Biden Administration prioritizes race in government spending
The Struggle of Gillette, Wyoming: A Coal Town Left Behind
The residents of Gillette, Wyoming, once enjoyed economic gains almost unheard of in rural communities thanks to a single commodity: coal.
The city’s deposits account for more than a third of the nation’s coal production, and a vast majority of Gillette residents work in coal-related industries. Income grew nearly 720 percent between 1970 and 2018. By comparison, Detroit’s metropolitan area saw its per capita personal income grow by roughly 150 percent over the same period.
But Gillette is no boomtown. With an average family income of just over $83,000, the local economy is fragile and almost entirely dependent on mining. As President Joe Biden and the Environmental Protection Agency push through regulations aimed at shuttering domestic coal production by 2035, Gillette has looked to the federal government for help.
A Missed Opportunity for Gillette
Former Gillette County commissioner Rusty Bell, who now works at a state agency dedicated to applying for federal grants, thought his city was a perfect match for one of the hundreds of federal grants up for grabs: more than $100 million to clean up and repurpose abandoned mines.
“These grants looked like they were written for our area,” he told the Washington Free Beacon.
And yet, Gillette wasn’t chosen. “We weren’t even a finalist,” Bell says.
He suspects it is in part because the town is more than 90 percent white, a factor that makes it hard to secure federal aid under a little-known federal initiative established in one of Biden’s first executive orders.
The Controversial Justice40 Initiative
The program, Justice40, which the White House describes as a “whole of government effort,” decreed that 40 percent of the beneficiaries of federal climate and environmental programs must come from “underserved communities.”
The White House stops short of saying that those communities are defined by race, and that benefits like federal infrastructure grants are likely to be doled out on the basis of a community’s racial composition rather than a community’s needs.
But others are saying the quiet part out loud.
The Influence of Nonprofits and Racial Justice
The Biden administration is also leaning on a cottage industry of nonprofits that have sprung up to assist communities applying for grants. They explicitly define Justice40 in racial terms.
The Justice40 Accelerator, for example, hails Biden’s executive order as a way to remedy “centuries of structural racism.” The group, which says it directed $8 million dollars in federal funding to applicants last year, says “Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color” who serve “BIPOC-majority communities” should apply for grant assistance. And academics at the University of California, Los Angeles partnered with the George Soros-backed New Venture Fund in 2021 to create The Justice 40, which works to ensure “an accountability framework” for the Biden administration “centered on racial justice and equity guides.”
The Impact on Grant Applications
The Inflation Reduction Act set aside $200 million for nonprofit groups to help provide “technical assistance” for the bill’s implementation. Only “community-based nonprofit organizations,” similar to the Justice40 Accelerator, are eligible for that money.
Because federal climate programs now include everything from affordable housing to infrastructure projects, hundreds of billions of dollars are probably out of reach for communities like Gillette.
The result is that bureaucrats responsible for doling out grants are no longer focused on “how to best spend this money.”
“They’re injecting these unrelated ethnic and racial and justice criteria into all of this,” says Patrick McIlheran, policy director at the Wisconsin-based Badger Institute.
The Transformation of Federal Spending
Although relatively unknown, Justice40 could prove to be one of the largest transformations in federal spending since the 20th century.
According to Manhattan Institute senior fellow James Meigs, the executive order is part of an ideological movement that seeks to “fundamentally change our underlying political and economic systems” by requiring federal agencies to pursue policies focused on racial equity alongside infrastructure improvements, goals that are often in conflict.
The Challenges and Consequences
Even early applications of Justice40 reveal how the program is changing the federal infrastructure grant process.
Now, only a two-square mile area of Neenah, Wisconsin, a manufacturing hub with an average family income of $77,229—where the bulk of the city’s small black population lives—is considered “disadvantaged,” according to a White House screening tool.
Bureaucrats responsible for disbursing federal grants are already straining under Justice40’s mandates, according to a senior career civil servant who spoke with the Free Beacon.
Even grants to improve infrastructure used by the general population will have to meet Justice40’s community standards.
The Future of Federal Spending
Those are the kind of federal standards Americans can expect under regulations like Justice40, Meigs says.
“There is no evidence and no research behind this environmental justice stuff. It’s just kind of crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.”
What factors should be considered in federal grant programs for struggling coal towns like Gillette?
Le for allocating federal grants are left with limited options when it comes to supporting coal towns like Gillette. The Justice40 initiative, with its focus on underserved communities, has inadvertently created a system that puts coal towns at a disadvantage.
The Unintended Consequences of Justice40
While the intention behind the Justice40 initiative may be noble, the approach taken by the Biden administration has led to unintended consequences. By prioritizing racial composition over community needs, the federal government has neglected towns like Gillette, which rely heavily on coal-related industries for their economic survival.
The demographic makeup of Gillette, with its majority white population, has made it difficult for the town to secure federal aid. This is because the Justice40 initiative, under the guise of addressing racial disparities, has created a system that excludes communities based on their racial composition. As a result, coal towns like Gillette are left to struggle on their own.
Looking for a Solution
Gillette, once a thriving coal town, finds itself in a state of uncertainty. As the federal government pushes for a shift away from coal, the town must now find alternative ways to sustain its economy and support its residents. The dependency on coal-related industries has left the local economy fragile, and the closure of coal mines will only exacerbate the problem.
To ensure a just transition for towns like Gillette, it is essential that federal grant programs consider the unique needs and challenges of these communities. Instead of focusing solely on racial composition, grants should be awarded based on economic need, job creation potential, and the ability to diversify local industries.
Conclusion
As Gillette faces an uncertain future, the struggle of this coal town must not go unnoticed. The federal government has a responsibility to support communities that have been left behind in the transition to cleaner energy sources. A more balanced approach that takes into account both economic needs and environmental goals is crucial for ensuring a just transition that doesn’t leave coal towns like Gillette behind.
By reevaluating the criteria for federal grants and providing targeted assistance to struggling communities, the federal government can help coal towns navigate the challenges of transitioning to a post-coal economy. Only then can the residents of Gillette and other similar towns have hope for a sustainable and prosperous future.
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