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1 1 (January 17, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govekgl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service informing the legislative debate since 1914 0 Updated January 17, 2023 Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization Congress has provided funding for communities to respond to regional economic challenges associated with changes in energy markets (e.g., power plant closures, declines in coal mining and supply chain business activity). The Biden Administration established the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization (hereinafter the IWG) to facilitate economic revitalization in coal, oil and gas, and power plant communities and to support workers. This In Focus summarizes the IWG's objectives, structure, activities, and coal community designations, as well as its role in connecting communities to economic transition assistance. Working G rou p M ission and Objectives In January 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14008 (Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad), establishing the IWG. The IWG's primary mission is to coordinate the identification of economic revitalization resources for coal, oil and gas, and power plant communities; develop implementation strategies for economic and social recovery; assess opportunities to support coal and power plant workers; and submit reports on revitalization efforts. Structure, Agency Partkipants, and Funding The IWG co-chairs are the National Climate Advisor, the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, and the Senior Advisor for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation (see E.O. 14008, and E.O. 14082, which added a third co-chair). The Department of Energy (DOE) provides the administrative home for the working group, which is led by a DOE-appointed executive director who coordinates the interagency activities. Additional working group members include the Secretaries of the Departments of the Treasury; Interior; Agriculture; Commerce; Labor; Health and Human Services; Transportation; Energy; and Education; and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; the Director of the Office of Management and Budget; the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and the Director of the Domestic Policy Council; and the Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). The Council on Environmental Quality also participates in the IWG. IWG members lead or participate in workshops, outreach events, and the group's subcommittees, which focus on policy, integration, engagement, and investments. In the explanatory statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-328), Congress provided $3 million to support IWG activities (see Congressional Record, December 20, 2022, p. S8356). Working Group Activities The IWG leads workshops, stakeholder engagement, and capacity-building activities to support state and local transition efforts, and carries out resource identification, analysis, and interagency coordination activities. The IWG's website (energycommunities.gov) features a clearinghouse of over 160 federal funding opportunities and is searchable by agency, funding type (e.g., grants, incentives, loans), applicant type, and activity. Recent webinars have focused on accessing federal funds or explaining aspects of new federal legislation that may be relevant to energy communities. IWG workshops have also focused on supporting local stakeholders and state-specific planning and implementation efforts. For example, in August 2022, the IWG created a Rapid Response Team (RRT) in the Four Corners region (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah) to connect local stakeholders with federal resources and agency representatives. After facilitating a workshop on economic revitalization pathways with stakeholders in September 2022, the IWG created another RRT in the Illinois Basin region. In April 2021, the IWG published Initial Report to the President on Empowering Workers Through Revitalizing Energy Communities, which identified next steps and priorities for economic transition and revitalization. The report described the social, economic, and fiscal conditions in communities experiencing the effects of changing energy markets. For instance, one of several issues faced by certain coal and other energy communities is the loss of tax revenue, which translates to fewer resources for local services. The report also offered ways that existing agency authorities may be used to support economic transition efforts, established goals to guide the IWG's work plan, and summarized key insights gathered from stakeholder engagement with impacted communities. Priority and Fenceline Energy Conmunities The IWG's April 2021 report included results of a job density analysis using 2019 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, which identified the location of 75 metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas with a high number of fossil energy activities and jobs as well as the designation of 25 locations that the IWG considered priority communities (see Figure 1). The priority communities are primarily BLS areas impacted by concentrated, direct coal-related job losses from mine and power plant closures in recent years. The list of priority communities includes mostly rural, nonmetropolitan areas; eight are in the Appalachian region and seven are in the U.S. Mountain West region (e.g., Wyoming, Colorado). According to the IWG, the priority communities were presumed to be in need of the most

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