ReImagine Appalachia’s plan to revitalize the Ohio River Valley could bring nearly half a million jobs to Ohio and Pennsylvania over the next decade, according to Farm and Dairy.
The potential jobs include more than 87,000 jobs in agriculture and land restoration and 233,000 in clean energy. However, the plan hinges on billions of dollars in federal funds and about 28,000 workers in fossil fuels-based industries would likely lose their jobs as the industry contracted according to new reports by an economic research group.
Furthermore, a transition package for displaced fossil-fuels workers would be available but moving to the clean energy industry may include a pay cut.
While the initiative could negatively impact some individuals, the overall concept is to make sure federal investments within the region stay within the region.
“Appalachia has long provided the raw materials for the prosperity of the rest of the nation while the region has suffered in poverty. We are calling for any federal investments to come with strings attached to make sure those jobs created are good union jobs with good union wages, that these fossil fuels workers have priority for the jobs created,” Amanda Woodrum, a senior researcher with Policy Matters Ohio, a non-profit policy research institute.
Learn more: Farm and Dairy > Clean energy, infrastructure plan could bring 489,000 jobs to Ohio, Pa.
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