Chapter 37 Further Reading: Energy Transition — Appalachia's Past, Present, and Future in the Climate Crisis

Lewin, Philip G. Coal Is Not Just a Job: How the Coal Industry Fuels Inequality in Appalachian Communities. New York: New York University Press, 2024. A recent study of how coal industry dependence has shaped economic inequality in Appalachian communities, with direct implications for the energy transition. Lewin documents how the coal economy concentrated wealth among absentee landowners and corporate interests while leaving workers and communities economically vulnerable — a pattern that the energy transition risks repeating if ownership structures are not changed.

Montrie, Chad. To Save the Land and People: A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. A comprehensive history of the movement against surface mining and mountaintop removal in Appalachia — the environmental destruction that created the reclaimed mine sites now being considered for solar development. Montrie's account of the grassroots opposition to mountaintop removal provides essential context for understanding the communities' insistence that the energy transition not repeat the environmental injustices of the coal era.

Barca, Stefania. "Energy, Property, and the Industrial Revolution Narrative." Ecological Economics 70, no. 7 (2011): 1309-15. A theoretical analysis of the relationship between energy extraction, property rights, and economic development that provides a framework for understanding the Appalachian experience. Barca's argument that the industrialization narrative obscures the exploitation of energy-producing regions is directly applicable to the dynamics described in this chapter.

Carley, Sanya, and David M. Konisky. "The Justice and Equity Implications of the Clean Energy Transition." Nature Energy 5, no. 8 (2020): 569-77. A comprehensive review of the energy justice literature, examining how the transition to clean energy can either reduce or exacerbate existing inequalities depending on how it is designed and implemented. The article provides a framework for evaluating the just transition proposals described in this chapter.

Appalachian Voices. The Appalachian Transition Initiative. Various publications. Available at appvoices.org. Appalachian Voices — one of the most prominent environmental organizations in the region — has published extensive analyses of the energy transition in Appalachia, including studies of renewable energy potential on mine land, the economic impacts of coal decline, and the policy frameworks needed for a just transition. Their work combines rigorous data analysis with community-based advocacy.

Haggerty, Julia H., et al. "Tracing the Boom-Bust-Recovery Cycle: Understanding the Just Transition in Coalfield Communities." Resources Policy 74 (2021): 102387. An academic study of how coal-dependent communities experience the boom-bust cycle and the prospects for recovery through diversification. The study provides comparative data from multiple coalfield regions, including Appalachia, and evaluates the effectiveness of various transition strategies.

Stokes, Leah Cardamore. Short Circuiting Policy: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. A political science analysis of how fossil fuel interests and electric utilities have used state-level political processes to block or slow clean energy policy — dynamics that are directly relevant to the obstacles to renewable energy development in Appalachian states described in this chapter.

Bell, Shannon Elizabeth, and Richard York. "Community Economic Identity: The Coal Industry and Ideology Construction in West Virginia." Rural Sociology 75, no. 1 (2010): 111-43. A study of how the coal industry has shaped community economic identity in West Virginia — creating a cultural attachment to coal that persists even as the industry declines. Bell and York's analysis helps explain why the "War on Coal" framing (Chapter 32) has been politically effective and why the energy transition faces cultural as well as economic and political obstacles.

Howell, Junia, and James R. Elliott. "Damages Done: The Longitudinal Impacts of Natural Hazards on Wealth Inequality in the United States." Social Problems 66, no. 3 (2019): 448-67. Though not Appalachia-specific, this study of how environmental damage compounds economic inequality provides a framework for understanding the cumulative impact of coal mining's environmental legacy on Appalachian communities — and why environmental remediation is a necessary component of a just transition.

Morrone, Michele, and Geoffrey L. Buckley, eds. Mountains of Injustice: Social and Environmental Justice in Appalachia. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2011. A collection of essays examining environmental justice issues in Appalachia — from mountaintop removal to water contamination to the unequal distribution of environmental risks. The collection provides multiple perspectives on the relationship between environmental exploitation and economic marginalization that is central to the energy transition debate.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory. U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System and Energy Storage Cost Benchmarks. Various years. Available at nrel.gov. The NREL's annual cost benchmarks document the dramatic decline in solar energy costs that has made solar on mine land economically viable. These technical reports provide the data foundation for the economic arguments presented in this chapter and in Case Study 1.