Reportage
Status: 12/11/2022 08:06
The southwestern US state of Virginia is a proud mining region with a long tradition. When old industry is struggling to survive climate change, new ideas are needed.
Rain isn’t really the problem on this gray early November morning. On the contrary, it should be about the sun. But since Mason Taylor, 19, and Anthony Hamilton, 18, want to get on the roof of the Lee County Career and Technical Center and it’s now too slippery after hours of drizzle, they have to improvise a bit. Instead, they set up their tools in the technical school’s courtyard and bend lines.
Actually today they wanted to install solar systems above the classrooms of the red flat-roofed building. Both have recently started an apprenticeship as an electro mechanic. It was summer when the sun was shining.
USA: Conservative coal miners and progressive solar energy providers
Jan Koch, ARD Washington, Weltspiegel 18:30, November 6, 2022
Grandparents were still coal miners
This career path is not fully apparent here. Southwestern Virginia, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, is a proud coal country. With the advent of the railroad in the 19th century, areas such as Lee County fueled growth across the country. Generations of men have gone down into the pits. So did the grandparents of Mason Taylor and Anthony Hamilton.
“My grandfather was 17 when he started working in the mines. At one point I saw pictures of him down there and thought: hey, I want to do that too. Then they explained to me how dangerous the job is. That dissuaded me from this idea relatively quickly,” says Taylor.
His grandfather, he says, is proud of him today, even though he works in an industry that is increasingly outpacing coal in the United States. In 2020, renewables had a larger market share in power generation than coal for the first time.
Opportunities for the younger generation limited
The two young men don’t have many opportunities here. The area is in the throes of upheaval. Coal, as many here say, is not the future. So what? The solar industry gives the boys a life in their homeland. Because they don’t want to leave. They love it here, they say.
Just a few years ago, says Matt McFadden, solar was a frowned upon word in the region. He’s from here too. A few years he was attracted to the big city, now he is back and sends his daughter to the local elementary school. McFadden is a project developer for Secure Futures, a company that implements solar construction projects in southwest Virginia, primarily on public buildings. Taylor and Hamilton undertook an internship with him, after which he arranged their apprenticeships for them. During his lunch break, he visits the two to make sure everything is fine.
It is still much more profitable to install solar systems on a large scale than in private homes. “And it may not return 45,000 jobs, but these two here,” McFadden says, pointing to Mason Taylor and Anthony Hamilton, “have a future again.”
Mason Taylor (left) and Anthony Hamilton see their future in their home region.
Image: ARD-Studio Washington
Abandoned coal mines as a source of clean energy
A little further north, on the Virginia-Kentucky border, they’re working on that future as well. There, the NGO ‘The Nature Conservancy’ has bought large-scale land to preserve the surrounding forest and installed solar systems on disused coal mines.
It is essential that the region opens new economic branches, says the NGO’s Brad Kreps in his office in Abingdon, Virginia. “These actions help both the environment and people. Our investments in coalfield solar energy are not just about producing renewable energy, but also about providing new opportunities for the communities here.”
Kreps’ organization has partnered with suppliers like Sun Tribe to expand abandoned coal mines so they can soon start producing clean energy again when the sun shines. It is currently 20 to 25 percent more expensive to install systems in such locations than, say, on an old field, says Danny Van Clief, CEO of Sun Tribe. In Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, however, there are financial incentives to develop such areas. “Projects like this are very exciting financially,” says Van Clief. “But the energy transition is obviously the top priority.”
Concerns about jobs and stability
Somewhere, at this point, the two major themes for the region meet: the economy and the environment. In southwest Virginia they have to contend with flooding, otherwise the effects of climate change are not always immediately apparent. So far, the environmental protection that the solar industry brings with it is more of a side effect, it seems.
It always depends on how you approach the subject, says Emma Kelly. “If you’re concerned about somehow surviving, climate change isn’t that important to you in the first place.”
Kelly works for Appalachian Voices, an environmental organization dedicated to serving the needs of the Appalachian community. “It’s not always easy. I have miners and former friends in my immediate family,” she says. “There is hardly anyone who would say that global warming has no effect. However, what is important for the elderly here is jobs, the economy and stability.”
“Someone’s Got to Start”
Back in Lee County, Mason Taylor and Anthony Hamilton slowly pack their gear. They too need work, but they think a little differently than the generations that preceded them. “It’s our job to help protect the world so it can thrive for many, many years to come,” said Mason Taylor. “Someone has to start with it, and that’s our generation.”
Tomorrow, the weather app says, it should stay dry. Then I’m back on the roof next to the solar panels. And from up there the perspective is completely different.
