For a brief moment, community organizers in Appalachia thought they were witnessing a once-in-a-generation lifeline. Billions of dollars from the Biden administration had been earmarked in 2022 to help former coal towns rebuild their economies, create new jobs and prepare for flooding, blackouts and other mounting environmental risks. But on his first day back in office, Donald Trump eliminated nearly all of those clean-energy and environmental programs, dismissing them as “woke” liberal scams — a decision now hitting hardest in the same deep-red counties that delivered him some of his biggest margins.
“We knew we were living in a historic moment,” said Jacob Hannah, CEO of Coalfield Development, a nonprofit that has trained thousands of Appalachians in solar installation, carpentry, and other job skills. “To have it all taken away is deeply damaging and demoralizing.” Hannah, a fifth-generation Appalachian, spent years building regional coalitions to help communities access more than $900 million from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in Appalachia since the 1960s. Nearly all of it is now paused, gutted or tied up in litigation.
The cuts came through the new Department of Government Efficiency — DOGE — headed by Trump ally Elon Musk, whose team terminated entire programs including a $3 billion environmental and climate justice initiative. Many federal agency staff were forced out, leaving remaining grants stalled for months. Every project Coalfield Development helped coordinate has been affected.
Biden earmarked billions to help revitalize and strengthen former coal communities in Appalachia – and Trump came and took it away. "This party has taken away that funding from Appalachia illegally" www.theguardian.com/environment/…
— Leopards ate my face (@fernieboy.bsky.social) December 7, 2025 at 1:10 AM
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On the ground, the political irony is unavoidable. In West Virginia, Trump won every county in 2024, averaging 70% of the vote. Rural counties like Clay and Wayne backed him by even larger margins, despite being among the country’s poorest and most dependent on federal aid. Now, those same communities are losing job-training programs, solar development, environmental cleanup projects and even SNAP benefits as Trump’s budget cuts push deeper.
In Huntington, West Virginia — once a booming coal-transport hub now battered by mine closures and the opioid crisis — the consequences are everywhere. A multimillion-dollar redevelopment of the old Black Diamond warehouse has ground to a halt because federal reimbursements never arrived. Coalfield Development is still waiting for nearly $3 million. The site was meant to house new sustainable businesses, including a recycling enterprise called Reuse Corridor, but all six EPA grants supporting it were cut, effectively killing the project.
Solar Holler, a successful solar installation company employing more than a hundred people across four states, had planned to expand into the warehouse. Now, thanks to the elimination of solar tax credits and Trump’s new tariffs, raw-material prices have surged and the company’s projected growth has collapsed. “The massive increase in costs ends up being passed down to customers,” said CEO Dan Conant.
In Virginia’s Lee County — where 85% voted for Trump and nearly half rely on food stamps — an EPA grant that would have allowed the town of Pennington Gap to demolish a long-flooded, asbestos-ridden supermarket and build a flood-resilient green space was canceled. “People in Appalachia are used to being let down,” said Emma Kelly of Appalachian Voices. “This time we had the money. It was still taken away, and people feel betrayed.”
Dante, another Trump-heavy coal town in Russell County, lost funding for a feasibility study to convert its old rail depot into a solar-powered resilience hub — a critical project after repeated multi-day blackouts. The community also lost nearly $400,000 previously approved to replace its collapsed fire station. “These are not frivolous things: these are basic services,” said Lou Ann Wallace, a local Republican official. Even she struggled to reconcile the cuts with her support for Trump: “I don’t think the president knew. I’m one of his biggest supporters.”
Across Appalachia, projects meant to improve safety, create jobs and strengthen rural infrastructure are suddenly in limbo. Meanwhile, residents in the region — some of Trump’s most loyal supporters — face deeper cuts to Medicaid, veterans’ programs, food assistance and education. Yet many blame “Washington politics” broadly rather than the man they voted for.
Hannah is racing to raise philanthropic money to keep some projects alive until the courts resolve the legal challenges. “The funding was committed by Congress,” he said. “We know we’ll eventually win back some of these grants. One objective was probably to remove confidence in the system, so we need to outlast what is a game of cashflow and a battle of morale.”
For many in the region, the promise of rebuilding Appalachia disappeared overnight — undone by the very administration they overwhelmingly helped elect.
You beautiful dumb bastards, you fell for them again. They’re going to break us into extinction and feast on what’s left like prey on a carcass. When are you going to learn they are a party that hates you, is embarrassed by you. You’re easy pickings for these con men. Change or die Wva, my state is dying by the day because of your petty resentments. Snap out of it! And Hurry! before it’s completely gone.
You broke it you bought it.
applachia sounds like real shithole country
If only these communities voted for the party trying to help them rebuild their communities. Instead, they chose a corrupt, racist, bigot, misogynist, felon and likely pedophile. Unfortunately none of those traits can’t build firehouses. Have the day you voted for!
hahahahaha!!!
They got just what they voted for. Very little sympathy from me to the adults, a lot from me to the kids.
This is what you get. Stop thinking that politicians who dress the dress and talk with slick terms actually care about you, the individual. They only want perceived power and extra zeros on their paycheck. Voting for the same old, fat, lying, “humans have natural batteries and if you exercise you reduce that” pedophile for a SECOND time got you what you deserve.
Why are they upset about getting exactly what they voted for?
Lol. Got what you voted for you misogynistic racists. Go ahead and eat the now expensive food your unemployment pays for.
Why do people in West Virginia so overwhelmingly vote against their interest? They are no where near a border, so what’s the rush?
The honest answer is that Democrats have long ignored them and urgently need to start re-engaging with these people and not just to denigrate them. For years Dems have been focused on urban areas and as a result had policies that were focused on these areas. Yes the Biden funding was specific to help rural areas but dems still come across as snooty and not “for them”, Trump turned up and told them he was fighting for them and spoke in plain english giving simple sounding solutions to complex problems. I totally understand people voting for him when the other party is sneering at them and seemingly more focused on social issues like gay rights etc.
Racist much? Is the only answer. Just stop with the false justifications. Everyone knew what he was the first time. 4 categories voted for the worst human being to ever live: racism, misogyny, greed, and all the above.
How can you say the Democratic Party ignored them when the entire article is about the huge amount of money that the Democratic Party gave this rural Appalachian area to rebuild their towns? Seems like the people who lived there didn’t appreciate the people who were actually trying to help them.
Hope you all end up homeless
I will never feel pity for trump voters who suffer the consequences of trump.
Perhaps the average citizen didn’t know that this money was being given to them via the Biden government. Biden was very quiet about his accomplishments.
lol West Virginia.
No point in investing in this hellscape of a place – let it rot – they voted for it.
We as Americans need to come together for mid-terms and vote BLUE up and down the ticket. Do not dilute the vote by voting independent or for another republican. We need to rid this country of all vile magas in congress and make sure these people never ever have any levers of power again. There is so much work to do be done to correct all that has transpired with this administration and with the supreme court. Let us all come together to save our democracy.
The ole, “I voted to be racist, not poor!” gang getting the shaft? The horror. I skedaddled from that area 25 yrs ago. Anyone with half a brain leaves, it’s like a mini Russia. The brain drain results in what you see, anti-progress and bootlickers abound. There are also lovely ppl who are stuck but life there, in short-order, grinds one into a nub. SoCal is my home now and it’s like a different universe. You wanna see family values? Hang out with some Mexicans, they walk the walk while magats LARP “values and morals” and are actual man children hate-merchants whose families can barely stand to be in the same room together, ask me how I know lol.
Fuckin Joe Biden amirite
As a child I lived 9 months in WV, 3 months in Louisiana so I experienced two very different low socioeconomic situations for 14 years. I live in WV now and get frustrated with the lack of support from the constituents give the people who vote for them. It’s more about being the first conservative state now to do the most extreme thing for publicity and the Trump regimes ‘pat on the back’.
But as shown multiple times, that’s all it ever is. There are predators/bad people or racists in every state including WV but many are genuine and mild mannered. Usually if you give them your time and attention, they will listen they just want to matter and want transparency.
They aren’t being told the truth about coal in relation to the future of other industries. They have been led to believe it could be back constantly and still are. It’s a shame.
Personally know some miners that aren’t working even in WV but having to travel. If these workers had a program like this I imagine how much more it could benefit them with more choices for their job prospects and education. WV deserves better.
Trump doesn’t want his voters to change. He wants the country to stay and pretend all is fine and we can reverse reality. Meanwhile, Earth changes as do the times and INDUSTRIES.