The calls to bring new investment to a region that has contributed so much to the nation’s security and prosperity have been heard. To help Central Appalachia adapt to the changing energy landscape and build a better future, President Obama’s 2016 Budget is proposing the “POWER+ Plan.” The plan invests in workers and jobs, addresses important legacy costs in coal country, and drives development of coal technology. Among the highlights of the President’s plan is releasing $1 billion from the Abandoned Mine Lands Fund over five years to restore lands and waters degraded by decades-old mining and to support related sustainable development projects in the coalfields.

WMMT’s Parker Hobson spoke to Eric Dixon, an Appalachian Transition Fellow with the Appalachian Citizens Law Center, Dee Davis at the Center for Rural Strategies, and Jason Bailey, Director of the Kentucky Center for Budget Policy, about what the POWER+ Plan could mean for the region.   

POWER+ Plan

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