Draft Statement of Purpose for Appalachian Coalfields Climate Change Forum

Introduction

The Appalachian coalfields region of the United States (portions of West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania) produced about 400 million tons of coal in 2006 -- roughly 1/3 of U.S. coal production in that year. Most of this coal is burned domestically to generate electricity; the remainder is used for metallurgical purposes and/or is exported. Coal mining and related/supporting business activities are a very important part of the economy in the region. For example, in West Virginia, tens of thousands of people have good-paying jobs in direct coal production and related businesses; and state and local governments receive hundreds of millions of dollars annually in coal-related taxes.

Because of climate change policies aimed at limiting atmospheric carbon emissions from coal burning, the Appalachian coalfields region will experience substantial challenges and opportunities over the coming years:

(1) Rising temperatures and changing precipitation and storm/weather patterns will affect the region’s rivers and streams; its mixed mesophytic and northern hardwood forests and their flora and fauna; its climate-related recreational businesses like skiing and rafting, and related hospitality and travel infrastructure; and its regional timbering and agricultural producers.

(2) Electricity and other energy-related costs (like transportation) for consumers, businesses (especially energy-intensive manufacturing businesses), and government will increase. Renewable energy and energy conservation policies and practices will become more important.

(3) Climate change policies designed to reduce atmospheric carbon emissions, like carbon taxes or “cap-and-trade” emission limits, will affect coal production and production-related costs, employment, profits; and related income and revenue for individuals, families, government, human services, education, environmental remediation, transportation, and infrastructure. Climate change policies will affect the participants in and structure of the coal and electricity industries, and their suppliers, investors, and workers, with similar effects in other energy-related markets and industries. There will be changes in the value of investments in coal reserves and other fuels; in the demand and competitive climate for coal from the region; and in the economic viability of technologies like coal-to-liquids and practices like coal gasification.

(4) The evaluation and implementation of carbon emissions limitation technologies like carbon capture and sequestration will present a wide range of political, financial, taxation, social, land use, and infrastructure issues. Carbon offset practices (forestry, etc.) may have substantial significance in the region. Climate policy-related employment changes and transportation costs will change housing and travel patterns, and affect property values and financial support for community infrastructure.

(5) Increased demand for coalbed methane and lower-carbon-emitting natural gas will exacerbate coal/gas owner tensions. Land use conflicts about coal mining and transportation, water pollution and use, electrical transmission lines, natural gas wells and pipelines, the allocation of water resources, and wind turbine siting will increase.

(6) Pressure on social, community, political, business, civic, and labor leaders to influence and respond to national and regional climate policy will grow. Different social groupings (women, men, children, the elderly, low-income people, disabled persons, minorities) will experience disparate effects from climate change and climate change policies. The nature, amount, allocation, and duration of “transitional assistance” for the region as part of implementing climate change policy – for worker retraining, infrastructure maintenance, environmental cleanup, etc. -- will become an area of growing political and economic debate.

Because of these challenges and opportunities, important questions face the people of the region, including:

(1) What are the estimates and predictions being made today by knowledgeable experts about the nature, range and magnitude, trajectory, and duration of the effects of climate change and climate change policies on the region? What are the areas of the greatest and least agreement and certainty? When, where, and how will the effects of climate change and climate change policy be most substantial?

(2) What is the range of knowledgeable opinion today about likely methodologies, scenarios, and timetables for developing, implementing, and evaluating proposed “clean coal” technologies like carbon capture and sequestration? What are the important social forces in action today relating to these technologies, and what are their perspectives?

(3) What should people in the region do to better understand, anticipate, and respond to these challenges and opportunities? How should people in the region seek to affect the coming transition to a “new order”? How can these challenges and opportunities be addressed with a maximum of transparency and democratic process? What are other regions that are facing a similar situation doing?·

The Problem: Poor Public Understanding and Discussion about Climate Change and Climate Change Policy in the Region

The foregoing questions and issues are not being seriously answered, understood, or discussed in the Appalachian coalfields.

Balanced, evidence-driven, reliable, and realistic information about the challenges and opportunities facing the Appalachian coalfields region as a result of climate change and climate change policy is not being presented to citizens and leaders in the region. News media and political, governmental, academic, and civic forums in the region tend to avoid dealing with these difficult and often controversial issues in-depth and critically.

Most social groupings – like small business, professionals, educators, social workers, government, labor, students, religious/civic, etc. – do not have the information or the opportunity to seriously discuss the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change and climate change policy for the region. Public discussion of these issues in the region often consists of polarized, simplistic, inaccurate, and unrealistic information and arguments presented by people who have strong "pro-coal" or “anti-coal" perspectives and agendas. Such discussion often ignores many of the human, economic, and social consequences and choices posed by climate change and climate change policy for the region.

Public understanding in the region about the challenges and opportunities presented by climate change and climate change policy suffers from ignorance, confusion, anger, fear, denial, and a sense of powerlessness -- at all levels, from elites to "man/woman on the street." Political and community leaders, including national political representatives from the region, are hyper-cautious about candidly addressing these questions and issues. Both within the region, and in how the region interacts on the national and global stage, the risk of unwise, wasteful, and counterproductive choices and actions is materially increased.

Mission and Strategy of the Appalachian Coalfields Climate Change Forum

As climate change grows in importance as a global, national, and regional issue, there is a growing need (and opportunity) to improve public understanding and discussion about climate change and climate change policy in the Appalachian coalfields region. The region’s leadership, news media, and other social sectors are hungry for good information and for opportunities to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the region. There is an existing and growing body of solid and reputable information, research, analysis, and opinion about climate change and climate change policy that can be deployed in the region to improve public understanding and discussion. Such an improvement would benefit and empower the region’s leadership and citizens generally; and would help -- on a regional and a national basis -- to develop and implement realistic, efficient, and effective climate change policies.

The mission of the Appalachian Coalfields Climate Change Forum is therefore to improve public understanding and discussion in the Appalachian coalfields region about the challenges and opportunities facing the region due to climate change and climate change policy. Accomplishing this mission will benefit the people of the region, and will help in implement realistic, efficient, and effective national climate change policies.

The strategy of the ACCC Forum is to establish the Forum as an effective, independent, nonpartisan, and evidence-based (1) source of information about the challenges and opportunities that climate change and climate change policy present to the people of the Appalachian coalfields region; and (2) forum that facilitates informed, constructive discussions in the region, involving all social sectors, about how to best deal with these challenges and opportunities.

The ACCC Forum will not advocate for particular climate change policies. The Forum’s message is: “Climate change is real and serious. National and global climate change policies based on limiting atmospheric carbon emissions are coming down the pike, and soon. Our region produces a great deal of the highest-carbon-emitting fuel, coal. We need to look with our ‘eyes wide open,’ and learn the facts about the challenges and opportunities that we are facing. We need to discuss what people and institutions in the region can and should do to in response to these challenges and opportunities.”