Norwood Town Clerk Amanda Pierce, Nucla Town Clerk Melissa Lampshire, WEEDC’s Executive Director Makayla Gordon and Montrose County Commissioner Sue Hansen traveled to Washington, D.C. at the end of February to meet with federal officials and discuss the coal-affected West End, the result of the Nucla Station and New Horizon Mine being shut down.
Mackinzie Taylor, of the Community Builders organization, also attended.
Pierce told the Forum she indeed had one-on-one discussions with representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy, the federal Just Transition team, housing funders and other consultants.
“Each of these individuals listened to our concerns as a Just Transition community, including some unique bureaucratic challenges we face in Colorado that are not encountered in many other states,” Pierce said. "I participated in two breakout sessions: one focused on outdoor recreation and tourism and the other on housing and infrastructure. In both sessions, we had the chance to brainstorm ideas alongside numerous other communities, sharing what has worked … and what hasn’t. This facilitated productive conversations and generated ideas for our community to consider.”
Hansen said seven different teams presented their work that has taken place over the last year in a presentation segment, the BRECC Action Challenge Capstone Event.
“Teams from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wyoming, Colorado and Georgia had the opportunity to share their economic strategies with federal partners from EDA, USDA, DOE, EPA and other federal entities. The West End team gave an impassioned presentation focusing on the need for a robust region, emphasizing business development including mineral extraction opportunities, protecting public lands access, leadership development and most importantly infrastructure funding,” she said.
Hansen said the West End’s presentation focused on the local story, the history and the future hopes of the West end. She said it pulled at the heart strings of listeners.
Lampshire said the highlight for her personally was giving the West End’s presentation. At the same time, hearing from others was big for her.
“What impacted me was listening to the other presentations and learning how much we have in common with larger communities who are also experiencing the coal transition,” Lampshire said.
Gordon said West End leaders were able to network and brainstorm.
“The Greater Peoria, Illinois region had some great ideas on how to engage both public and private partners to upgrade infrastructure needs,” she said. “Campbell County, Wyoming has some incredibly interesting value-added coal activities happening that the West End might be able to replicate here. We were also able to connect with some of last year’s cohort, including Northwest Colorado and Northeast Arizona, that have similar community characteristics and challenges and have already gone through the economic diversification process through BRECC. Listening to how they have implemented some of their strategies and the benefits to their communities gave us some insight to approach our own economic diversification strategies.”
Gordon agreed the discussions with grant-makers were important.
“We were able to connect with a couple of different funders and federal partners, namely the Interagency Working Group on Coal & Power Plant Communities & Economic Revitalization and the U.S. Department of Energy,” she said. “I will preface that many of these organizations are still in a holding pattern, until they have more direct information from the administration. While none of the organizations could give us direct information on certain subjects due to the administration freeze, they understood that we are being impacted by regulatory barriers when it comes to funding or industry attraction. We were able to, at the very least, put a bug in the ear of the people that will begin to shape the energy landscape across the country that the West End is ready, and able to be a part of the balanced energy composition.”
Hansen said as the West End leaders discussed concerns with federal partners they stressed the need for funding that would allow infrastructure investments to build a strong foundation, “a foundation upon which we can organically grow our economic future.”
Hansen said the experience was an honor, both the leadership process and traveling with such a professional group of women.
