The dialogue surrounding so-called ‘just transition’ initiatives in the US has primarily focused on the workforce: How can communities reliant on well-paying fossil fuel sector jobs find new opportunities for those facing unemployment? Are there state or federal retraining programs available to facilitate their transition into new roles? Moreover, what industries can offer new, equally good jobs?
What hasn’t been studied nearly as much is the fiscal impact of losing industrial activity related to fossil fuel extraction, processing and delivery. How much public revenue is really at stake in the energy transition? Which states face the highest jeopardy? And how can communities dependent on fossil fuel revenues navigate their transitions while continuing to support essential public infrastructure, such as schools and libraries, once these funds dry up?
In today’s conversation, we speak with an expert who has studied the fiscal impact of the energy transition extensively: Daniel Raimi, a fellow at Resources for the Future (or RFF), an independent, nonprofit research institution based in Washington, DC. Daniel shares with us the results of his extensive, on-the-ground research into the fiscal implications of the energy transition for communities that derive a large share of their public revenue from fossil fuel industries. We also talk through a number of ways fossil-fueled revenues could be replaced by clean energy industries and other policies. We consider the importance of green industrial policy in the equation, and we wrap it up with a speculative discussion about the destiny of fossil fuel communities in the net-zero world of 2050 that we’re striving to reach.
[Episode #224] – US Hydrogen Tax Credits
[Episode #222] – Green Industrial Policy
[Episode #221] – Fossilflation
[Episode #220] – Climate Capitalism
[Episode #219] – Nuclear Illusions
[Episode #218] – Accelerating Decarbonization in the US
[Episode #217] – Passivhaus in Scotland
[Episode #216] – COP28 and the Outlook for Oil
[Episode #215] – IEA’s New Oil & Gas Outlook
[Episode #214] – Countering Climate Doomerism
[Episode #213] – Offshore Wind in the UK
[Episode #212] – Transition in Eigg
[Episode #211] – Doomers vs. Transitionistas
[Episode #210] – Transportation Transition Update
[Episode #209] – End of the Nuclear Age
[Episode #208] – Vernacular Architecture
[Episode #207] – 8th Anniversary Show
[Episode #206] – Regulatory Capture in Texas
[Episode #205] – Rebuilding the Grid from the Bottom-up
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