Appalachian sustainable economy advocates feel momentum going into Trump regime

West Virginia had far more facilities than any other state — 197 — belonging to a list of companies ranked by carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions released last month by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Political Economy Research Institute.

This month, West Virginia had easily the nation’s highest percentage of customers without power in the U.S. after a polar vortex blasted through the country.

The blackouts were a reminder that Appalachian Power has been one of the nation’s worst performers in electric power outage duration in recent years and indicated ratepayers are liable for storm costs poised to grow as more extreme weather patterns driven by climate change wreak more havoc on the Mountain State’s aging power grid. In a pending proposal for a $265.1 million, 15.4% revenue increase at ratepayers’ expense, Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power cited $118 million in deferred storm costs.

This month brought state approval of a West Virginia American Water rate hike costing the average customer roughly $2 per month to cover upgrades to infrastructure prone to bursts and breakdowns amid greater temperature swings in more volatile weather fueled by the climate crisis.

In recent weeks, devastating wildfires across Los Angeles County in California have inflicted insurance losses estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars or more.

The infernos have poised premiums to skyrocket and further destabilize the area amid what had already been a trend of scrapped policies for wildfire-prone property. That could be a harbinger of tests to come for West Virginia’s flood insurance market given West Virginia has had the nation’s highest average risk-based cost of federal flood insurance — the cost policyholders would pay if they were paying their full actuarial rate as evaluated under rates per a federal insurance pricing methodology implemented in 2021.

Also this month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported 2024 was the hottest year on record for West Virginia and all surrounding states.

West Virginia has something its neighbors don’t have — a new political leadership contingent that includes:

• A new governor, in Morrisey, who as attorney general fought against federal rules aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector — by far the largest source of those emissions in the state
• A new chair of the state Senate Energy, Industry and Mining Committee, Sen. Chris Rose, R-Monongalia, who said on X Wednesday he is “committed to promoting and protecting our vital industries: coal, oil, and natural gasâ€� after his campaign drew contributions from pro-coal industry supporters — including West Virginians for Coal and West Virginia Coal Association leader Jason Bostic — totaling over $3,700
• A new senator, in coal magnate and U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., who argued for embracing fossil fuels during a Senate committee confirmation hearing Wednesday and has questioned the scientific consensus that climate change is real and caused by human activity
• A new chair of the powerful U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who told reporters Thursday her committee would “take a hard look atâ€� what she called “far overreachingâ€� Environmental Protection Agency rulemaking regulating power plant emissions and defining what waters are federally protected

EPA rules in Capito's crosshairs

Capito’s look ahead to rolling back what she asserted was the EPA’s “overreach� beyond Congress’ intent came after her first hearing as chair, during which she expressed support for past climate change denier and President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the EPA, former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y.

In a financial disclosure report, Zeldin reported being paid over $120,000 for op-eds, including those that criticized New York climate policy and urged Congress to probe environmental, social and governance (ESG), an investing approach that prioritizes investments that consider the environmental and social effects of an investment’s financial returns.

“They are, by and large, people who do not align with a sustainable agenda,� Camila Taylor, executive director of the American Sustainable Business Network, an advocacy group, said during a two-day strategy summit held virtually this week by ReImagine Appalachia, a coalition of economic and environmental leaders.

A “wave� of longtime federal employees with key institutional knowledge are leaving rather than enduring a second Trump administration, Taylor told fellow summit participants.

“[T]hey went through this administration the first time, and they've just thrown up their hands and say they can't do it again,� Taylor said. “So that's a bit on the bleak side.�

Taylor and other summit participants expect to have to guard against provisions that undercut rather than support a sustainable energy economy during a new Trump regime bolstered by Republican control of the House and Representatives and Senate – a GOP “trifecta.�

“[W]e're going to be fighting a lot of policy that doesn't make sense, that doesn't promote shareholder value, that doesn't promote our environment. And so it's going to be a fight,� Taylor said. “I predict a lot of this will be happening in the courtroom. Because of the trifecta that will be existing, a lot of things will get pushed through, and then it will be fighting the implications.�

But community and environmental advocates say progress made through unprecedented federal investments green-lit by the Biden administration after years of grassroots work won’t stop under Trump.

“We want to make sure that we are honoring that we made a lot of progress on climate and clean energy, environment, economic justice over the last four years,� National Wildlife Federation executive vice president and former West Virginia University instructor Mustafa Santiago Ali said during the summit. “The momentum here, that will continue.�

EPA says 93% of IRA grant funding awarded

Ali predicted that funding would keep flowing from the Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark climate and renewable energy spending law that passed a Democratic-controlled Congress in 2022 without any congressional Republican support.

The EPA on Monday reported that 93% of grant funding made available through the Inflation Reduction Act — $38.4 billion — had been obligated, or awarded, including all $27 billion in funds via the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a program designed to spark financing for thousands of climate and clean energy projects.

Under Biden, the White House has estimated that the Inflation Reduction Act would bring an estimated $240 million of investment in large-scale “clean� power generation and storage to West Virginia between the August 2022 passage of the law and 2030.

Trump has vowed to quash Inflation Reduction Act spending despite it disproportionately benefiting heavily Republican areas.

In August 2024, 18 House Republicans signed a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., that argued against repealing Inflation Reduction Act tax credits, which they said “have spurred innovation, incentivized investment, and created good jobs in many parts of the country.�

The $27 billion obligated through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund included $500 million for Appalachian Community Capital, a Christiansburg, Virginia-based lending intermediary, to launch the Green Bank for Rural America to deliver capital and technical assistance to hundreds of community lenders to establish climate and clean energy projects in coal, energy, underserved rural, and Tribal communities throughout the country.

Appalachian Community Capital president and CEO Donna Gambrell contended during the ReImagine Appalachia summit that she’s found through past community development financial institution work that local impact matters regardless of who’s in charge in Washington, D.C.

“I don't know if you call it nonpartisan or bipartisan, but I think the key that we found … is that when you talk to local officials as well as federal officials about what's happening in their communities, and they can really see the impact and see the differences that are being made, it does resonate,� Gambrell said. “It can make a difference.�

'A lot of noise coming'

“On the good side� for sustainable energy and business advocates, Taylor said, is that the Trump regime “is a very fickle administration.�

Taylor pointed out Trump’s desire for the U.S. to buy Greenland and recommended staying focused on what Trump regime actions can be implemented.

“There’s not a long attention span. There's a lot of movement that happens,� Taylor said. “And what does that mean? That means there's going to be a lot of noise coming at everyone daily.�

Matt Ward, cofounder and CEO of Sustainable Strategies DC, a strategic consulting, grant writing and advocacy service group, told summit attendees funding through the Inflation Reduction Act and two other laws passed by a then-Democratic-controlled Congress, were diversifying economies.

Ward also singled out the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. The Justice administration acknowledged it expects West Virginia to receive $7 billion by 2027 through the former law for wide-ranging improvements, including highway and bridge upgrades, clean drinking water projects, electric vehicle infrastructure and wildfire protection. The latter law included funding for researching conversion of coal and coal waste into graphite, building materials and other valuable materials as well as support for the National Energy Laboratory Technology in Morgantown.

“I am optimistic that we have already reached escape velocity on building a clean energy and sustainable economy,� Ward said.

'Tough to argue with the branding'

Heidi Binko, cofounder and CEO of the Just Transition Fund, an economic development support organization that focuses on mining and power plant communities, said the pool of new federal funds under Trump would be smaller. But Binko agreed that Inflation Reduction Act funding’s “good effect on the ground� would help keep the Trump administration from the “wholesale changes� they may seek.

“Local people are really realizing these dollars, and they’re in support of them,� Binko said.

Ward pointed to Wayne County, recalling a 2023 announcement from Solar Holler, a Shepherdstown-based solar installer and developer, that it aimed to solarize available buildings in the county in conjunction with Wayne County Schools.

Solar Holler said the expected financial impact, which included 25-year savings of nearly $6.5 million in energy costs, would be enough to fund the salaries of three teachers for the rest of their careers.

“That's how they talk about it,� Ward said. “And it's tough to argue with the branding.�

Jacob Hannah, CEO of Coalfield Development Corp., a Huntington-based workforce development nonprofit, recalled thinking every solar panel was a coal miner job lost.

“But we can redefine that narrative and make sure we're being clear on what we're describing and what we're welcoming into Appalachia, that this is an opportunity for everyone, not to exclude others, but it can pull up others alongside them,� Hannah said. “So we need to really get better at building that narrative. So that's going to be a priority for a strategy for next four years.�

Hannah recommended depending less on policies like the Inflation Reduction Act, advocating for more funding and for agencies like the Appalachian Regional Commission and Economic Development Administration to last.

In the meantime, community advocates will have to make the most of funding they’ve already been awarded under an administration in which Adam Ortiz, outgoing EPA Mid-Atlantic regional administrator, said the EPA was a “partner� and “funder� rather than merely a regulatory agency.

“[I]t's about investing in giving communities a boost to make their environment beautiful and to protect their health,� Ortiz said in a teleconference interview last week.

Ortiz recalled the agency’s grants budget for the six-state Mid-Atlantic region was $400 million in 2021 and is now $1.5 billion, boosted by the Inflation Reduction Act and other investments.

That was the funding sustainable energy and economy groups embraced. Now they’re bracing for a fight.

“The fights we're going to be fighting are huge, and we need volume, and we need voices,� Taylor said. “Find networks, find places that you trust, that have similar, like-minded businesses, organizations that you can share your successes [with], that you can go over what new things are happening,� Taylor said. “[So] that you can make sense of the noise.�