The Federal Highway Administration intends to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the nine-mile section of the corridor.
The public has a week left to comment on a controversial segment of Corridor H.
The Federal Highway Administration is accepting comment on the Parsons to Davis portion of the long-planned highway until March 27.
The agency intends to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the nine-mile section of the corridor.
The West Virginia Division of Highways prefers a southern route, while some residents and community groups favor a northern route they say would have less environmental impact.
Most of the 130-mile road is complete. About seven miles of the road from Wardensville to the Virginia state line is set to begin construction this year.
The corridor is one of the biggest economic development priorities for the state’s elected leaders. It’s a piece of the Appalachian Development Highway System, created in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.
A budget bill Congress approved earlier this month includes $12.5 million to help complete the portion of Corridor H east of Wardensville.
The issues ranged from parents’ involvement in school curriculum to gender affirming care.
More than 60 bills moved through the House of Delegates on Crossover Day, the last day to consider bills in their chamber of origin.. The issues ranged from parents’ involvement in school curriculum to gender affirming care.
House Bill 4313 creates the Parents’ Bill of Rights. It empowers parents to direct the upbringing, education, health care, and mental health of their child. It says parents may bring suit against anyone for any violation of this article.
Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, opposed a bill he said is misnamed and continues to promote a culture war in the legislature.
“This cause of action can be employed on a number of hot button issues,” Hansen said. “Issues related to race issues, related to gender issues, related to women’s health care. The short title of this bill, parental rights, is a great title, almost an Orwellian title. Because this bill will provide some rights for parents, so long as they agree with the majority party.”
With little, if no, debate from the majority party, the bill passed 83-14.
To further improve the situation in the state corrections department, House Bill 4734 provides another pay increase to state correctional workers. It gives all corrections workers, not just guards, a $6,000 bonus after more than three years of service.
Del. Ty Nestor, R-Randolph, was one of many supporting a measure he says helps improve the situation. .
“You’re not just going to give money that is due in our line that had been earned by members of the Division of Corrections, Juvenile Services and Regional Jail authority,” Nestor said. “You’re also going to thank them for how they conducted themselves and their bravery for staying with their jobs.”
The bill passed 99-0.
House Bill 4822 creates the Certified Sites and Development Readiness Program. Local communities would apply for a site development microgrant of up to $75,000, all to be decided by the Department of Economic Development.
Del. Adam Vance, R-Wyoming, opposed the bill. He said he believes the coalfields will continue to be ignored by the microgrant decision makers.
“You’ve got navigable rivers that they want to go to because it’s easy. They have border counties, because it’s easy. They have highways, because it’s easy. But the ones that are needing the help the most, that is the hardest hit, that’s in the middle of somewhere that don’t have these things, they still are not reaching out. I don’t think that this bill is going to reach out to those areas,” Vance said.
But Del. Clay Riley, R-Harrison, supported a bill he said gives localities a competitive chance for development.
“This is the opportunity that gives them the additional funds to say you know what, maybe I can go get a piece of property through the voluntary remediation program so we can get it cleaned up,” Riley said. “Maybe I can get that bat survey done so maybe I can lure someone there. So, if you want to help the small, rural counties, who may be down on their luck, this is an opportunity to help them up.”
The bill passed 86-13.
House bill 4945 relates generally to the Hope Scholarship Program. The bill adjusts funding to anticipate greater real time enrollment, it includes microschool eligibility and addresses public school re-enrollment.
House Minority Chair Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, continued to express his caucus’ concerns over limited funding for public schools and the Hope Scholarship Program.
“It takes money away from your private schools, from your pods or microschools, and sends them out of state,” Hornbuckle said. “We did not close that loophole. We are literally funding out of state schools. That is very problematic. With the Hope Scholarship, we are in a crisis.”
But Del. Wayne Clark, R-Jefferson, was with a majority who supported the bill. He noted two major components.
“Number one,” Clark said. “If there is no kid in the school, there is no funding for that school. right? No kid, no funds. Number two, parents choose where they want their taxpayer education money to go.”
The Hope Scholarship bill passed, 76-21.
Gender affirming care is at the center of House Bill 5297. The proposal prohibits puberty blockers and hormonal therapy when provided to assist in a gender transition. The bill says a physician may not provide irreversible gender reassignment surgery or gender altering medication for the purpose of assisting an individual with a gender transition to anyone under 18 years of age. There are exceptions for severe medical conditions as long as they do not go toward gender transition.
Amendments proposed to grandfather in minors already undergoing such treatment and make the treatments and puberty blocking medication necessary for suicidal patients both failed.
Del. Kayla Young, D-Kanawha, opposed the bill. She said the medication can be lifesaving.
“Suicide is the second leading cause of death in kids aged 10 to 14,” Young said. “It is the third leading cause of death in kids aged 15 to 24. When we talk about LGBTQ kids, those rates are four times higher. In 2022, in West Virginia, 50 percent of trans kids thought about suicide; 20 percent of them actually attempted it. That is horrible, horrible. These are not statistics that we should be proud of at all. Gender affirming care has been known to reduce suicide by 75 percent.”
But Del. Geoff Foster, R-Putnam, disputed the lifesaving premise regarding hormonal medication.
“There’s no proven methodology that says that actually does decrease suicidality,” Foster said. “What helps these children? In many cases, when they’re suffering through gender dysphoria, they’re also suffering from co-morbidity situations such as depression. And I think when we say, well, we’re going to treat this by gender affirming care and switching someone’s gender and that’ll fix the problem. While the suicidality rate is the same before and after transition, or before and after these drugs are prescribed.”
The bill passed 88-11. One Republican, Del. Diana Wizenreid, R-Ohio, voted no along with 10 Democrats.
On this West Virginia Morning, having access to childcare so people can go to work is a serious issue in West Virginia for economic development. In our most recent episode of The Legislature Today, Randy Yohe spoke with Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, and Del. Evan Worrell, R-Cabell, to explore the issue.
On this West Virginia Morning, having access to childcare so people can go to work is a serious issue in West Virginia for economic development. In our most recent episode of The Legislature Today, Randy Yohe spoke with Del. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, and Del. Evan Worrell, R-Cabell, to explore the issue.
West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.
Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.
Eric Douglas is our news director and producer.
Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning
The start-up was built on the idea of using cutting-edge technology and local workers to produce vegetables on an industrial scale. And this was all set to happen in eastern Kentucky, where the company’s founder said this new version of agriculture could help replace the fading coal industry. AppHarvest got a lot of attention — from national media, politicians and investors. But then, last year, the company filed for bankruptcy.
This conversation originally aired in the Feb. 11, 2024 episode of Inside Appalachia.
When AppHarvest built its first greenhouse in 2020, it was touted as no less than the future of farming — and maybe Appalachia itself.
The start-up was built on the idea of using cutting-edge technology and local workers to produce vegetables on an industrial scale. And this was all set to happen in eastern Kentucky, where the company’s founder said this new version of agriculture could help replace the fading coal industry.
AppHarvest got a lot of attention — from national media, politicians and investors. But then, last year, the company filed for bankruptcy. Austyn Gaffney recently reported on AppHarvest’s downfall in a story for Grist and Louisville Public Media.
Inside Appalachia Host Mason Adams spoke with Gaffney to learn more.
The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.
Adams: AppHarvest has received a lot of media attention from the time it was founded. But for folks who haven’t heard of AppHarvest, can you tell us about the company?
Gaffney: AppHarvest was founded by a Kentuckian named Jonathan Webb in January of 2018, basically saying that, in order to revitalize the economy of central Appalachia, we needed to bring in more blue collar jobs. His vision for these blue collar jobs was a spattering of 12 giant greenhouses, which grew produce like tomatoes and berries and lettuce indoors. He built the first of those greenhouses in Morehead, Kentucky, in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and then he added four more greenhouses over the next couple of years.
Jonathan Webb, founder and former CEO of AppHarvest.
Credit: Jon Cherry/Grist
Adams: AppHarvest checked off so many boxes that people talk about it when they talk about economic development and Appalachia. They touted decent paying blue collar jobs with benefits for locals, building out the local food system, diversifying the economy in a coal producing region — even leaning in on private investment, as opposed to just grants and public funding. Where did AppHarvest go wrong?
Gaffney: Based on my reporting, the biggest problem at AppHarvest seems to have was that it grew too big too fast. It went through 12 rounds of funding, raised over $800 million in seed and venture capital funding, along with loans from banks and national organizations like the USDA. That was before they built their first greenhouse. They also started planning on going public.
You mentioned private investment. They partnered with basically what is a blank-check company for the purpose of joining the stock market. So on top of lenders, they also now have stockholders to contend with, to pay back all this money on sort of a low value product, which was tomatoes, lettuce and berries. By the summer of 2021, before they’re open even a year, AppHarvest leadership admitted on an investor call that the company was staring down a $32 million net loss. That same day, stocks dropped 29 percent and in the following months, the company was facing five different lawsuits alleging securities fraud.
Basically, stockholders were saying that leadership had lied about the productivity in the greenhouses and the success of the company. So through these suits at AppHarvest, leadership was repeatedly cited as blaming employee training, turnover and “a poor work ethic” as the root causes of the company’s failures to achieve profitability. Basically, rather than working out the kinks in its first year of operation, AppHarvest built five greenhouses while selling a low value product and blamed its failures in some ways on the laborers that kept the company going.
Adams: AppHarvest isn’t the only indoor agriculture project in the U.S., or even here in Appalachia. Multiple companies have closed or filed for bankruptcy in the last few years. Why is this particular industry so challenging?
Gaffney: Traditional farming relies on labor but also sun, rain and soil. In controlled environment agriculture (CEA), this type of industry relies on a reproduction of at least one of those, which is largely energy. In the example of AppHarvest, the greenhouses rely on a hydroponic system, the reproduction of heat and light, and pulling in water from retention ponds.
In Kentucky, we rely on coal for nearly 70 percent of our electricity. So the production of this produce is also tied to increased greenhouse gas emissions. The cost of those lights and the robotics that power parts of these facilities, especially when tied to commodified fossil fuels, can make this industry prohibitively expensive.
Over the last decade, there’s been an influx of venture capital funding into this industry, and the CEA market is predicted to be worth $3 billion by next year. So while the high costs of these facilities have accumulated quickly, they’ve also led to a domino of bankruptcies and closures, especially over the last couple of years.
Adams: There’s a lot in the story about how AppHarvest tried to cut labor costs. What was that experience like for workers?
Gaffney: The biggest complaints I learned from employees were how the big promises that AppHarvest made in its initial couple years failed to match their actual working environment.
When people were hired, especially at the inaugural Morehead greenhouse, they were deeply excited to join this new company which had this big mission, which they felt like was contributing to a sustainable future. Some of the employees told me that they would skip down the aisles during their first couple of weeks or months of work because they were so excited to be there.
But in October 2020, workers said they were told they needed to work overtime, including weekends, and one employee said when she complained, her supervisor told her she needed to “learn to sacrifice.” By the spring and the summer, extreme heat descended into the greenhouse. Former workers reported heat indexes that could reach into the 140s and the 150s, and often hovered in the territory of what the National Weather Service calls “extreme danger,” which is anything above 126 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s what these employees called “a grueling hell on earth.” They complained of heat exhaustion, rashes, dehydration and also dangerous working conditions where glass panels could fall from the greenhouse ceiling or tomato wires could snap.
This kind of mismanagement or dissatisfaction also bled into the corporate office that was based in Lexington. Former workers told me the leadership team was disorganized, and the goals of their positions were not clearly stated. One corporate worker told me they felt like they’d been sold a beautiful pipe dream, something that felt sustainable and new, and that could make it in Kentucky. But they said it turned out just to be a nightmare.
AppHarvest was touted as no less than the future of farming, but they filed for bankruptcy last year.
Credit: Jon Cherry/Grist
Adams: The story goes over a lot of ways that AppHarvest got things wrong. Is there a different version of AppHarvest, and that business model, that could potentially work in Appalachia?
Gaffney: It’s sort of speculative, so obviously, I can’t say for certain. But I think like all climate solutions, there’s a space for a renewable grid-powered version of AppHarvest. That could be one piece in a puzzle of solutions for a future food economy. That also includes small scale family farm markets that are sustainable and take care of our soil. But in order to feed our growing world, solutions like controlled environment agriculture — where we produce a high yield in a smaller facility without continuing to infringe on our forests and biodiversity — I think there is a space for that.
But AppHarvest grew so quickly that they weren’t able to trial and error a new type of economy with a totally new workforce. Maybe if AppHarvest had, had one greenhouse over three years, or five years or 10 years, and developed that workforce pipeline over time, they could have been successful. Instead, they built five greenhouses in less than three years. At that scale, it’s not that the science of CEA is wrong, but basically, it’s expensive. Plants are finicky, especially in indoor agriculture. If a disease or a pathogen takes hold, it can spread like wildfire.
I think they needed more room to make mistakes in their first few years, and maybe have less money to pay back in their first few years than they were able to do.
Senate Bill 571 creates an energy and economic corridor authority for Corridor H.
Senate Bill 571 creates an energy and economic corridor authority for Corridor H. Sen. Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, said the new authority will allow for a broad swath of stakeholders to participate in the economic and community growth related to the expansion of the corridor.
“Planning and development is crucial to reap the full benefits of industry sectors such as tourism, hardwood, manufacturing, agriculture, energy and many others,” Hamilton said. “Economic Development has a great momentum in West Virginia. And this new authority will work to keep that going in this region of our beloved Mountain State.”
Corridor H runs through Lewis, Upshur, Barbour, Randolph, Tucker, Grant and Hardy counties.
The bill now heads to the House of Delegates for its consideration.
A few weeks ago, with little fanfare, Gov. Jim Justice appointed his senior adviser Larry Pack as the Economic Development Authority Board Chairman. Carmichael said he has held both positions for the last three years.
Cabinet Secretary of Economic Development Mitch Carmichael said he’ll now have more time to bring new industry and jobs to West Virginia because he is giving up some of his duties.
We’ve got several on our radar,” Carmichael said, “And, we’ve got a great portfolio of prospects that are moving through to conclusion.”
A few weeks ago, with little fanfare, Gov. Jim Justice appointed his senior adviser Larry Pack as the Economic Development Authority Board Chairman. Carmichael said he has held both positions for the last three years.
Pack said as EDA chair, he will help keep the governor informed in checking out potential economic development projects. He said Justice is getting more involved with EDA decisions.
Carmichael has been the state’s ‘front man’ in announcing recent major corporations coming to West Virginia. Many of those projects have received loans from the EDA. Carmichael said in his Cabinet Secretary position, he recruits all the companies and puts together the grant and loan packages, and some separation makes sense.
“The Economic Development Authority is the banker that makes some of the loans and allocates some of the funds for the packages that we put together,” Carmichael said. “We just thought that there would be a better way to separate those two roles.”
The West Virginia EDA was formed in 1962 to provide loans, direct financing and leases to promote and retain new and existing commercial and industrial businesses by issuing money, credit, or credit enhancement.
