Senators introduce bill to help fossil fuel workers in changing energy industry

U.S. Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Tina Smith (D-MN) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced the American Energy Worker Opportunity Act Thursday, which is designed to help transition energy workers from fossil fuels to renewable sources.

The bill would create a worker transition program with wage supplements, health care benefits, education and training funds for laid off workers from coal mines, coal-fired power plants, coal transport or oil refineries. The bill would also create an additional education benefit for the children of those laid-off workers.

“Workers in our coal mines, power plants, steel mills and other emission intensive manufacturing sites provided the electricity and materials that have powered the American economy since the Industrial Revolution. We have a responsibility to ensure that these workers and their families are not left behind,” Casey said. “We also have a responsibility to confront the climate crisis, as impacts of Hurricane Ida and other natural disasters in Pennsylvania reminded us. This legislation would provide a worker-centered solution to mitigating the climate crisis while supporting the workers who have kept the lights on in this Nation for years.”

The bill is endorsed by the United Mine Workers of America International, United Steelworkers (USW) International, the Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, BlueGreen Alliance, National Wildlife Federation, LCV, NRDC and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“The United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) has been clear that as we continue to move through an energy transition in the United States we need to stop leaving workers, families and communities behind. For us, the principles of a true transition are to; first, preserve as many UMWA jobs as possible; second, create new well-paying union jobs in the coal-producing areas of the country; and third, create a bridge for those workers who are forced to make a transition so that they do not fall into poverty,” United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts said. “This legislation fulfills that last principle… As Congress considers how to approach energy transition, this must be part of the solution.”