U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)

Description:

These layers reflect currently available data on two types of eligible ‘Energy Communities’ as defined in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

1. Census tracts and directly adjoining tracts that have had coal mine closures since 1999 or coal-fired electric generating unit retirements since 2009
2. Counties located in Metropolitan Statistical Areas or Non-Metropolitan Statistical Areas that had 0.17 percent or greater direct employment related to the extraction, processing, transport or storage of coal, oil or natural gas at anytime after Dec 31, 2009; and had an unemployment rate for calendar year 2025 that was equal to or greater than the national average unemployment rate. These MSA/Non-MSA areas are energy communities as of June 2026 and will maintain that status until the unemployment rates for 2026 become available and a new list of energy communities is determined.

Note that while the NETL was the original data source for these layers in PolicyMap, ongoing updates to Energy Community designations are based directly on IRS notices related to Energy Community eligibility. The most recent being IRS Notice 2026-39.