Associated Press Published

Maintenance and Repair Shop is Closing after 80 Years

Coal Stock Pile

An 80-year-old maintenance and repair shop in West Virginia is closing its doors due to struggles in the coal and manufacturing industries.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports Kanawha Electric & Machine Co. will close its doors Friday and will lay off the 14 people it employs.

The company’s owner, Tom Sheppard, says many of the company’s biggest clients in the coal industry have been hit hard by the continued shift toward natural gas and renewable energy. He says this has led to a lack of work for the company, which often repairs equipment used in coal mines.

The company started in 1937. In recent years, the company has made repairs to Hoover Dam electrical components and electric motors at the state Capitol Complex.