Chattanooga’s Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies has completed
a first-ever report to compare the number of jobs promised by
coal-fired power plants to the actual jobs brought to a
community where one is built. And the jobs are few, especially
when compared to the environmental and health concerns that
accompany coal-fired plants, according to the study. In four of
the five areas where coal-fired power plants came on line from
2005 to 2009, construction and operations delivered only a
fraction of the jobs projected by officials touting the power
plant benefits to local residents and county officials, said
Ochs Center President and CEO David Eichenthal. “There are clear
costs in terms of environmental and health risks, but the thing
that always sells local communities [on siting the plants] is
the promise of jobs,” Eichenthal said. “What we found is that
the costs are clear, but the benefits are not what they’re
cracked up to be.” Currently coal provides 45 percent of the
nation’s power. Luke Popovich, spoke