{"id":3798,"date":"2023-05-17T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2023-05-17T16:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/?post_type=xen_episodes&#038;p=3798"},"modified":"2023-05-16T15:29:27","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T22:29:27","slug":"episode-198-the-coal-trap","status":"publish","type":"xen_episodes","link":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/","title":{"rendered":"[Episode #198] \u2013 The Coal Trap"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Why have coal-mining communities continued to white-knuckle their interests in coal long after it was clear the industry was well into decline and would never come back? How were politicians able to misdirect blame toward a \u201cWar on Coal\u201d narrative rather than economic factors?<\/p>\n<p>In this episode, Jamie Van Nostrand, a longtime lawyer who has worked both for utility regulators and utility companies, sheds light on these questions. In addition to his current role as a regulator, Jamie has served as a professor of utility law and regulation in several states, including West Virginia, the poster child of coal-industry denial about the energy transition. In Jamie\u2019s 2022 book, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3HhxFRS\"><em>The Coal Trap: How West Virginia Was Left Behind in the Clean Energy Revolution<\/em><\/a>, he explains how the politics of West Virginia, and the actions of coal industry proponents and lobbyists, contributed to a culture of denial about the need for a clean energy transition. This denial has come at a great cost to West Virginians, who have missed out on energy transition during a \u2018lost decade\u2019 and are now facing unnecessarily high grid power costs for many years ahead. Jamie shares his insights in this episode and explains how the situation in West Virginia can serve as a cautionary tale for other communities facing similar challenges. It\u2019s a fascinating book, and Jamie\u2019s explanations in this extra-long episode are illuminating.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why has West Virginia denied the reality of the energy transition and clung to coal for so long, especially when it\u2019s against their own economic interests? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[383,21,918,65,26,19,50],"class_list":["post-3798","xen_episodes","type-xen_episodes","status-publish","hentry","category-energy-transition-show-podcasts","tag-clean-coal","tag-coal","tag-coal-deathwatch","tag-natural-gas","tag-renewables","tag-shale-gas","tag-west-virginia","xen_guests-james-jamie-van-nostrand"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>[Episode #198] \u2013 The Coal Trap | The Energy Transition Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why has West Virginia denied the reality of the energy transition and clung to coal for so long, especially when it\u2019s against their own economic interests?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"[Episode #198] \u2013 The Coal Trap | The Energy Transition Show\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why has West Virginia denied the reality of the energy transition and clung to coal for so long, especially when it\u2019s against their own economic interests?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Energy Transition Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@chrisnelder\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/\",\"name\":\"[Episode #198] \u2013 The Coal Trap | The Energy Transition Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-17T16:00:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"Why has West Virginia denied the reality of the energy transition and clung to coal for so long, especially when it\u2019s against their own economic interests?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Episodes\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"[Episode #198] \u2013 The Coal Trap\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/\",\"name\":\"The Energy Transition Show\",\"description\":\"XE Network\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Energy Transition Show with Chris Nelder\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/09\/ETS-PodcastArtwork.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/09\/ETS-PodcastArtwork.jpg\",\"width\":2500,\"height\":2500,\"caption\":\"The Energy Transition Show with Chris Nelder\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/chrisnelder\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"[Episode #198] \u2013 The Coal Trap | The Energy Transition Show","description":"Why has West Virginia denied the reality of the energy transition and clung to coal for so long, especially when it\u2019s against their own economic interests?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"[Episode #198] \u2013 The Coal Trap | The Energy Transition Show","og_description":"Why has West Virginia denied the reality of the energy transition and clung to coal for so long, especially when it\u2019s against their own economic interests?","og_url":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/","og_site_name":"The Energy Transition Show","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@chrisnelder","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/","url":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/","name":"[Episode #198] \u2013 The Coal Trap | The Energy Transition Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-05-17T16:00:24+00:00","description":"Why has West Virginia denied the reality of the energy transition and clung to coal for so long, especially when it\u2019s against their own economic interests?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/episode-198-the-coal-trap\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Episodes","item":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/episodes\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"[Episode #198] \u2013 The Coal Trap"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/#website","url":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/","name":"The Energy Transition Show","description":"XE Network","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/#organization","name":"The Energy Transition Show with Chris Nelder","url":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdn.xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/09\/ETS-PodcastArtwork.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/09\/ETS-PodcastArtwork.jpg","width":2500,"height":2500,"caption":"The Energy Transition Show with Chris Nelder"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/chrisnelder"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/episodes\/3798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/episodes"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/xen_episodes"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/episodes\/3798\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xenetwork.org\/ets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}