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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 19 / Monday, February 1, 2021 / Presidential Documents


Federal leadership is essential to foster economic revitalization of and investment in these communities, ensure the creation of good jobs that provide a choice to join a union, and secure the benefits that have been earned by workers.

Such work should include projects that reduce emissions of toxic substances and greenhouse gases from existing and abandoned infrastructure and that prevent environmental damage that harms communities and poses a risk to public health and safety. Plugging leaks in oil and gas wells and reclaiming abandoned mine land can create well-paying union jobs in coal, oil, and gas communities while restoring natural assets, revitalizing recreation economies, and curbing methane emissions. In addition, such work should include efforts to turn properties idled in these communities, such as brownfields, into new hubs for the growth of our economy. Federal agencies should therefore coordinate investments and other efforts to assist coal, oil and gas, and power plant communities, and achieve substantial reductions of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector as quickly as possible.

Sec. 218. Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization. There is hereby established an Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization (Interagency Working Group). The National Climate Advisor and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy shall serve as Co-Chairs of the Interagency Working Group.

(a) Membership. The Interagency Working Group shall consist of the following additional members:

  1. the Secretary of the Treasury;
  2. the Secretary of the Interior;
  3. the Secretary of Agriculture;
  4. the Secretary of Commerce;
  5. the Secretary of Labor;
  6. the Secretary of Health and Human Services;
  7. the Secretary of Transportation;
  8. the Secretary of Energy;
  9. the Secretary of Education;
  10. the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency;
  11. the Director of the Office of Management and Budget;
  12. the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Director of the Domestic Policy Council; and
  13. the Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission.

(b) Mission and Work.

  1. The Interagency Working Group shall coordinate the identification and delivery of Federal resources to revitalize the economies of coal, oil and gas, and power plant communities; develop strategies to implement the policy set forth in section 217 of this order and for economic and social recovery; assess opportunities to ensure benefits and protections for coal and power plant workers; and submit reports to the National Climate Advisor and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy on a regular basis on the progress of the revitalization effort.
  2. As part of this effort, within 60 days of the date of this order, the Interagency Working Group shall submit a report to the President describing all mechanisms, consistent with applicable law, to prioritize grantmaking, Federal loan programs, technical assistance, financing, procurement, or other existing programs to support and revitalize the economies of coal and power plant communities, and providing recommendations for action consistent with the goals of the Interagency Working Group.