Name: Suviving a Post-Coal Economy
Uploaded: 2019-12-13
Duration: 8 min 34 s
Description: In Hazard, Kentucky, a diversified economy is emerging.

 Now, what happened in 2012 was something unprecedented. Natural gas per BTU became cheaper than coal. And that was the point at which you saw coal sort of go off a cliff. And we went from having 20,000 coal mining jobs in Eastern Kentucky to 10,000 jobs almost overnight. I'm actually a fourth generation coal miner, pretty much all my family uncles, my dad's grandpa, his dad, then him and then myself. I had done it for 22 years. And it always provided a good living for me and my family. And I always good money in mining. Coal minings hard dangerous work. I got banged up a bunch. I got black lung. If you work in coal mines, you get black lung. If you work underground, you will get black lung. When you can not have a high school diploma or just have a high school diploma and in five years make a six figure salary, I mean once you do that for a couple years you're kind of stuck. In understanding Appalachia, it's important to understand some of the very real deep and persistent economic challenges that these communities face. We have among the highest poverty rates, among the greatest percentages of families living in poverty. The per capita incomes are low. If you look at Eastern Kentucky, you see poverty rates and unemployment rates that are much higher than the rest of the nation. If you look at Perry county, for example, I think the three year average unemployment rate is close to 10%. When I was a kid, the playgrounds in the streets were full. I mean, we had two country clubs that had swimming pools that both had golf courses, had tons of members all due to the coal industry. And then today, there is no downtown businesses, two local convenience stores, three or four places to eat out. I mean, there's just-- there's nothing. I mean, the homes are falling down, because they've been vacant for so long. The communities look bad. And there's no jobs there. People have left and gone to other places to seek employment. And so we have communities that have lost 50%, 60%, even 75% of their population. Here at MACED, we describe our work as helping to shape a just transition to a new economy for post-coal Appalachia. And we recognize that that new economy needs to be more sustainable, more diverse, more equitable, and more resilient. We need to have strong viable communities and that from those communities new entrepreneurs develop new enterprises. Those enterprises create goods and services that feed into markets, but they also represent jobs and livelihoods for people and families. And that helps to create diverse and sustainable local economies. At the core of that is small business. I was born and raised here in Hazard right out of high school. I worked as a volunteer firefighter and then a EMT here for a few years. And now, I'm one of the nursing supervisors at the local hospital here. So everything with Appalachian apparel is kind of in my spare time. I do it on the side when I have time. And it pretty much takes up all my time. I started Appalachian apparel about a year ago as an online store, running everything out of my garage, producing the shirts, doing the design work, everything there. And the opportunity came up to purchase this building that I found here in downtown. And I've been able to partner with a group of high school students and offer them a space to open a coffee shop free of charge. I want to use part of this space as essentially a creative hub for anybody on any medium of art. If they can come here, they can learn photography. They can learn graphic design. They can learn screen printing. They can do pottery. They can do painting, any type of that artwork and then also a space where students can come to get guidance, to get direction towards more of a business sense of things to continue on that that belief that we can really essentially rise from the ashes that everybody thinks have fallen upon this region and build from that. There were several naysayers that kind of thought nothing was going to last in Hazard. You're not going to be able to be successful in Hazard. The coal industry is fading away. And the economy here has been fighting for some time, but there is also that group of people here who refuse to give up on Hazard and Appalachia general. Oh, yeah. That's it. It's AC instead of DC. Yeah. Good. Good. Good. One of the programs we've been doing for the last couple of years that I'm really excited about is our new energy interns. Through that program, we're able to work with workers who've been displaced as the coal industry has declined. And we pay a good wage. We train them to do energy efficiency, to learn about renewable energy. And at the end of that internship, we want to see them either become full time employees through their internship placement or help them start their own businesses working in the new energy economy. Today, we're here finishing up on an LED light retrofit. We are installing some dampers in the duck work of the HVAC system. We've done a bunch of air sealing. And then we're monitoring air quality to see where they're allergens or particulate contamination. This is of course an old school building that was built I think in the '40s-- so a lot of small things that turn out to make a big difference. The focus of my internship here is to start a business, doing this energy efficiency stuff and renewables so that I can get up and run and actually maybe employ some more people, get some more people trained. And my expectations are and I know it's not an overnight transition, but I hope long-term you know to have a well-established business and wake some people up around here and let them see that there is life beyond coal and that our counties can prosper once again, that our economies can bounce back. One of the important things that we hear from people across the region is an understanding that we really need to do this ourselves, that somebody isn't going to come in here and fix this. So we think that the new economy can be built on the strength of small businesses in these communities. And that all of those small businesses represent the kind of assets and amenities that make these communities places that people want to live. Five or 10 years down the road, I would like to see Hazard become that epicenter that it used to be of shopping and dining and commerce of downtown and being that close knit community that always looks out for each other. There is life past coal. I mean, I just I can't stress that enough, because I've been one of those people. And that's my hope that people just realize that we can be the communities that we want once was. And hopefully, we'll get there. 

Suviving a Post-Coal Economy

Energy

In Hazard, Kentucky, a diversified economy is emerging.

what happened in 2012 was something unprecedented natural gas per bto. You became cheaper than coal. And that was the point at which you saw Cole sort of go off a cliff. And we went from having 20,000 coal mining jobs in eastern Kentucky to 10,000 jobs almost overnight. E. I'm actually 1/4 generation coma. Pretty much, you know, all my family uncles. You know, my my dad, Grandpa, his dad, then him and then myself. I had done it for 22 years, and it always provided a good living, you know, for me and my family. Always my good money in the Coleman's hard, dangerous work. You know, I got banged up a bunch. I got black long. If you worked the coal mines, you get black lung. If you work on the ground, you will hit Black Lung when you can not have a high school prom or just have a high school diploma. And in five years, like a six figure salary, I mean, once you do that for a couple of years, you're kind of stuck in understanding Appalachian. It's important to understand some of the vory really deep and persistent economic challenges that these communities face. We have among the highest poverty rates among the greatest percentages of families living in poverty, the per capita incomes or low. If you look at eastern Kentucky, you see poverty rates and unemployment rates that are much higher than the rest of the nation. If you look at Perry County, for example, I think the three year average unemployment rate is close to 10%. When I was a kid, the playground and the streets were full. I mean, we had two country clubs have swimming pools that both that golf courses had tons of members. You know I'll do to the coal industry. And then today there's no downtown businesses to local convenience stores, three or four places to eat out. I mean, there's just there's nothing. I mean, the home's air falling down because they've been vacant for so long. The communities, you know, look bad, and there's no jobs that people have left and gone to other places to seek employment. And so we have communities that have lost 50 60 even 75% of their population here, it may said. We describe our work is helping to shape a just transition to a new economy for post coal Appalachia. And we recognize that new economy needs to be more sustainable, more diverse, more equitable and more resilient. We need to have a strong, viable communities and that from those communities, new entrepreneurs develop new enterprises. Those enterprises create goods and service is that feed into markets. But they also represent jobs and livelihood for people in families, and that helps to create diverse and sustainable local economy. At the core of that is small business. I was born raised here in Hazzard right out of high school. I worked as a volunteer firefighter and then a e M t here for a few years, and now I'm one of the nursing supervisors at the local hospital here. So everything with that alleged apparel is kind of in my spare time. I do it on the side when I have time and pretty much takes up all my times. I started at flights in peril about a year ago, a zone online store running everything out of my garage, producing the shirts doing the design work, everything there, and the opportunity came up to purchase this building that I found here in downtown, and I've been able to partner with a group of high school students and offer them a space open a coffee shop free of charge. I want to go used part of this space as essentially a creative hub for anybody on any medium of art. If they can come here, they can learn photography. They can learn graphic design. They can learn screen printing that can do pottery that could do painting any type of that artwork and also a space for students can come to get guidance to get direction towards more of a business sense of things to continue on. That that belief that we can really essentially rise from the ashes that everybody thinks they have fallen upon this region and build from that There are several naysayers, that kind of thought, you know nothing's gonna last in Hazzard. You're not gonna be able to be successful and has the co industry is fighting away, and the economy here has been fading for some time. But there's also that group of people here who refused to give up on hazard and acolytes in general. Oh, yeah, because it's Yep, Good, Good one of the programs we've been doing for the last couple of years that I'm really excited about is our new energy. Interns through that program were able to work with workers who've been displaced as the coal industry has declined and we pay a good wage, we train them to do energy efficiency to learn about renewable energy. And at the end of that internship, we want to see them either become full time employees through their internship placement or help them start their own businesses working in the new energy economy. No, today we're here, finishing up on an led light retrofit. We are installing some dampers in the duct work of the H V A C system. We've done a bunch error ceiling, and then we're monitoring air quality to see where they're allergens or particulate contamination. This is, of course, an old school building build, I think, in the 40. So you know a lot of small things that turn out to Michael. The focus of my internship here is to store business doing this energy efficiency stuff and renewables so that I could get up and running and actually maybe employ more people, gets more people trained me. My expectations are, you know, and I know it's not an overnight transition, but I hope long term Noto have a well established business. And like some people up around here and let him see that there is life beyond co. And you know, our county's can prosper once again that our economy can bounce back. One of the important things that we hear from people across the region is understanding that, uh, we really need to do this ourselves, that somebody isn't going to come in here and fix this. So we think that the new economy can be built on the strength of small businesses in these communities and that all of those small businesses represent the kind of assets and amenities that make these communities places that people want to live 5 10 years down the road. I would like to see hazard become that at the center that it used to be of shopping and dining and commerce of downtown and being that close knit community that it always looks out for each other. There is life, Pascoe. I mean, I just I can't stress that enough because, you know, I've been one of those people, you know what I mean? You know that. That's my That's my hope that, you know, people just realize that we can be the community that we want to, you know, and hopefully we'll get there.