VOA常速英语2019--美国科罗拉多州帮助城镇戒除煤炭（在线收听）

Colorado Helps Towns Quit Coal

The Craig station coal-fired power plant employs about 300 people.That’s a lot of jobs in Craig Colorado, population 9,000.Matt Kincheloe is an electrician at the plant. A new law aimed at curbing planet warming gases casts a shadow over the facility and his future.“That’s the one that scares me the most. If there’s no, no power plant here to have, what would I do for a living,what would I do to contribute to my family and to help maintain the lifestyle that we have and what’s, what’s that gonna happen to my community. My little town here in Craig Colorado is, is that risk.”At the state capitol in Denver, K.C. Becker leads the House of Representatives.She says the entire state is at risk from rising temperatures, increasing droughts and wildfires.“I think if we don’t deal with climate change, we are gonna be wrecking the economy, you know, I’ve mentioned snow pack. Obviously, that’s critical for our ski areas, I’ve mentioned, you know, reduced water levels.That’s obviously critical to our agricultural economy and just the cost of responding to natural disasters is really impactful to the state.”

克雷格电站的燃煤电厂约有300名员工。这在科罗拉多州克雷格镇是很多工作岗位了，这里人口才9000人。Matt Kincheloe是该工厂的电工。一项旨在控制全球变暖气体的新法律给该工厂设施和Matt Kincheloe的未来蒙都上了一层阴影。“这是最令我害怕的。如果这里没有，没有发电厂的话，我会做什么谋生，我会做什么来帮助我的家庭，帮助维持我们的生活方式，什么会发生在我的社区。我在的科罗拉多州克雷格小镇会面临风险。”在丹佛州议会大厦，K.C. Becker领导着众议院，她说整个州都面临着气温上升、干旱和野火增加的危险。“我认为，如果我们不着手应对气候变化，我们将破坏经济，你知道，我提到了积雪。很明显，这对我们的滑雪场至关重要，我提到过，你知道，降低的水位。这显然对我们的农业经济至关重要，仅仅是应对自然灾害的成本对国家确实有影响。”

Colorado aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions 90 percent by 2050 under a law Becker helped pass this year. The implications for towns like Craig are not lost on her.“We know that there are going to be coal plant closures, we know this is happening, let’s think very intentionally and proactively about those communities.Is it going to mean displaced workers? Is it gonna mean shuttered downtowns? How do we get ahead of it?”

根据Becker今年帮助通过的一项法律，科罗拉多州计划在2050年前将温室气体排放量削减百分之九十。Becker注意到了对像克雷格这样的城镇可能产生的影响。“我们知道将要关闭燃煤电厂，我们知道这正在发生。让我们非常积极主动地考虑一下那些社区：这是否意味着流离失所的工人？这是否意味着市中心商业区大门紧闭？我们怎样才能获得成功呢？”

So Becker helped pass another bill, it creates the nation’s first government office dedicated to smoothing the transition in coal communities.Rich Meisinger is business manager at the Electrical Workers Union, IBEW.He says unions opposed the climate bill, but they backed this one because it aims to help with things like worker retraining and supplemental income for transitioning jobs.“Our members want to work hard, our members don’t want a handout, but I’m hoping that, that this is a bridge to get them to that, that next level.”Matt Kincheloe worries that a lot of the details have not been worked out yet.

因此，Becker帮助通过了另一项法案，该法案创建了美国第一个政府办公室，致力于使煤炭社区顺利过渡。Rich Meisinger是国际电气工人兄弟会电气工人工会的业务经理。他说，工会反对气候法案，但他们支持这项法案，因为这项法案的目的是帮助工人再培训并为过渡工作提供额外收入。“我们的成员希望努力工作，我们的成员不希望得到救济，但我希望，这是一座桥梁，让他们达到下一个层次。”Matt Kincheloe担心很多细节还没有解决。

“I think in the base it sounds a good idea, that all being said, it didn’t talk about funding.That was one thing I noticed is where are we gonna get the money at for that?Do I have to move? Do I have to learn a different trade, the re-education bill, well, what kind?”There’s time to work it out.The plant has no immediate plans to close, but change is coming and Meisinger says the Union will not fight anymore to keep it open.“Knowing what I know, that’s a battle. We aren’t going to win, so I want to find a battle we can win that, that, that helps our members out.”As the world moves away from coal, Colorado hopes to be an example for other places dealing with those left behind in the transition.

“我认为在基础上这听起来是一个好主意，所有说过的那些话，但它没有谈到资金。这是我注意到的一件事，那我们去哪儿取钱？我必须搬家吗？我需要学习不同的行业吗，再教育法案，嗯，什么样的？”还有时间解决这个问题。该工厂没有立即关闭的计划，但变化正在发生，Meisinger说工会将不再为工厂保持营业而斗争。“据我所知，那是一场战斗。我们不会赢，所以我想找一场我们可以打赢的战斗，帮助我们的成员度过难关。”随着世界远离煤炭，科罗拉多州希望成为其他地方处理过渡时期遗留问题的一个例子。