Aspen Public Radio: “CLEER’s Energizing Climate Solutions Summit Brings Ideas for Green Energy in Rural Communities to Aspen”
This article includes comments made by RFF Senior Research Analyst Zachary Whitlock during a forum to discuss green energy for rural communities.
Panelist Zachary Whitlock is a senior research analyst for Resources for the Future and the Resilient Economies Initiative. He said the most important thing is listening to communities that rely on extractive activities like mining and oil and gas.
“The Washington (DC) perspective is that… ‘so right now you're an energy community. Like, why don't you become a clean energy community?’” he said. “I think what we hear from communities is they want rural economic development, not necessarily clean energy. And clean energy can be part of that story. And clean energy is a massive part of that story, especially for property taxes replacing that revenue.”
