Homegrown Prosperity - Western Colorado Alliance for Community Action

Western Colorado Alliance for Community Action is committed to its vision of HOMEGROWN PROSPERITY where the Western Slope is home to diverse and resilient local economies that work for all of us and doesn’t leave people behind.

What is a Just Transition?

Western Colorado Alliance members and people across the country are working to shape a Just Transition to an equitable, diverse, and self-reliant economy, moving away from the cycles of booms and busts that have plagued our Western communities for centuries. A Just Transition is based in community-led solutions that ensure the well-being of workers, communities, and our environment. Together, we can build a new economy that brings Homegrown Prosperity to all of Western Colorado.

Reclamation Jobs in Coal Country

As coal markets have crashed across the globe, coal companies have gone bankrupt while clean energy becomes a cost-competitive energy source. This has created a sudden and dramatic shift for some rural communities long dependent on resource extraction, leaving workers without paychecks and disturbed lands without a plan for cleanup. Our Alliance knows there is no one solution for our rural communities. We also know that restoring our rural lands and environment can be an economic engine. To that end, our Alliance is working with organizations across the region to promote job creation potential through reclaiming Colorado’s coal mines and power plants. This creates jobs for miners in real-time, using skills folks already have, and healing our landscape.

RECLAIM Act & Black Lung Excise Tax

The RECLAIM Act is a piece of federal legislation that could create 4,000 jobs in Colorado while catalyzing local economies. If passed, the RECLAIM Act could inject $45 million into our rural communities to clean up abandoned coal mines and put high-skilled coal miners back to work.

We must also work to make sure that the benefits promised to coal miners are kept as companies go bankrupt. In 2018, Congress let the Black Lung Excise Tax expire, leaving thousands of miners suffering from a severe respiratory illness caused by coal dust without funding for their health care costs. Our Alliance is working with organized labor and national partners to ensure any Just Transition legislative packaged includes reinstating the excise tax on coal to ensure workers get the health care they deserve.