Past presidents tried to help coal miners. Will Biden actually do it?

By Benjamin Storrow | 10/23/2024 06:14 AM EDT

The administration’s efforts to bring manufacturing plants to coal towns are beginning to take root.

President Joe Biden walks with Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and John Kerry at a coal plant in Massachusetts.

President Joe Biden visited the coal-fired Brayton Power Station in Massachusetts to talk about clean energy in 2022. Evan Vucci/AP

Climate hawks have long fretted over the economic hole left by the coal industry’s collapse. Some of them wanted miners to learn how to write computer code as a new job. Others pitched new careers in tourism or renewable energy. Many didn’t stick.

Now, the Biden administration thinks it may have a solution: Directing clean energy manufacturing to old coal towns.

The Department of Energy announced $428 million in federal grants Tuesday for manufacturing projects in 15 coal communities across the country. It comes in the waning days of Joe Biden’s presidency and during a fierce election campaign between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

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The grants are part of a wider effort by Biden and Harris to create jobs by greening the economy. Among the awards is funding for factories planned in Michigan and Pennsylvania, critical swing states where coal was once a pillar of the local electric system.

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