Jobs and equitable transition: Bridging the chasm between rhetoric and action
There was a time when the sight of rows of office workers hammering away at their Friden adding machines would have sent me into paroxysms of delight because I, the Victor Comptometer salesman, had a new and better “programmable calculator” that could kick the Friden’s ass. I was a young 1970s college graduate entering the […]
American Jobs Plan Can Accelerate Solar Power in West Virginia
[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]As a recent article in Forbes noted, the ‘dam has broken’ in West Virginia for solar power. While solar energy comprises less than 0.2 percent of electricity production in the state today, the market for solar energy is […]
“What’s the alternative?”: Answering the hardest question asked by workers and communities that feel threatened by energy transition
At ORVI, we’ve documented the inability of the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries to serve as engines for job growth and prosperity in Appalachia. Although these findings may be greeted with doubt, disbelief, and sometimes anger, we find that, once the numbers sink in and people in the mining and fracking regions of Pennsylvania and […]
ORVI Insider #16: Cutting WV’s Coal Subsidies Could Open Up $56 Million in Revenue
ORVI Insider Vol. 16 May 11, 2021 Headlining our sixteenth newsletter is new research from Senior Researcher Ted Boettner on West Virginia’s tax subsidy for thin-seam coal production. Boettner’s latest analysis demonstrates how reducing or eliminating the Mountain State’s thin-seam subsidy could yield up to $56 million per year in additional revenue, a sum […]
Eliminate West Virginia Met Coal Subsidy to Assist Dislocated Coal Workers
Several weeks ago, the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) released their plan for “Preserving Coal Country” amid national policy efforts to address climate change and regrow the economy with large-scale infrastructure investments. The UMWA plan listed several policy proposals to help coal mining communities, including a ‘true transition’ for coal miners that have lost […]
ORVI Insider #15: “Repairing the Damage” Sparks National Conversations on AML and Orphan Well Remediation
ORVI Insider Vol. 15 April 27, 2021 In this edition of our newsletter, we highlight coverage of ORVI’s recent Repairing the Damage reports and webinar series, co-produced by ReImagine Appalachia, on the environmental and public health problems posed by Appalachia’s slew of abandoned mine lands and orphan oil and gas wells. Our research demonstrates how […]
ORVI Insider #14: Repairing the Damage from Appalachia’s Orphan Wells and Abandoned Mine Lands
ORVI Insider Vol. 14 April 14, 2021 For more than 150 years, Appalachia has provided the cheap energy that has powered the nation’s industrial growth and helped construct the middle class. But Appalachian communities did not fuel our nation’s prosperity without a cost – thousands of environmental hazards, remnants of […]
Repairing the Damage from Orphan Wells and Abandoned Mine Lands
For more than 150 years, Appalachia has provided the cheap energy that has powered the nation’s industrial growth and helped construct the middle class. But Appalachian communities did not fuel our nation’s prosperity without a cost – thousands of environmental hazards, remnants of our region’s legacy of extractive industries, burden our land. Abandoned mine sites […]
An Energy State No More: As coal vanishes from the grid, so might West Virginia’s status as an energy state
In 10 years, unless West Virginia leapfrogs from its coal-dominated energy system to one driven by clean renewable resources, it will cease to be an energy state West Virginia’s status as an energy state — one that produces more energy than it consumes – will almost certainly come to an abrupt end within the next […]
Polling Shows A Republican Split in Pennsylvania
One quarter of the way through 2021 and Pennsylvania voters are grumpy. According to the March edition of Franklin & Marshall College Poll, barely more than one-third (36%) think the state is headed in the right direction, down 20 percentage points from a pre-pandemic high point. (They are hardly more sanguine about the country: only […]