Bipartisan Bill Would Help Out-Of-Work Coal Miners Find New Jobs

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/09/29/3573272/coal-miner-job-assistance-bill/

by Katie Valentine Posted on September 29, 2014

Two lawmakers want to make life a little easier for coal miners who have lost their jobs in recent years.

Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) introduced legislation this month that would create a program to help transition out-of-work coal miners into new jobs. The bill, called the Healthy Employee Loss Prevention Act (HELP Act), would create a “worker adjustment assistance program” that would help former coal miners with finding jobs or retraining programs.

“Across West Virginia communities are being decimated by what’s happening to the coal industry,” McKinley said in a statement. “Coal miners and other workers are being hurt by factors beyond their control, whether it’s regulations or market forces. It’s only fair we do something to help these struggling families. This legislation represents a bipartisan effort to move beyond our differences and offer help to the proud men and women of the coal industry who are out of work.”

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“American coal workers are national heroes,” Welch said in a statement. “With grit and determination, they fueled America’s rise to an economic powerhouse. While there are strongly held views in Congress on climate change and energy policy, there should be no disagreement that America has an obligation to ensure displaced workers in the coal industry transition successfully to good jobs in other sectors.”

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Welch and McKinley’s legislation isn’t the first initiative aimed at getting out-of-work coal miners back into jobs. In June, the Department of Labor announced a $7.5 million award to Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program Inc. (EKCEP) to help former coal miners in Kentucky find new jobs. West Virginia received a similar Department of Labor grant in 2012.

Both states have been hit hard by the coal industry’s downturn: in 2013, there were fewer coal jobs in Kentucky than there had been since record-keeping began in the state in 1927. New mining practices, such as mountaintop removal, have contributed to the loss in traditional mining jobs, and the coal industry has also suffered economically due to competition from natural gas, which has emerged as a cheap fuel source in the United States.

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