Kemmerer City Administrator Brian Muir was invited to the White House for the Energy Communities Interagency Working Group (IWG) Summit on Tuesday, April 4, in Washington, D.C.

The Summit provided a unique opportunity for senior Biden-Harris officials to engage with stakeholders from many sectors, including the nation’s energy communities and workers to discuss the implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.

The summit discussed investing in energy communities that power the country. Actions focused on ensuring coal, oil, and gas workers benefit from the new clean energy economy. Among the opportunities mentioned is allowing developers of clean energy projects to take advantage of tax credits for projects in energy communities. The idea is to incentivize more clean energy in coal communities.

The city of Kemmerer was highlighted by Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in a livestream briefing as an example of a private-public partnership between TerraPower and the Department of Energy, which is planned to provide clean energy.

TerraPower intends to invest $2 billion, in addition to $1.5 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and annual appropriations, to build its natrium advanced nuclear reactor near Kemmerer’s retiring coal plant. This first-of-a-kind reactor will create an expected 2,000 temporary construction jobs, and 250 permanent full-time jobs.

Following the livestream briefing, Muir and other stakeholders were invited to participate in a roundtable discussion focusing on how the federal government can partner with organizations to catalyze public-private investments in energy communities.

Muir shared that Kemmerer appreciated the funding from an Economic Development Agency (EDA) grant to create a strategic plan to retain, expand and diversify the Kemmerer area economy. He expressed appreciation to TerraPower, Bill Gates, Berkshire Hathaway, Rocky Mountain Power and the Department of Energy for helping to bring an advanced nuclear plant to Kemmerer, which was part of that strategic plan.

He said Kemmerer appreciates that this investment will save many jobs at the coal-fired power plant, and they plan to do everything possible to help the 180-plus coal miners employed in the region. 

Muir expressed hope that using some of this funding for carbon capture and finding other markets for coal will help retain these jobs. He talked about a company the city is in discussions with that is considering investing in a process that turns coal into syngas, then into hydrogen, then into ammonia and said this would help coal miners in a significant way.

Muir expressed an urgent and important need to get funding to replace a 40-year-old wastewater treatment plant as well as the need for both temporary workforce housing and permanent housing to deal with the anticipated growth from the TerraPower Plant. He said the big challenge in the community is to deal with boom and bust housing typical for such projects.

Other items brought to light were needs for training the work force and getting an 80-megawatt solar farm in nearby Cokeville.

Muir said he was pleased to meet and hear from William J. Fehrman, president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. Fehrman highlighted Kememerer’s TerraPower project in some examples of energy community case studies that they were working on.

Muir met with Lee Anderson, director of government affairs for the Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) and Phil Smith, chief of staff and executive assistant to the president of the United Mine Works of America (UMWA), who also presented ideas at the roundtable. 

Muir said, “After hearing from many presenters from the Appalachia region, it made me feel fortunate that we have been able to get this nuclear plant in southwest Wyoming. Phil expressed his appreciation to me that I also focused on the coal miners in my remarks, as they are continuing to struggle.” 

Reflecting on the summit, Muir said, “I realize the heavy lifting we will have to do to help our coal mine community. We need to provide people with training for new opportunities in the nuclear industry, as well as work with our Kemmerer mine in finding new markets for our coal. I am hoping that some of this funding will help us in this endeavor.”

Regarding making coal a part of the clean energy market, Muir said, “We need to educate investors, industry, government, and the community that there is technology available to make coal a part of the clean energy market, especially with the Q45 federal tax credits for Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS). We also need to embrace a nuclear future here and in Wyoming, as it has the potential to transform our economy.”

Muir was asked to speak at the summit about clean energy project creation in energy communities. He said the summit highlighted efforts to support clean energy transition by driving down energy costs, enhancing energy security and jumpstarting clean energy jobs throughout America. It also was an opportunity for Muir to talk about how nuclear energy is clean energy.