is still waiting. It's beautiful country, well situated, expected to be less hit by climate change than many other areas, and full of nice people who really don't want to leave but who have to have work. The region needs new jobs and training to fill them, including for ex- coal union executives.
That's what we expected to be well along with by now. Business/industry will come because a labor supply is there and create those jobs. But first, upgrading of things like schools and medical care is required for managerial level people to be willing to live and raise their children there. A few adults will need literacy training as well as training in new jobs skills, but nothing like the problem tackled long ago in the Tennessee Valley region, and there's no smallpox, typhoid, and malaria to wipe out.
All this and more is well within the ability of the national and state governments to make happen with proper leadership. Mostly planned, all waiting.