Biden administration invests in clean energy for coal communities.

The Biden administration is allocating $450 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to fund clean energy demonstration projects on former mine lands, as part of its efforts to revitalize coal communities. The projects could include microgrids, advanced nuclear, and power plants with carbon capture. The administration is also providing $16 million to the University of North Dakota and West Virginia University to create design studies for the first-ever full-scale refinery facility in the U.S. that could extract and separate rare earth elements and minerals from coal mine waste streams. The initiative is part of a broader push to fight climate change and support communities that have lost economic activity during a transition away from fossil fuels.