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Cathy Becker

Jul 20, 2014
08:50

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I just read an extremely informative article about why West Virginians remain in the thrall of coal generation after generation - because there is no alternative. This is true even though everyone - including the coal companies - know coal is on its way out. This proposal would give West Virginians, and everyone in all coal states, a badly needed alternative. I don't know why it is not being implemented right now.

Laur Hesse Fisher

Jul 23, 2014
04:23

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This proposal has been moved from the "Shifting Behaviors" contest to the "Industry" contest.

Climate Colab

Aug 6, 2014
12:26

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This is an advocacy idea for retraining miners to work in the geothermal energy, and we would have liked to see details and discussion of the challenges with retraining (e.g. geothermal resources are not located in coal-producing regions; many people won’t relocate; techniques for geothermal are similar to those in the oil & gas industries, not coal mining).

Robert Purtell

Aug 6, 2014
01:42

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Dear Staff, there are many instances of people relocating when economic are given environmental incentives in place. Native Americans were relocated to Reservations by the US government at the turn of the 20th Century. People in Central and South America have been relocating to the USA over the past few decades in enormous numbers in search of a better life. One third of all Jobs in the Semiconductor industry of which I am a part are moving off shore in the last 10 years. The net is relocation and displacements happen through out history and for various reasons. In the case of the Semiconductor industry you are forced to train your replacement and then are laid off. You have turned over patents and trade secrets to the company you work for when your started. If you don't cooperate you will never work in the industry again. ie taking companies to court. In the case of Coal Workers they are hard working people who can be retrained. I will discuss the training aspect with the Professor at Stanford University who came up with the plan for optimal energy production with minimal adverse environmental impacts. Again I am not a specialist in either geothermal energy or coal mining but I am sure those people could be hired by the Federal Government or EPA to help retrain workers. My overall point with this proposal is to avoid court costs on both sides and provide a future for hard working Americans who are in an environmentally destructive industry avoid prolonged court battles at high cost to everyone with nothing gained in the end. More as I investigate further and comments from experts in industries involved are welcome.