Latest News

The brand-name Wall Street behemoth is pledging huge investments in “sustainable development” and “inclusive growth finance.” A good part of the initiative appears aimed at supporting changes in electricity-generation markets.

The state has approved a $1 billion dual-windfarm project. Most of it will be on private property, generating lease revenue for landowners. Local-preference hiring is part of the deal.

Mining companies in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky continue to lose domestic and foreign customers and will be entirely out of business inside of 20 years, a new research report concludes.

The politics are tangled and the particulars unique. But the debate here distills a bigger question as to what regional coalfield economies can do in the face of fast-unfolding change.

The demographics of Buchanan County are changing as younger workers seek careers elsewhere: “The only age group that has grown in the last two decades is the population over 55.”

Increasingly, energy companies large and small are paying more attention to environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards to protect their investor bases and credit ratings— and to mitigate reputational risk.

“We cannot afford to impede a free market that is ready to create thousands more energy jobs and catapult our economy forward,” writes the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum’s executive director.

Infrastructure, education, and public-services reinvestment is crucial: “A just transition will require substantial resources and effort. It remains to be seen whether federal efforts will rise to the challenge.”

Three of the country’s biggest electricity producers—Duke, AEP, and Xcel—are driving an aggressive industry shift that is “more of a business choice than a regulatory or policy-driven decision.”

Mine shutdowns are clearly hurting coalfield-community households that are bearing the job-loss brunt. “It is also harmful, though, to pretend that coal miners are combatants in a mythical war.”