Wind and solar farms do not directly replace coal, oil, and gas jobs, but the renewables industry as a whole does. These stories need to be told loudly and often on general principles, and as part of this year’s election campaigns. We can’t leave this to the malarkey-spinners.
This is what happens when a wind farm comes to a coal town
In 2022, the country's first major climate policy, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, passed with the promise to speed up that transition, offering at least $4 billion to boost development of renewable projects like the Pinnacle Wind Farm in Keyser.
That law passed with the key vote of West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, but Tillman is skeptical that those benefits will reach Keyser.
"Manchin [is seen as] selling out to Biden and his fellow Democrats, and politically that hurt him," says Kercheval.
"But at the same time, there's all this green energy money that's coming to West Virginia and the last two years has seen more economic development announcements than I can remember in this state."
Hoppy Kercheval hosts the daily radio program Talkline on West Virginia MetroNews and has been on the air for nearly 50 years.
Those "green energy" dollars funneling into a predominantly conservative state with a historic connection to coal have created political dynamics that Kercheval describes as paradoxical.
Researcher Eleanor Krause, who studies labor in the renewables sector, points out another challenge.
"Coal mining employment happens where coal mines exist," she explains. "These coal mines aren't necessarily the same places where the wind blows and the sun shines the brightest, and so it's not necessarily the case that we can just replace coal mines with wind turbines or solar panels."
I and others have pointed out that the sun shines and the wind blows on all of the mountain tops whose peaks have been blasted off for coal. There are more than 500 of them in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. They all have roads and electric power lines.