Biden’s Road to Clean Energy Meets West Virginia Coal Country

Gerald Lucas, 69, is a former coal miner and federal mine inspector who now gives public tours underground at the Beckley, W.Va., Exhibition Coal Mine, a working mine that ceased operations in 1953. He describes it as a fun job that allows him to share his decades of experience with visitors.

Lucas’s career change is becoming more common among West Virginians as the rural state of 1.8 million moves toward a new economy in which coal is no longer king. The state, which had a poverty rate of 16% in 2019, has long felt the effects of coal’s decline.

Amanda Whitlock sands chair legs at the West Edge Factory in Huntington, W.Va., which is owned by Coalfield Development, a nonprofit focused on rebuilding the Appalachian economy.

Photographer: Kristian Thacker for Bloomberg Businessweek