Director, D., Molof, D., Manager, N. F. S., Fowler, N., Manager, S., So, K., Rowland-Shea, J., Villagomez, A., Manser, K., Christianson, A., Avia, L., & Williamson, M. W. (2022, November 4). Quitting fossil fuels and reviving Rural America. Center for American Progress. Retrieved February 8, 2023, from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/quitting-fossil-fuels-and-reviving-rural-america/
Many coal based towns/cities in the U.S. are facing significant economic challenges due to the declining use of coal for energy production and the downfall of coal-fired power plants and mines. The loss of coal revenue has led to layoffs, reduced services, and increased taxes and fees. The situation in Big Horn County, Montana serves as an example of the impacts of coal revenue loss on communities. A federal policy framework is needed to address revenue dependence and disentangle local economies from reliance on oil and gas revenue. The Center for American Progress recommends establishing an Energy and Resource Legacy Fund, which would replace annual revenue-sharing payments from fossil fuel production with stable, permanent distributions, and a Rural Investment Council to manage the fund. This solution would provide a predictable source of income for communities transitioning away from fossil fuels, at no cost to U.S. taxpayers.
This relates to our APES topic due to the fact that it gives us a complete run down on the pros and cons of eliminating fossil fuels. Even though eliminating fossil fuel would be great for our plant. Many countries’ cities and towns are economically built by fossil fuels and many people have lives based on selling or producing fossil fuels. I enjoyed reading this article because it gave me 2 different perspectives on fossil fuels and gave me an understanding that fossil fuels are still needed in today’s world.
I think you made a good point about eliminating fossil fuels but I think we also can’t keep on going with the status quo. We will definitely, though, need something to meet the gap between supply and demand between fossil fuels and current renewable alternatives. Do you think nuclear would be a feasible alternative?
I agree that we need to consider the impacts of getting rid of fossil fuel producers in cities. Many of these fuels while damaging, do provide a large number of people with jobs to put food on the table and clothes on their backs. Without these industries, most would lose their work and their source of income with little job availability in other sectors. What is one possible solution to the unemployment caused by eliminating fossil fuels?
I thought it was really interesting how although fossil fuels are detrimental to our environment, we in fact need them which I didn’t know. Is there any possibility of finding a solution to this problem of needing fossil fuels? – because I believe that it’s important to not disrupt our environment further as I’m sure there’s another way to replace the need of fossil fuels.