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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Environment
Nina Lakhani in Huntington, West Virginia and Dante and Pennington Gap, Virginia

‘Deeply demoralizing’: how Trump derailed coal country’s clean-energy revival

Jacob Hannah, CEO of Coalfield Development, stands for a portrait inside a large industrial site that was the subject of a redevelopment halted by Trump’s dismantling of Biden-era programs meant to revitalize rural communities in Appalachia.
Jacob Hannah, CEO of Coalfield Development: ‘It was a once-in-a-generation cash injection … So to have it all taken away is deeply damaging and demoralizing.’ Photograph: Michael Swensen/The Guardian

For a moment, Jacob Hannah saw an unprecedented opportunity to make Appalachia great again.

In 2022, the Biden administration earmarked billions of dollars to help revitalize and strengthen former coal communities. The objective was to lay down building blocks for the region to transition from extractive industries like coal and timber to a hub for solar and other advanced energy technologies, with a view to long-term economic, climate and social resilience.

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