Curtis Tate, Author at West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Gayle Manchin: ‘The Stars Have Just Lined Up’ for West Virginia, Appalachia

Gayle Manchin is the first West Virginian to serve as federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission in its 56-year history.

That’s not all. Manchin comes to the agency at a time when West Virginia is in the spotlight. She has an important role, but she’s not alone.

Her husband, Sen. Joe Manchin, is chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Manchin is a key vote for President Joe Biden in an evenly divided Senate. Biden can’t advance his priorities without the centrist Democrat’s support.

West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is the senior Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and is a lead negotiator on infrastructure legislation. No matter who controls the Senate, West Virginia has perhaps more influence in Washington since the days of Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, decades ago.

To Manchin, who grew up in Beckley, West Virginia, it’s about time.

“I think sometimes West Virginia has always felt that it was behind the eight ball or never quite getting its fair share,” she said in an interview about a week into her new job. “And I would say right now, the stars have just lined up in our favor.”

Gayle Manchin, center, shares a laugh with first lady Jill Biden, left, and actress Jennifer Garner, right, at an event to promote COVID-19 vaccinations in Charleston, West Virginia.

West Virginia lost 60,000 residents in the most recent Census count. It has struggled to keep young people from leaving and to attract industries. Its historic dependence on coal mining has left the state pockmarked with abandoned mine sites and hollowed-out towns. As the struggle continues in Manchin’s home state, the commission she now leads could help turn things around.

Human Infrastructure

The Appalachian Regional Commission was established in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. It encompasses 420 counties in 13 states, including all 55 of West Virginia’s counties. The agency consists of a federal co-chair and the region’s 13 governors.

It is the only lasting federal component of the War on Poverty.

Biden nominated Manchin as the top federal official at the commission in March, and the Senate confirmed her unanimously in April.

For decades, the ARC was best known for building a 3,090-mile network of improved highways throughout the region. The system is complete except for a few hundred miles.

Some of the toughest, and most expensive segments yet to be built are in West Virginia, such as Corridor H in Grant, Tucker and Hardy counties.

Manchin said the highways are a priority. However, she brings a background in human infrastructure to her job. She served as president of the state board of education and secretary for education and the arts.

Gayle Manchin is the new federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission.

“One of my priorities, of course, going back to my past is education and education being the foundation if we want to strengthen communities, and build economic vitality and build the workforce,” she said.

In one example of how the commission’s work extends beyond the region’s highways, an ARC grant provided computers for every middle school student in McDowell County in Southern West Virginia. McDowell, where a third of residents live in poverty, according to Census data, is the state’s poorest county.

The work doesn’t stop there. Manchin said the ARC should help expand broadband internet throughout the region so those students are connected at school and at home. When they graduate, they need the appropriate job training and workforce development opportunities.

That’s where the commission comes in, too: Helping young residents get the right job skills so they’ll stay in West Virginia. And if they stay, that will help reverse the state’s population decline.

“So whether it be at a career tech center, a community college,” Manchin said, “(it) does not have to be a four year college degree but they need training and job skills. And we need to fit those job skills to what is available in that area.”

New Kind of Power

That’s a change from the ARC’s original mission, according to Ron Eller, a professor emeritus of history at the University of Kentucky who’s a West Virginia native and has written about Appalachia for nearly 50 years.

Eller said in the beginning, the governors wanted to build physical infrastructure so they could cut ribbons and show that the region looked like other parts of the country. They didn’t pay as much attention to human capital: education, health care, housing and economic empowerment.

“In the last 20 years, however, we’ve begun to see that infrastructure and human capital go hand in hand in economic development,” Eller said. “It takes much longer to develop human resources and human capital.”

That kind of infrastructure has become even more important throughout Appalachia with the long-term, structural decline of the region’s coal industry.

The ongoing loss of jobs at coal mines and power plants will mean that communities will need something to fill the void.

Eller said Manchin’s background makes her well-suited to take the commission in that direction.

Since 2015, the commission’s POWER initiative has invested $238 million across coalfield communities to support tourism, job training, entrepreneurship and broadband. Last year, $15 million in POWER grants went to 20 projects in the Ohio Valley, seven of them in West Virginia.

“Frankly, I think that’s a direction that the commission needs to take,” Eller said. “There’s a lot of promise for that within the region.”

Working Together

In addition to her education credentials, Manchin was West Virginia’s first lady from 2004 to 2010. She knows most of the senators and governors.

Her current state co-chair is Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam. Northam’s term as governor ends this year, and the 13 governors rotate the state co-chair role every year.

One of those governors is West Virginia’s Jim Justice, a Republican.

Justice appointed Manchin as secretary of education and the arts, a cabinet-level position, in his first term in 2017.

Then things went sour. Justice, who ran as a Democrat with Joe Manchin’s endorsement, switched parties. Their relationship deteriorated. There were rumblings that Joe Manchin would challenge Justice for the governor’s mansion. Justice fired Gayle Manchin in 2018.

Now, Manchin said they’ve moved on.

“Governor Justice certainly wants what’s best for West Virginia,” she said. “I certainly want what’s best for West Virginia, and that we know that working together, we can make some great things happen.”

Manchin’s mission extends beyond West Virginia, as far north as southern New York and as far south as northeast Mississippi. Manchin said she’d like to think of the region as one big state.

She said she plans to first visit the states within driving distance, and eventually work her way to every part of the region, something that was not possible during the height of the coronavirus.

“I have not traveled to all these areas,” she said. “One of the first things I want to do is to travel and visit and listen.”

Manchin said she wants to bring the states together on a single project that could benefit the entire region. The tour will be the first part of that effort.

“I want to hear what their issues are specifically, and what are their ideas?” she said. “I mean, you can talk on the telephone and you can do a Zoom call, but it’s not like going and shaking hands and walking down the street of these little towns.”

The Ohio Valley ReSource gets support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and our partner stations.

Jill Biden Encourages West Virginians To Get Vaccinated In Charleston Visit

First lady Jill Biden visited Charleston Thursday to promote the coronavirus vaccine.

Biden spent about an hour at Capital High School in Charleston and spoke to teachers and students. As her plane touched down at Yeager Airport, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fully vaccinated people do not have to wear masks indoors or outdoors.

On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration expanded its emergency use authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12 to 15. Students in that age range received their shots in the school’s gymnasium during Biden’s visit.

Biden was accompanied by actress Jennifer Garner, who grew up in Charleston. West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, and his wife, Gayle, the newly confirmed federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, also attended.

All four of them removed their masks.

“The most important thing we can do is get this virus behind us,” said Garner, who attended crosstown rival George Washington High School. “And in order to do that, we have to get anyone with vaccine hesitancy into these chairs.”

Biden tried to address the hesitancy problem.

“Now, there’s a fair amount of misinformation out there, and some of my friends have asked me, ‘Is the vaccination safe?’” she said to a small audience of state and local officials. “And you all know, the answer is yes. I got my shot, and I promise it didn’t even hurt, and I hate needles.”

Biden also met separately with West Virginia first lady Cathy Justice.

Gov. Jim Justice has attempted to woo more West Virginians to get vaccinated by offering a $100 savings bond to anyone up to age 35 who receives or has received a shot. Earlier in the year, the state led the nation in vaccines, but demand has dropped.

Power Switch: Solar Is Heating Up In The Ohio Valley

St. Vincent’s Mission has been doing the work of feeding, clothing and sheltering the people of Floyd County, Kentucky, since 1968.

“We believe that all persons have a God-ordained right to the basic needs of life in order to meet their full potential,” the mission states on its website.

Recently, the mission looked for a little help from above to reduce overhead costs and focus on community service in a county with a poverty rate of 27%, well above the state and national average. The mission installed an array of solar panels.

St. Vincent’s Mission Executive Director Erin Bottomlee (left) and Emergency Assistance Director Jennifer Farkas-Sparkman.

Erin Bottomlee directs St. Vincent’s Mission. On a recent visit, she pointed out the 27 panels on the rooftop.

“And that runs the volunteer house, the home repair garage, woodworking shop and our RV pad,” she said.

St. Vincent’s paid for the $25,000 installation cost with grants and donations. The system should pay for itself in 10 to 12 years. With solar, St. Vincent’s Mission saw its bills drop from $250 per month to $15. Bottomlee looks forward to using freed-up funds to bolster their community programs.

“We want to do services that help people come out of poverty,” she said, “not just support people while they’re in poverty.”

The mission’s cost savings are possible thanks to a system called net metering credits, which also help make solar affordable for an organization like St. Vincent’s. Selling clean energy back into the grid pays for the installation costs.

However, that may change with a proposal before the state’s Public Service Commission that would reduce net metering payments, cutting the value of new solar installations by up to 80%.

Under the proposal, existing net metering customers would keep their cost savings for the next 25 years. Others would lose out, said Cara Cooper of the Kentucky Solar Advocacy Network.

“We find tons of small businesses, we find tons of nonprofits, we find a lot of people who are on fixed incomes, who are choosing rooftop solar,” Cooper said.

Solar energy may have a future in the Ohio Valley, but what that future looks like is in flux.

Some utilities in the Ohio Valley are pushing against rooftop solar while others support larger, or more business-oriented, solar ventures. Meanwhile, solar advocates argue that a decentralized grid could make electricity more democratic.

Changing Economics

Solar accounts for only a fraction of electric power in the Ohio Valley. The region remains a heavy user of coal to generate electricity. However, the rapidly changing economics of energy, combined with federal policies that favor carbon-free power could change the balance in the coming years.

In Ohio, solar is booming — at least in some forms. Policy makers there are encouraging some large-scale solar, but not rooftop solar, which Ohio utilities have attempted to fight in the past.

“They’re a little more OK with renewables if they own and operate those systems, right?” said Gilbert Michaud, an energy policy analyst at Ohio University.

Michaud said most utilities prefer large-scale clean energy. Large solar farms directly feed the grid without loss of revenue. In some cases, those installations are owned by corporations that have renewable energy goals, like Amazon.

Solar array on the roof of the St. Vincent’s Mission volunteer house.

That business imperative is even helping solar grow in coal-heavy West Virginia, where some lawmakers see all scales of solar as linked to economic growth.

“I think providing a diversified energy portfolio is certainly an attractive item for companies that are looking to invest in a state,” said Del. Moore Capito, a Republican who co-sponsored a bill that enables solar power-purchasing agreements. Capito is the son of West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito and the grandson of the late West Virginia Gov. Arch Moore.

West Virginia, which ranks near the bottom among states in solar energy development, has recently taken new steps to encourage it.

“There’s nothing inherently different about our environment here or the resources we have available to deploy a lot more solar energy in West Virginia,” said Autumn Long, regional field director for Solar United Neighbors. “We just haven’t had the support of policy drivers to incentivize that industry and move it forward in the same way that’s happened in our surrounding states.”

The state legislature passed the bill enabling solar power-purchasing agreements in April.

Such agreements allow homeowners, business owners, schools and churches to install rooftop panels and share the cost. That helps make solar more accessible for those lacking the capital to pay for it.

“Unless you’re a highly capitalized company,” Capito said, “you weren’t really able to participate in any sort of solar generation, because you would have had to purchase it on your own.”

Dramatic Shift

West Virginia ranks nearly last among states in installed solar capacity, with 11 megawatts at the end of 2020. That’s enough to power slightly more than 1,000 homes. Kentucky ranks slightly higher, with about 60 megawatts. Ohio, with about 500 megawatts, ranks in the middle.

By comparison, the region’s larger coal-fired power plants generate 1,000 megawatts or more.

Nationwide, solar accounts for 3% of electricity generation, but that is expected to grow dramatically in the years to come. In 2020, 43% of all new capacity added to the grid was solar, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group. The industry employs a workforce of 250,000, more than four times the number of coal workers nationwide.

In the next five years, the group projects that solar will account for an even larger share. A decline in the economics of coal and recent federal regulations on power plants could cause more coal-burning facilities to close by the end of the decade, opening up even more opportunities for solar.

Renewable energy advocates say that the conversation has shifted in coal-heavy West Virginia. Coal still generates about 91% of the state’s electric power, but lawmakers have become more open to solar development.

“I have seen a huge shift in the narrative in the conversations that are coming out of Charleston and the Capitol,” Long said.

West Virginia’s legislature has now voted to expand funding and protection for solar two years in a row, supported by key Republicans, including Capito, who say clean energy is good business.

“It’s really just an economic argument at this point, that makes sense,” Long said.

Energy Democracy

In Kentucky, solar advocate Cooper has been organizing opposition to the move to reduce net metering payments, which was proposed by investor-backed utility Kentucky Power. In January, Kentucky Power asked the commission to approve this change, along with a rate increase of roughly 11%.

A 2019 bill had made this possible, allowing Kentucky utilities and the Commission to set net metering rates. Mountain Association, Kentucky Solar Energy Society, Metropolitan Housing Coalition, and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth intervened in the case, leading the Commission to hold hearings on the issue throughout April.

The Commission is set to make a decision on the case by mid-May.

Solar panels and meter await installation on the St. Vincent’s Mission warehouse.

Kentucky Power did not respond to a request for comment.

For Cooper, decentralized solar power means political power for utility customers. Cooper sees solar as part of a bigger strategy, what she calls “energy democracy,” the idea that ratepayers should have more say in the affairs of public utilities.

“How can we engage with the Public Service Commission? How can we educate people about the role that we can play in that process? And how can we give everyday folks more of a voice,” she said.

The Ohio Valley ReSource gets support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and our partner stations.

Power Player: How Manchin Is Key To Biden’s Energy, Climate Goals

On Earth Day, President Joe Biden convened world leaders for a climate summit, where he laid out an ambitious goal for U.S. policy on climate change.

“The United States sets out to cut our global warming emissions in half by the end of the decade,” Biden said. “That’s where we’re heading as a nation.”

But Biden has 50 votes in an evenly divided Senate, and unless he can persuade a Republican to cross the aisle, he can’t get anything done without West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin.

As Biden attempts to cut carbon emissions and clean up the electric power sector, Manchin can shape energy legislation to help Appalachian coal communities that have lost jobs.

Manchin has a unique and powerful position in Washington. His influence on energy policy could have tremendous influence on the state, the Ohio Valley region, and the nation at large.

“As chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, ensuring all coal miners aren’t left behind as America transitions to a cleaner energy future is one of my top priorities,” he said at an event on Monday about the energy transition hosted by the National Press Club.

West Virginia has lost more than 10,000 coal jobs since 2011. Those jobs are not likely to come back as coal has fallen out of favor to natural gas, wind and solar for producing electricity.

Manchin wants to preserve as many of the remaining coal jobs as he can.

He’s pushing for federal funding to develop carbon capture and storage technology, which could help extend the life of some coal-burning facilities.

Carbon capture and storage has long been an elusive goal for the Department of Energy, which invested heavily in research projects to remove CO2 from coal power plant emissions. Similar efforts to apply the technology to commercial facilities have also failed.

Manchin wants tax credits so that solar panels and wind turbines can be built in West Virginia by workers who have been laid off, instead of being made overseas.

“Please give them a chance,” he said. “They’ll build you the best darn windmill you’ve ever seen; the best solar panel.”

Manchin’s influence extends beyond energy, to infrastructure, tax policy and executive branch nominees.

He opposed Neera Tanden, Biden’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget. Tanden withdrew her nomination last month.

He’s pushed back on parts of Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure plan, including the size of the tax increases that would pay for it.

James Van Nostrand, who teaches law at West Virginia University and is director of the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development there, said Manchin is in a good spot for his state.

“He’s got a lot, a lot of clout right now,” Van Nostrand said. “And he’s, you know, in a real critical position to be able to do some good for West Virginia.”

So far that clout has translated into funding for the state and appointments for West Virginians. He’s been much sought after by news reporters.

“It’s got to be kind of fun for him,” Van Nostrand said.

Last month, Biden nominated Manchin’s wife, Gayle, to the Appalachian Regional Commission.

This month, the Energy Department announced a $15 million grant for geothermal research at West Virginia University.

Brian Anderson, who heads an Energy Department laboratory in Morgantown has been appointed to lead the administration’s work group tasked with assisting coal and power plant communities.

Anderson will serve as executive director of the White House Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization.

The geothermal research in Morgantown is part of $109.5 million in Energy Department funding intended to support job creation in communities hit hardest by the decline in fossil fuels.

“The coal and power plant workers who built our nation can play a huge role in making America’s clean energy future a reality,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement.

The initiative includes money for research into extracting earth minerals from coal waste as well as carbon capture and storage.

Manchin praised the White House for its focus on helping places that contributed to the nation’s economy for many generations.

“I am encouraged to see President Biden acknowledge these contributions and start to allocate the resources that will be required to reinvest in these communities who have suffered huge job losses,” Manchin said in a statement.

Granholm knows Manchin from the days when they were both governors of Michigan and West Virginia, respectively. His Senate committee confirmed her, and she considers him a partner.

“He is an ally in this fight,” Granholm said. “He wants to make sure that coal miners are not left behind.”

In the coming weeks and months, the White House will be making more calls to Manchin’s office. And that could be a lifeline for struggling communities in West Virginia.

The Ohio Valley ReSource gets support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and our partner stations.

Judge Sides With Union Carbide In Lawsuit Over Water Pollution From South Charleston Landfill

A federal judge in Charleston has ruled in favor of Union Carbide in a lawsuit.

In a 90-page decision published Monday, Senior U.S. District Court Judge John Copenhaver denied an application for a temporary restraining order by the Courtland Co.

Courtland is suing Union Carbide over pollution from an industrial landfill in South Charleston into two streams near property both companies own. The court’s decision means the company won’t be required to take immediate action to stop water pollution from the landfill.

Courtland’s attorneys filed the request in February. They also filed a lawsuit alleging the site was in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.

“The main goal is to get a judge to order Union Carbide to stop polluting the people of South Charleston, and polluting my client’s property,” attorney Mike Callaghan said in February. He represents Courtland in the suit.

Copenhaver held a three-day hearing on Courtland’s request in late February and early March.

Union Carbide argued that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection should oversee the case, not federal regulators.

In his decision, Copenhaver agreed.

State officials in October issued a violation against Union Carbide under the West Virginia Water Pollution Control Act based on evidence that the landfill was polluting the streams. The company appealed, and a hearing is set for May 13.

Courtland has filed a total of three lawsuits against Union Carbide since 2018 over the South Charleston industrial landfill.

WV Remembers Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster On 11th Anniversary

Monday marks 11 years since the Upper Big Branch coal mine disaster in Raleigh County, where 29 miners were killed on April 5, 2010.

Federal mine safety investigators determined that a buildup of methane gas and coal dust led to the explosion at the Massey Energy-owned mine. It was the worst mine disaster in 40 years.

Massey CEO Don Blankenship was convicted in December 2015 of conspiracy to violate mine safety and health standards.

He served one year in prison and paid a $250,000 fine. Other Massey executives and mine officials were convicted and sentenced to prison for their roles in the disaster.

Massey was sold to Alpha Natural Resources in 2011. Alpha paid a $210 million settlement with the families of the workers and to address years of safety violations.

According to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, 48 coal mine workers died nationwide in 2010. In 2020, with a sharp decrease in coal production and employment, only five workers died.

An event marking the 10^th anniversary of the Upper Big Branch disaster last year was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sen. Joe Manchin, who was governor at the time of the disaster, said he thinks about it every day.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think of those lost that day,” he said. “I will never forget.”