BRECC fires up coal counties to figure out their futures

Communities rose all over the country to help build modern America. And somewhere along the way, those places became home for the people who made that work possible. 

And then the world changed. 

“Our resources that are in the ground haven’t changed — we still have the critical minerals that were used decades ago,” said Makayla Gordon, executive director of the West End Economic Development Corporation in Colorado. Montrose and San Miguel counties lost half of their property tax base after a power plant and mine closed, and residents left town. “We can still develop that energy for America, but choices have been made for our community, without our community, and now we have to put those pieces back together.”

Coal as a keystone industry

Gordon’s team was one of 15 to participate in NACo’s Building Resilient Economies in Coal Communities (BRECC) Action Challenge over the last two years — eight in 2023 and seven in 2024. Those teams received technical assistance and one-on-one coaching from economic development consultants to help them find a new way forward, diversify their economies and fight for a chance to keep their counties vital. Places like Somerset County, Pa., which has lost more than 1,000 jobs.

“It’s a constant race to find replacement jobs and business development efforts and attraction,” said Debbie La Rue, senior planner, Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, representing Mason, Tazewell and Peoria counties in Illinois.

Even well into a coal community’s maturity, extraction and energy production are keystone industries. That means they’re vulnerable to changes that could undermine entire financing systems. 

“Many of our state funding models for public education and healthcare and essential services are heavily reliant on Campbell County coal,” said Kristin Young, Campbell County, Wyo.’s deputy director of administration. “We have had a decline of 20% in direct coal jobs, and we know that when we have one job in the coal industry that’s worth two more jobs in the service and adjacent industries.”

Campbell County is the top coal-producing county in the country, but even the leader isn’t immune to the changes in the market when less expensive energy sources take hold. For Campbell County, along with other BRECC teams, the coal downturn has been an impetus to analyze what the region has, what it needs and how to pivot. Campbell County has plenty of existing infrastructure, but it needs more connections and more dedicated resources to support new enterprises, like air service to the county seat of Gillette. And its population has been far from complacent, ready to apply what they’ve learned to a new environment. It’s up to the county to give them the tools to succeed.

“We’ve had a lot of people really jump into that entrepreneurial spirit and start their own businesses and work in oil and gas,” said Brandi Harlow, Northwest regional director of the Wyoming Business Council. “But we do not have an industrial park, and we need one to help those businesses grow.”

Outdoor recreation fuels economy

For a West Virginia county, the numbing duration of one trauma was shaken away only by a much more abrupt shock that offered an opportunity to adapt to a new economy. Grant County had long been home to outdoor recreation opportunities, but rarely topped lists of getaways in the state’s eastern panhandle.

“It’s taken us a long time to refocus because we have lost so much with the coal and timber jobs in that industry,” said Susan Park, communications director for the Potomac Valley Transit Authority in Grant County. “The people of Appalachia can take a really long time to embrace change, if at all, and grasping non-traditional businesses and business ideas can be even more difficult, but COVID opened our eyes to amazing opportunities. It kick-started our imagination.”

Grant County’s lodging rates averaged 98% for months when city dwellers fled for the country, and local merchants adapted and thrived. One restaurant turned a normal window into a drive-through service window and added rolls of toilet paper to takeout orders for campers.

“Outdoor recreation became huge for us, we were safe, and it was a great opportunity to come get away from the COVID restrictions, raise a family, grow a family,” she said. “COVID helped us refocus on our downtown area, giving us the opportunity to focus on art and things like that.”

The county visitor’s bureau has worked to further integrate outdoor recreation options into the town of Petersburg. They are working with the Monongahela National Forest to establish a “Main Street to the Mountains Trail,” along with river trails, making the outdoor options more user-friendly for visitors.

Participating in BRECC’s Action Challenge helped connect coal counties, and demystify some of the challenges they face.

“I don’t think we’re as unique as we thought we were,” said Abby Peters from nonprofit Pennsylvania Wilds, representing Forest County, Pa. “Our biggest problem is we have limited people in different areas that are remotely located. We want to go from a timber community to an outdoor recreation community and we would like to bring in some more businesses.” 

Leadership makes the difference

Some participants bucked the trends. Despite a loss of tax revenue and jobs when one of its coal-fired power plant units closed in 2021, Monroe County, Ga. found itself in an interesting position.

“Our problem in Monroe County is not that people are moving away, they’re moving in,” said Tammy Selman, the county’s grant specialist. “We need money for these expansions, we need to continue working on our workforce development.”

Back in Montrose and San Miguel counties, the West End team stresses five elements in their communities’ redevelopment, many of which echoed across the BRECC teams: Fostering a healthy livable community; offering workforce, business and education development; building strong town foundations; targeting industry expansion and providing resources and opportunities for leadership and capacity development.

“To bolster our local capacity, we must develop the leadership skills within our local community to help guide our community through future change and transition,” Gordon said. “We have to put the people in the seats that will catalyze the change while also honoring our legacy.”