. That’s why Clinton announced a $30 BILLION plan to ensure that coal miners and their families get the benefits they’ve earned and respect they deserve, to invest in economic diversification and job creation, and to make coal communities an engine of US economic growth in the 21st century as they have been for generations....
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/p/briefing/factsheets/2015/11/12/clinton-plan-to-revitalize-coal-communities/ via The Briefing (Hillary campaign)
= new reply since forum marked as read
Been running across lots of articles on this proposal. Many talk about how her views have changed since 2008. Fine. I am glad she no longer is pushing 'clean coal"--as Biden and many others have done. Good for her. Her proposal seeks to help the folks affected by our courntry's shift to clean energy. And Thank you President Obama
http://www.manufacturing.net/news/2015/11/clinton-releases-plan-to-help-coal-country-adapt-to-climate
Clinton Releases Plan To Help Coal Country Adapt To Climate
Thu, 11/12/2015 - 2:55pm
Lisa Lerer, The Associated Press
Hillary Clinton's team says her proposal will protect health benefits for coal miners and their families and help them retrain for new jobs. (AP Photo)
Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign announced a $30 billion plan to help coal country adapt to new climate change policies that could have a striking economic impact on their communities.
Clinton's team says her proposal will protect health benefits for coal miners and their families and help them retrain for new jobs. The plan will also use a combination of tax incentives and government grants to help coal-dependent communities repurpose old mine sites and attract new economic investment.
......................
Her rhetoric has shifted now. In recent months, Clinton has tackled left on environmental issues, pledging to make combatting climate change a major goal of her presidency and opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, which was rejected by the Obama administration on Friday. She's also promised to "build on" President Barack Obama's plan mandating greenhouse gas reductions from power plants, a sweeping new environmental regulation that may result in the closure of hundreds of coal-fired plants and freeze construction of new coal plants.
But she's also vowed to protect coal workers, who she says helped power much of the country's economic growth.
"We have to move away from coal," she said in New Hampshire on Monday. "But that does not and should not mean we move away from coal miners, their families, and their communities. They kept the lights on."
....................................
Beyond providing new economic incentives for revitalizing coal county, Clinton's plan would expand broadband Internet access, invest in new infrastructure projects and find ways to replace local revenue for schools that's lost when coal production plants disappear.
