Economic Impact From Coronavirus – Small Towns, Businesses Hit By Coal Decline Worry For Future

On this West Virginia Morning, during this year’s legislative session, we asked you what energy and environment issues were on your mind. We got some great responses. But many questions were about West Virginia’s renewable energy policies.

This year, lawmakers debated a handful of different bills related to solar energy. One proposal that could exponentially increase the amount of solar installed across the Mountain State passed, but not everyone likes the bill. Our energy and environment reporter Brittany Patterson explains.

As the economic fallout from the coronavirus continues to reshape our lives, small-town business owners are worried about the future. Reporter Sydney Boles takes us to Whitesburg, Kentucky, where a town already struggling from the decline in the coal industry grapples with a new and serious challenge.

The Ohio Valley ReSource is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Gov. Jim Justice’s latest executive order reacting to COVID-19 means non-essential workers need to stay home, but some small businesses are able to remain open — including a wine and cheese bakery in the Northern Panhandle that imports products from Europe.

Good Mansion Wine has been operating in downtown Wheeling since 2006. The shop recently expanded to include a bakery and lunch deli – closed currently to dining-in – but still open 7 days a week and offering curbside pickups. Glynis Board spoke with an owner, Dominick Cerrone, who has family and business partners in Italy. Here’s part of their conversation.

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Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.