Investing in Pennsylvania’s Future: RISE PA’s Awards Could Support More Than 1,700 Job-Years for Workers
Pennsylvania’s RISE PA decarbonization program is proving that cutting carbon emissions can spur economic growth.
How Allegheny County’s paid parental leave policy could kickstart economic growth
Allegheny County’s paid parental leave proposal could grow jobs & wages, curb population loss, support small businesses, and ease labor shortages in critical sectors.
The Big Bust: 2026 Data Show Petrochemicals Have Been a Bad Deal for Beaver County
Beaver County, Pennsylvania is a real-time case study in the local economic impacts of petrochemical development.
Gridlocked
A West Virginia utility’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) demonstrates the need for a more flexible electric grid.
The Warren-Moreno proposal prevents Social Security cuts that could cost elderly Appalachians over $4,000 per year.
Alarm bells are ringing in Washington, D.C., with the Trump Administration warning that Social Security is projected to become insolvent in 2032. This would trigger an automatic 22% cut to benefits for over 70 million elderly or disabled Americans who rely, at least in part, on the program. Debate is swirling this week, as two […]
Appalachianization Update: How The Data Center Boom is Making America’s Economy Look Like Appalachia’s
Last December, I wrote a blog post titled, “The Appalachianization of America’s Economy”, in which I observed that the AI and data center boom, which has recently been a principal driver of overall GDP growth, seems to be giving rise to a recurrence of a phenomenon previously seen in Appalachia’s natural gas regions – a […]
The PSC Must Do What’s Right for West Virginia
Do you know the old advice to investors – “Buy low and sell high”? Well, building a new gas-fired power plant right now is doing exactly the opposite. This is the worst time in history to be paying for construction of a new natural gas-fired power plant. It’s buying when the cost of buying has […]
Breaking down how much Congress cut AML funds by state
In January Congress passed a “minibus” bill that raided $500 million in previously appropriated coal mine cleanup funds to pay for other federal programs. We’re now seeing the first results of that bill: $45.5 million less in mine cleanup funding every year for the next 11 years. Combined with growing inflation, this means fewer jobs […]
Appalachian Gas: Near-Term and Long-Term Trends
Analysts expect natural gas production in Appalachia to grow in the coming decades, but the immediate outlook is a murkier prospect.
The Appalachian Hydrogen Hub: What’s Next?
ARCH2’s retain/modify designation could lock us into another cycle of contending with Appalachia’s fossil fuel problem when we could be building a brighter future for the people who live here.