Most travelers driving into Gilette want to leave the town as soon as they've arrived. The third-largest town in the US state of Wyoming has the charm of a gas station — particularly on this cold, late winter morning in early March, when temperatures are stuck at a freezing minus 15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit).

Pickup trucks move cautiously down icy streets that are as devoid of people as the empty fast food restaurants to their left and right.

Here, about a two hours' drive from the nearest town, what you could call the local economy is going downhill. In the heart pride of America's coal country, about 90% of all jobs depend on the commodity.

King Coal and the 'Gilette Syndrome'

Over the decades, about two-thirds of all coal burned in the US has come from Wyoming. Because of the industry, Gilette experienced an unprecedented economic boom that attracted workers from all over the country. This had its downsides, too, leading to rising crime, alcoholism and many social problems, notably in the trailer parks that sprawled on the city borders.

Psychologist Eldean Kohrs has coined the term "Gilette Syndrome" to describe the adverse effects on cities that grow at above-average rates mostly due to the exploitation of natural resources such as coal.

Gillete proudly calls itself the "Energy Capital of the USA," as nearly 40% of the coal consumed in the US is still mined from the region. However, the fight against climate change and US government efforts to reduce the importance of coal for the country's energy mix are threatening the incomes of both the city and its inhabitants.

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), US coal production in 2020 fell to its lowest level since 1965.

US coal becomes a stranded asset

"Our coal industry has taken a big hit over the last couple years," says Phil Christopherson. The executive director of nonprofit Energy Capital Economic Development, Christopherson is working to put Gilette's economy on a greener and more viable footing.

Fifteen years ago, 480 million tons of coal a year were exported from the city. This took about 100 trains a day. " Right now, we're about at half that," Christopherson told DW, as 11 of the 24 total mines around Gilette have been shut down in recent years. 

Gilette's mining wealth derives from the Powder River Basin, a 200-kilometer-long (124-mile-long) area surrounding the city. It stores more coal than almost any other region in the world. An estimated 162 billion tons of exploitable coal are believed to be buried there, according to the United States Geological Survey. The reserves could last for at least another 500 years.

Mining the treasure, however, has come under pressure from climate activists, cheaper energy sources such as natural gas and renewables, as well as from energy policy in Washington.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has earmarked $1.7 trillion (€1.55 trillion) under efforts to reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels and cut greenhouse gas emissions. By 2035, 100% of US electricity is to come from renewable sources. "We have an obligation to our children and grandchildren," the 78-year-old president said of the policy in his State of the Union address in February 2023.

Under the Biden plan, 25 coal regions, many of which can be found between West Virginia and Wyoming, are to be transformed into clean energy hubs. Coal hubs like Gilette, which are suffering from falling demand, are expected to benefit. Washington has promised financial assistance to the tune of $450 million for sustainability projects.

"These projects could focus on a range of technologies, from microgrids to advanced nuclear power plants with carbon capture," US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said unveiling the policy in early April.

Much disbelief in Trump country

Washington's ambitious plan is hitting the skepticism of the townsfolk in Gilette. "Most people here are really shortsighted," says Tim Hussey, putting aside his cigarette to take a swig on his beer. The retired coal worker is sitting together with his former co-workers in a smoky bar on the outskirts of Gilette "as every night," he says.

The flags and stickers covering the walls quickly make it clear that this is where people vote for Donald Trump — the former US president that wanted to not only make America great again, but the coal industry, too.

"This town tends to be pretty radical," the 67-year-old says, "and I understand that." After all, if you have a wife and kids, he says, you have to figure out how to make money. He also doesn't really believe in man-made climate change, but he can understand the government's push. "There's certain things you can do that can help climate change. But fossil fuels are never going to go away," he says.

Like so many in the town, Hussey doesn't think the fossil fuel is so bad. He argues that Gilette coal is cleaner than coal anywhere else in the world. Unlike German lignite, he says, which consists largely of carbon and is therefore the most climate-damaging of all energy sources, the coal here is considered to be particularly low in CO2 thanks to the special soil. Sulfur is also virtually absent from the rock, Hussey explains.

Can carbon capture give coal a future?

"We need to stop looking at coal through the same lens that society has globally for the last 350 years," says Jim Ford, operations manager at the Wyoming Integrated Test Center — an initiative that advocates for a sustainable future for US coal.

Located on the site of Basin Electric Power Cooperative's Dry Fork Station near Gilette, the center is developing technology aimed at sequestering coal's harmful CO2 emissions before the combustion process. Following carbon capture, as the technology is called, there are longterm plans to store the CO2 deep in Wyoming's soil. Resident oil companies are using the process to create higher pressure underground to pump oil more efficiently.

"It's easier to complain and worry and to do nothing. But we can build a solution for CO2 the same way we've built solutions for mercury, for oxides of nitrogen and oxides of sulfur," Ford told DW.

Several companies have already set up operations in Gilette to develop new products from coal that do not require polluting combustion, like concrete, asphalt or mortar. 

Moreover, coal gasification is another technology supported with government subsidies. It is intended to convert coal into hydrogen to produce a synthesis gas that is already used for chemicals, fuels and electricity generation.

Giving dirty coal a sustainable and green perspective, however, is a long process, and no one can say if it'll end successfully. "There's a chance that we'll fail and we'll never get anything out of it," says Christopherson, who is a firm believer in the projects nevertheless. Columbus would never have crossed the ocean, he argues, and Americans would never have flown to the moon if the human spirit were not willing and strong.

"We are trying to do it ourselves. If we don't try, it'll never happen."

This article was originally published in German.