Bring the Community Together

Bringing the community together is the best way to create a response to an economic downturn—and those whose lives are impacted the most or who have been sidelined or overlooked in the past should be at the center of the decision-making process about what comes next. When bringing the community together, ask people to share the solutions they see to the impacts that they are experiencing.

Identify Impacted Stakeholders

What people and places will be most affected by a plant or mine closure, either directly or indirectly? This list is probably longer than you think, and is driven by unanticipated ripples that occur over the months and years that follow a plant or mine closure. People feel those reverberations in the form of direct and indirect/secondary impacts. And those impacts may be anticipated, or take community members by surprise. Ask people to share stories and express their experiences in their own words to understand impacts in your community.

What are direct impacts?

Direct impacts could include:

• loss of property and tax revenue
• job loss at the plant and/or mines
• change in infrastructure needs and use
• legacy cleanup and remediation costs of coal-related operations
• worker loss of identity/sense of self

What are indirect/secondary impacts?

These might include:

• gaps in the industrial and commercial supply chain of products and services
• loss of housing value
• higher residential and commercial vacancy rates
• declining revenue for local businesses that provide essential goods or services
• idle/oversized infrastructure
• loss of population and personal resources of time or talent
• reduced local government bond ratings (which makes it more difficult to fund capital improvements)
• increased municipal insurance rates (these may rise as a local government’s ability to provide services decreases)
• family instability due to loss of income and health insurance

Direct and indirect impacts may affect specific portions of your community’s populations more than others. For example, workers who lose jobs as miners or plant operators may feel the brunt of transition more acutely than area business owners, at least in the short run. Likewise, some areas of your community may also feel the effects of a plant or mine closure more acutely—such as neighborhoods with a high concentration of unemployed workers, or school districts that may suffer declining enrollment if families move away.

Not all impacts of a closure are negative. Begin to think about the new opportunities that this transition may create and who in your community can help identify what is possible. Looking at your list of existing assets can help identify new opportunities and can inform your plan for the long-term.

Make a list of all the groups and organizations within your community that will be affected—either directly or indirectly—by a mine or plant closure. Then, reach out to representatives from each of those groups and organizations to take part in your community’s transition planning process.

In addition to those directly or indirectly affected, there will be others in your community who can add value to your transition planning. People with expert knowledge, connections, or even those known for visionary thinking or creativity can be key members of your planning team. Ask yourself:

• Who has influence in the community and how can this influence be used positively?
• What groups will lend a perspective that we might otherwise overlook? (e.g. labor unions or environmental groups)
• Who can help the community find funding for fostering transition outcomes?