From this morning’s Charleston Gazette-Mail

Feds to invest in W.Va coal communities

And the sub-heading tells us:

Work group report says listening to transition towns should be a priority

The Gazette-Mail story begins:

A group created by President Joe Biden to tackle climate change released a report Friday that identifies Southern West Virginia as the area of the country most in need of focused federal investment because of its high dependence on coal and coal power plant jobs.

The report makes recommendations on how to revitalize the economies of coal and power plant communities.

Accompanying the report’s release Friday was a U.S. Department of Energy announcement of $109.5 million in funding to retain and create jobs in coal and other energy communities, including $75 million in funding to engineer carbon capture projects deemed critical by the United Mine Workers union to keep the coal industry afloat amid a national energy transition and $15 million for geothermal energy research projects at West Virginia University and Sandia National Laboratories.

From this morning’s Wheeling News Register

W.Va. Leaders: Climate Goal Is Hot Air

And the sub-headline tells us:

Morrisey Vows To Take Administration to Court

It begins:

President Joe Biden’s goal of cutting greenhouse emissions in the U.S. in half by the end of the decade might have overtones of President John F. Kennedy’s moon-landing goal, but West Virginia leaders believe the ambitious plan harms the state’s coal and natural gas industries.

The first two-thirds of Steven Allen Adam’s News-Register story documents attacks on the Biden Administration’s climate plan by two “WV leaders,” Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Governor Jim Justice (both Republican).

Two-thirds of the way into the article, Adams finally gets to the Biden Energy Department’s announcement:

With both West Virginia’s coal and natural gas industries expected to be negatively affected by Biden’s emissions goal, the Biden administration announced $109.5 million for projects through the Department of Energy to create new jobs in communities reliant on the fossil fuel industry for employment.

The White House created the Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization within the Department of Energy. In a report released Friday, the working group identified $38 billion in existing funding to help areas with coal and natural gas production transition. Projects include extracting rare earth minerals – used to manufacture electronics and batteries – from coal and coal waste, geothermal energy research at WVU, and more than $75 million for carbon capture projects.

Actually, I was surprised that the News-Register mentioned it at all.

Here is how Associated Press framed the story:

Six large regions nationwide that have economies reliant on fossil fuels have been targeted for federal investment and aid to create renewable energy jobs, as detailed in a new report from President Joe Biden's administration. https://t.co/lHXWBoolks

— The Goshen News (@YourGoshenNews) April 24, 2021