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Congress Needs To Pass Comprehensive Permitting Reform. Now.

America is stuck in a perpetual permitting crisis. It inhibits our ability to deliver the critical infrastructure our country needs to remain competitive in a rapidly changing world. There is growing bipartisan recognition that to rebuild and modernize our infrastructure and supply chains — from roads and bridges to renewable projects and the mines that supply them — we must have permitting reform. And there is some progress to report. Targeted changes in the debt-ceiling deal — such as tightening the scope and timetable for environmental reviews — are important steps ...

A Look at Lobbying in West Virginia

Over the past week I wrote a couple of articles looking at spending by lobbyists and on lobbyists when it comes to the West Virginia Legislature. I think I was fair in both pieces. The goal wasn’t to cast aspersions on any particular lobbyist or even say their actions were bad. It was merely an act of simple transparency for you, the reader. Lobbyists can get a bad rap sometimes. There are certainly some incidents, both in West Virginia and nationally, that have garnered negative headlines over the years. The Jack Abramoff scandal that saw former Republican Ohio Congressman Bob ...

Coal Will Continue To Drive W.Va.’s Economy

Throughout our state’s 160-year history, the coal industry has been a major driver behind West Virginia’s economy, and billions of dollars of new investment will ensure that similar benefits are generated for the next 160 years. Despite all the hype you hear about a zero-carbon economy and transitioning to renewable, or intermittent energy forms, West Virginia’s metallurgical and thermal coals will continue to drive our economy while remaining a stable component of our state and nation’s energy mix. John Deskins the state’s leading economist and director of West Virginia ...

Permitting Reform Will Boost U.S. Economy, Energy Security

Unbalanced trade agreements, lack of redundancy and reliance on foreign energy markets brought many of our industrial sectors to a screeching halt when supply chains bottlenecked due to COVID-19 restrictions. The pandemic highlighted several flaws within the U.S. economy that resulted in unnecessary hardship for millions of Americans. As we seek to prevent future crises, events such as these often provide valuable lessons, especially for industry and government entities alike. We already see many of our U.S. companies making the necessary changes to avoid these mistakes in the future, ...

Appalachian Natural Gas Key to Energy Security

While not a Presidential election year, 2024 hopefuls are spending the summer of 2023 promoting policy solutions to win the hearts and minds of Americans across the country. Energy — and our country’s strategic advantage as the world’s largest natural gas and oil producer — remains a focal point on both sides of the political aisle. Why? Because access to energy is directly tied to human progress and economic well-being. Against the Independence Day backdrop, we celebrate the freedoms made possible by our energy abundance in America and our ability to share it with the ...

Higher Education Needs To Adapt

I won’t rehash what I wrote about over the weekend on West Virginia University’s financial issues. Needless to say, fixing WVU’s issues by restoring its state funding to fiscal year 2013 levels doesn’t appear to be the solution. Declining student enrollment for more than a decade, a growing budget, near-annual raises of tuition for in-state and out-of-state students and a severely bloated bureaucracy have all created a perfect storm. State funding is one factor, but I’ve yet to see any evidence-based studies about how restoring state funding to pre-Earl Ray Tomblin levels ...