The POWER Initiative: Energy Transition as Economic Development (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Dec. 4, 2024 |
| Report Number |
R46015 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Michael H. Cecire |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
With the decline of the U.S. coal industry, managing the economic effects of energy transition
has become a priority for the federal government. The Partnerships for Opportunity and
Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative, and the broader POWER Plus Plan
of which it was a part, represent the U.S. government’s efforts to ease the economic effects of
energy transition in coal industry-dependent communities in the United States, and especially in
Appalachia. Launched in 2015 by the Obama Administration as a multi-agency effort utilizing
various existing programs, the POWER Plus plan received partial backing through appropriations for Fiscal Year 2016
(FY2016) to the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Economic Development Administration, and for abandoned mine
land reclamation.
While certain proposed provisions of POWER Plus were never enacted or funded, other elements of the POWER Initiative
have continued under the Trump and Biden Administrations. Continuing programs include the Assistance to Coal
Communities program (now part of the Assistance to Energy Communities initiative) within the Economic Development
Administration, the POWER Initiative under the Appalachian Regional Commission (the only program to retain the original
branding), and a funding program for abandoned mine land reclamation. Of these efforts, the Appalachian Regional
Commission’s POWER Initiative is the largest of the initiative’s economic development programs, having funded over $487
million in projects since it was first launched. The Appalachian Regional Commission’s POWER Initiative is regionally
targeted to declining coal communities in Appalachia, unlike the Economic Development Administration’s Assistance to
Coal Communities (now the Assistance to Energy Communities) program, which has a national scope. To date, the initiative
has reportedly leveraged approximately $1.85 billion of private investment into the Appalachian regional economy. This
report provides background on the origins, development, and activities of the POWER Initiative.
