Climate Corner: Having it both ways – a cleaner environment and economic growth

Jan 25, 2025

George Banziger

editorial@newsandsentinel.com

It’s a frequently held assumption, often promoted by fossil-fuel interests, that in order to pursue a cleaner environment, we need to make sacrifices for economic development. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Recent events, internationally, nationally and locally, have put into stark relief the urgency required to address climate change and to reduce the risks and costs associated with the extraction of fossil fuels. Data from around the world have revealed that 2024 was the hottest year in recorded history (National Centers for Environmental Information). The devastating wildfires in southern California are the product of an extended drought in that area and extreme Santa Ana winds. Jordan Thomas, a retired California firefighter, quoted in a recent edition of the New York Times (Jan. 16, 2025), said: “To (prevent) catastrophic fires like these we must stop burning fossil fuels…” The Ohio legislature allowed — even encouraged — hydraulic fracturing, i.e., fracking, under public lands, including state parks in a bill (HB 507) that took effect in 2023. With more fracking comes more brine waste, that is, produced waste, much of it coming to Washington County, which leads the state in the volume of this waste material injected into its grounds. As my Climate Corner colleague, Dr. Randi Pokladnik, pointed out in her piece a week ago, much of this waste is radioactive (containing Radium 226 and 228) and contains PFAS (forever chemicals), carcinogenic substances, and other toxic chemicals.

In its economy so dependent on fossil fuels, especially natural gas, the Mid-Ohio Valley is more of a dumping ground for waste products than an economic growth engine. But where are the profits, jobs, and prosperity from these extractive industries going and how much benefit to the Appalachian region accrues from these investments? In a study done by the Ohio River Valley Institute (July 2021), it was reported that from 2008-2019 in the 22 counties in Ohio, in western Pennsylvania, and in West Virginia, which produce 90% of the natural gas in Appalachia, economic prosperity, in terms of jobs, income, and population growth, trailed the U.S. measures of these factors. The demographics of our region continue to show a decline of population as young people choose to leave. Natural gas extraction and plastics manufacturing are capital-intensive enterprises. What is needed for job creation and sustained prosperity in the region is activity that is labor-intensive and that produces wealth which remains in the region.

There are many opportunities for economic development in Appalachia, even in manufacturing, which can serve as alternatives to extractive industries. Biomaterials, such as hemp, which can be readily grown in the region, algae, and mycelium (mushroom roots) can serve as a phased-in alternative to plastics (Patton and Rudek, 2024). Production of batteries for vehicles which reduce greenhouse gas emissions is another promising idea. Locating and capping abandoned oil and gas wells can provide many jobs in the region (32,000 such jobs according to ORVI). There are now more jobs in the solar and wind industries in Ohio than in the coal industry (U.S. Energy and Jobs Report, U.S. Department of Energy, 2023). Research on the use of coal tailings to produce rare-earth metals, which are used in electric vehicles and other modern applications, is producing promising results. Parts for wind turbines can be manufactured in Appalachia.

ReImagine Appalachia, a group committed to transforming the economy of this region from one based on extractive industries to one based on sustainable practices, has promoted the concept of circular manufacturing. The latter strategy assumes that materials never become waste and that nature is regenerated when products and parts are used over again according to a principle of reduce, reuse, repurpose.

Appalachian communities where economic investments are being made should be assured that their communities will receive long-term benefits from any major investments in their areas including the following: that local labor will be hired on construction and manufacturing jobs (to be paid at prevailing wages), that environmental standards will be applied (e.g., clean air and clean water), and that green space and affordable housing will be provided. These assurances have been formalized into community benefit agreements, now a requirement for grant-funded projects supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Job-training programs are being developed in Appalachia for those who have been involved with the criminal justice system, through drug-related crimes and those in drug-treatment programs. These efforts seek to address one of the critical endemic social problems of Appalachia.

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George Banziger, Ph.D., was a faculty member at Marietta College and an academic dean at three other colleges. He is a member of the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, Citizens Climate Lobby, and of the Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action team.