A new report released today by ReImagine Appalachia found that 67% of the region’s 92,282 projected clean energy jobs (over 61,000 jobs) are now at risk following dramatic policy shifts under the Trump administration. “Tracking the Appalachian Impacts: What’s on the Line as Federal Funding Flatlines” documents how clean energy investments across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky have flatlined after historic growth.
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The analysis tracks quarterly data from 2018 through Q3 2025, examining both federal and private investments across three categories: energy and industry deployment, clean energy manufacturing and retail purchases of greenhouse gas-reducing technologies. According to the report, clean energy investments, which had tripled from 2021 to 2024 and peaked at $4.7 billion in Q3 2024, have now stagnated, with energy and industry expenditures plummeting from $1.27 billion in Q3 2024 to $445 million by Q3 2025.
The report also covers how Trump administration changes to funding have impacted local projects.
“The Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act brought unprecedented investment and job creation to communities across our region,” said Diana Polson, report co-author. “We documented $9.85 billion in energy and industry investments, $18.8 billion in clean energy manufacturing, and $22.3 billion in retail purchases of clean technologies since 2022. These were transforming our communities, creating good-paying jobs that don’t require college degrees. Now we’re watching those opportunities slip away as federal funding flatlines.”
The analysis predicts that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will raise residential energy prices, sabotage job creation, and cede America’s leadership in clean energy and manufacturing to foreign competitors, with Appalachian communities bearing the brunt of these impacts.
“The data tells a stark story. Clean energy manufacturing grew from nearly nothing in 2018 to substantial investments by 2023, with 72% going to battery manufacturing and 19% to zero-emissions vehicles,” said Rike Rothenstein, report co-author. “But the momentum has stopped. Federal clean energy investments waned dramatically as President Trump took office for his second term, and the proposed One Big Beautiful Bill Act threatens to dismantle remaining programs entirely. From a canceled furnace upgrade at Cleveland-Cliffs’ steel plant in Middletown, Ohio, to a stalled solar project on former mine land in Nicholas County, West Virgnia, our case studies show how these cuts impact our communities.”
The full report includes state-by-state breakdowns and quarterly investment tracking.
“What’s particularly devastating is that the majority of threatened jobs are in construction and manufacturing, exactly the kind of blue-collar work our communities need,” said Dana Kuhnline, report co-author. “These investments were targeting places like Appalachia that have been left behind. The chaotic efforts to dismantle them will have particularly devastating impacts here, raising residential energy prices, sabotaging job creation, and ceding America’s leadership in clean energy to foreign competitors.”
News item from ReImagine Appalachia
