Legacies of Coal
In April 2023, MIT's Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI) launched its new Climate Justice Program, led by ESI postdoctoral associate Briana Meier, who explains: "the goal for the climate justice program is to serve as an institutional home and source of support for climate justice work across MIT. We are aiming to create an Institute-wide, cross-disciplinary, engaged research and teaching agenda, focused explicitly on urgent topics related to climate justice."
The Climate Justice Program’s kick-off event, Legacies of Coal: In Search of a Just Transition, brought community members from Greene County, Pennsylvania to MIT to talk about the local implications of energy transition and possibilities for climate justice. At the event, I presented my master's thesis research and findings on the social dynamics and political processes I see in Greene County, Pennsylvania's ongoing energy and economic transition. We also welcomed three speakers from Greene County: County Commissioner Mike Belding; former Executive Director for the Center for Coalfield Justice, Veronica Coptis (in her second visit as ESI's guest!); and Greene County Community Organizer, Tonya Yoders.
The world is moving away from a fossil-fuel based economy, and toward a minerals-based economy as production of renewable energy grows. As ESI Director Prof. John Fernández said at the event, MIT has a role to play in engaging "stakeholders and rights-holders in the world … [in] the places where people live."
Mike Belding once told me there's a local saying: "as coal goes, so goes the county." The wealth from coal ensured the stability of the region, enabling generations to build home and community around this guarantee. Coal mining is a huge part of local culture and identity. When asked about their personal histories and backgrounds, residents will inevitably mention family and ancestors who were coal miners as a way of demonstrating their deep ties to the region.
Our event moderator, Associate Professor of Anthropology Amy Moran-Thomas, emphasized the connections we all share with these legacies of coal, underscoring “the responsibility of all of us, moving forward, to think about these inheritances of coal as places the material and the social are often impossible to pull apart.” Now, public infrastructures are suffering from the loss in value of coal assets.
The former heights of prosperity are diminishing. During the event, Mike described how the county used to get 50% of its taxes from the value of coal underground. This amount has dropped to 30% with the closure of five out of nine mines in 2015; that difference of 20% has not been made up. The oil and gas industry has not stepped up to replace the loss in tax revenue intake, nor the loss in jobs, nor has the industry provided funds for remediation of the lands it has damaged.
Today, the residents of Greene County are trying to forge a way to bring the community to a place where everyone who considers it home can remain and build a future there for their kids. Every issue that climate transition raises – economic diversification, environmental effects of extraction, workforce futures, tax base, long-term education and planning and housing – is, at its core, about what it means for Greene County to feel like home.
What that means is a little different for everyone. Home and identity are often associated with coal, yes, but during my research I’ve been hearing about love for something more, perhaps something deeper, than that.
Tonya told me home is about the people, their hard work and resilience. Nick and Ken told me about the deep ties to the land, the love of the environment. Jonathan wasn’t born and raised in Greene County, but spent a couple formative years there as a kid, and came back as an adult because he had felt a sense of community there, a sense that people cared.
Not everyone agrees on how to move forward, either. Some believe in a model where a large investment sparks other service industries to move in. Others believe in a more grassroots, endogenous model, where residents build their own way out. During the event, Veronica Coptis described her work building ways to grow and thrive "in the places we love … to look at these lessons, the history, what happened, what power went unchecked, how we challenged it and built it." I hear tensions between those who believe in the benefits that fracking has brought to some residents through royalties, and those who are concerned about the lack of fresh food and clean water.
I came in as an outsider, and I learned to listen. Through events and partnerships like these, I can help lift and amplify the stories with which I've been trusted. This is the beginning of the role research institutions can and should play in these contexts, where we engage with communities and forge long-term partnerships. Next steps might include more data-driven research that can help with community education and engagement, on-site projects for air and water quality monitoring, or regional economic modeling.
Looking to the future, I hope MIT and others can play supportive, collaborative roles, helping to build capacity and empower communities to chart their own development.
Written by ESI Research Assistant, Yiran He