Ian Barlow, Sandeep Pai, Rishi Kishore, Deeksha Pande | December 2024
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Executive Summary
Across the United States, coal mining and coal-fired power plants have been a source of economic windfall and civic pride for decades. In some communities, members of local families have worked in the mines and operated the plants for generations, so long that it has become an integral part of their identity and their family’s legacy. And while the members of these communities are no strangers to cycles of relative boom and bust, the decline of coal over the past fifteen years in particular – and its dwindling future prospects – is often seen as the most existential threat to their livelihoods yet.
In 2008, 48% of electricity generated in the United States came from coal. Just 13 years later, that figure was just 22%. Federal and state policies, along with increasing public sentiment about the damaging environmental impact of fossil fuels, will see coal-fired electricity continue to decline in the coming years and decades before it eventually falls to zero. Coal communities are being forced to adapt in order to mitigate the impact of these changes, shifting their perspectives and their economies as they explore opportunities and plan for a more diverse economic future. In this paper we will present case studies of three communities in Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming, examining the importance of their coal industries, the crises that the decline of coal has precipitated, and the various avenues that committed local leaders are using to lead their communities through change and uncertainty to growth and sustainability.