When You’ve Been Gorging on Fossil Fuels, Fasting Doesn’t Come Easy

Without thoughtful planning, the transition away from fossil fuels could leave a trail of economic decline in its wake that affects the lives of everyday Americans and the local governments they depend on. The oil and gas industries are “a bedrock of local public finances in hundreds of counties across the United States,” said Daniel Raimi, a fellow at Resources for the Future and lecturer at the Gerald R. Ford Center for Public Policy at the University of Michigan. “When you look at the raw numbers, the contribution of fossil fuels to government revenues in the United States is roughly the same as our wages paid to individuals who…