Today's Hillary News & Views begins with coverage of Clinton's ambitious plan to transition coal-dependent local economies as we become a nation powered by clean energy.
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton on Thursday released a $30 billion plan aimed at revitalizing communities dependent on coal production, seeking to mitigate the economic impact of the nation’s shift from an electricity source that is both plentiful and polluting.
Mrs. Clinton’s plan includes federal money to spur economic development through building infrastructure, expanding broadband access and giving tax breaks for new investment in communities hit by a decline in coal production, such as many towns in Appalachia.
“Building a 21st century clean energy economy in the United States will create new jobs and industries, deliver important health benefits, and reduce carbon pollution,” the campaign said in a fact sheet. “But we can’t ignore the impact this transition is already having on mining communities, or the threat it poses to the health care and retirement security of coalfield workers and their families.”
Mother Jones reports:
One thing every Republican presidential candidate can agree on is that they hate President Barack Obama's plan to tackle climate change. Now Hillary Clinton might have a way to remedy one of their biggest concerns.
So far, their ideas to preserve the coal-country economy have focused on derailing the rules needed limit the gases that cause climate change, rather than retrofitting that economy for a new century powered by clean energy. In fact, neither Paul nor any of his presidential opponents (including Democrats Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley) have laid out what they would do as president to smooth the transition for coal communities as the market for our dirtiest form of energy rapidly shrinks.
Today Clinton produced her own $30 billion plan, which would use a smattering of tax incentives and grant funding to support public health, education, and entrepreneurial initiatives in coal communities from Appalachia to Wyoming.
You can read the full plan here. It follows the lead of a similar but much smaller initiative Obama rolled out last month. Much of it is targeted at rebuilding infrastructure—highways, bridges, railroads, broadband networks. The Clinton campaign says that kind of development would not only create new jobs to replace those lost in the coal industry, but be vital for growing new industries.