The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will award $109.5 million in funding for projects that directly support job creation in communities impacted by changes in the energy economy.
It is part of an initiative launched by President Joe Biden, the White House Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization. It seeks to bring energy jobs to communities impacted by the loss of coal and power plant jobs due to shifts in energy production and usage. The working group identified 25 communities hardest hit by coal mine and power plant closures and calls for these areas to prioritize both existing and future federal investment.
“The coal and power plant workers who built our nation can play a huge role in making America’s clean energy future a reality, and this report outlines just the first steps the Biden Administration is taking to make sure they have those opportunities—right in their communities,” Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said. “This new DOE funding will help spark next-generation industries that these workers can not only participate in, but lead, and I look forward to working together on investments and strategies that empower, revitalize, and retain and create jobs in our energy communities.”
Among the total funding that the DOE will award through this initiative, $75 million will go toward carbon capture projects. It will support customized engineering designs to install carbon capture and storage technology for power and industrial plants. Also, $19.5 million will go toward mineral extraction from coal and associated waste streams. These minerals are vital to manufacturing batteries, magnets, and other important components for making electric vehicles (EV) fleet and other clean energy technology. Further, $15 million will be earmarked for geothermal energy research projects at West Virginia University and Sandia National Laboratories.
Also, the Interagency Working Group named Brian Anderson as its executive director. Anderson, from West Virginia, serves as director of DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory with facilities in Morgantown, W.V.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Albany, Ore.
“I am excited to immediately begin this important work, reaching across the agencies of the federal government to ensure that the economies of traditional energy and power plant communities are strengthened, and my first priority will be to engage people where they work and live so that these hard-hit communities have a hand in developing opportunities and solutions for their future,” Anderson said.
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