A program is underway in Colorado to retrain people who lost their jobs in the coal or oil and gas industry so they can get the skills they need to install solar panels.
The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment has given a company based in Paonia on the Western Slope a $400,000 matching grant as part of a program to help workers furloughed from other energy sector jobs that are in decline.
According to the Denver Post, the program hopes to train about 350 people in the solar industry.
Stuart Sanderson, who is president of the Colorado Mining Association, says other jobs like the solar industry usually don't pay as much as jobs in the oil and gas industry or coal mining.
