Environmental Justice Now Tour – A Just Transition in Appalachia | Article

The Environmental Justice Now Tour, a program started by the House Natural Resources Committee Democrats, has made its latest stop in Appalachia. The Tour allows community voices from all across the nation to share their experiences with environmental injustices and weigh in on the Environmental Justice for All Act (HR. 5986/S. 4401). If passed, the bill would expand legal protections to communities and provide funding for projects supporting equality in environmental decision making.

The Appalachian region, which encompasses parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, and Alabama, has long been a center for coal extraction. In 2019, the region supplied 27 percent of the total U.S. production. Coal and other extractive industries have presented heavy burdens on the communities in the region. Mining and burning of fossil fuels release toxic pollutants including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, particulates, and heavy metals, which can have long term detrimental health impacts to those exposed. Further, these pollutants degrade and contaminate land and water resources. Communities are often left to deal with health and environmental impacts with minimal resources.

As the country transitions to alternative, low-carbon fuel sources, the declining fossil fuel industries present economic problems for the region. Communities face high unemployment and few alternative career options.

The Environmental Justice Now Tour’s panelists opening statements described their own experiences with the impacts of pollution in the region, observing increases in respiratory diseases and contamination of their lands. Julie Bledsoe, of Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment, described the health challenges her husband has been facing; He was denied protective equipment while working to clean up the Kingston coal ash spill and now struggles from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Similarly, Alex Cole of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, described the contamination in the Kanawha river valley. The river’s sediments have toxic concentrations of PCB and dioxins and the water is unusable to the municipalities who reside alongside it.

Recognizing the harm that has been done in the region, the hearing looked to the future and addressed how policymakers could better serve the communities in Appalachia. The panelists emphasized the need to create multiple, meaningful solutions that incorporate local voices and span research, education, policy, and economic development.

In 2016, the Department of Interior funded a National Academy of Science study of the health impacts of coal ash, which was later dismantled by the Trump Administration. Panelist Gabby Gillespie, who works with Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards and Sierra Club’s Virginia Chapter, highlighted the many grassroots health impact studies which have already been completed, emphasizing the need to not only continue conducting these studies but to also make the results widely available to policymakers and the general public.

Policies must be enacted within the region which address the cumulative environmental impacts of these polluting industries. Current laws, like Surface Mining Control Reclamation Act, were intended for a booming coal industry, not for one in decline. There remains little to no money available for the cleanup of abandoned sites and the responsibility has usually fallen onto communities, which have less revenue as mines close.

Panelists urged the need for a just transition and stable economic development. Cole and Gillespie described how previous promises by politicians for reform have fallen short, and how funding had been allocated to “false solutions” like continued fossil fuel use or prisons. Instead of a just transition to low-carbon industries, the speakers accused political and industry leaders of promoting a “petrochemical renaissance.”

Overall, Bledsoe, Cole and Gillespie emphasized the need for community involvement in decision making, and further noted that a just transition away from fossil fuels will need a lot of different solutions. The Appalachian region is a harrowing example of what can go wrong, but can also be an example of what can go right.

“We are a model for what it looks like to see the harm, but we also hope to be a model of what it looks like to have a just transition which means including the stories, ideas, innovation from the ground,” Gillespie said.

Author: Emma Walker

For further reading, EESI’s recent issue brief, “How Coal Country Can Adapt to the Energy Transition,” discusses challenges faced by coal communities and potential solutions.