Charting a Course for Appalachia’s Economic Transition
For generations, Appalachia has powered the nation’s industrial growth with our region’s bountiful reserves of coal, gas, and oil. Today, our communities are suffering the effects of that legacy of extraction—air and water pollution, rampant greenhouse gas emissions, and local economies hollowed out by an industry structurally incapable of generating job growth and prosperity. For […]
Hydrogen, Carbon Capture Hub is a Risky Gamble for the Ohio River Valley
The newly announced initiative to develop a carbon capture and hydrogen hub in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia is a gamble in the guise of opportunity.
Bitcoin Mining Breathes Life into Zombie Coal Plants
Bitcoin is on the verge of going mainstream, with some companies — and even countries — recognizing the cryptocurrency as legal tender. The market cap of Bitcoin now surpasses both Facebook and Tesla, and it also recently became the 13th largest currency in the world. At the same time, the dizzying highs (and occasional lows) […]
A Stronger Appalachian Regional Commission Vital to Economic Progress
A funding boost could enable the Appalachian Regional Commission to improve regional infrastructure and generate real, lasting prosperity.
Year in Review
The Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI) launched one year ago, in August 2020, as an independent, nonprofit think tank designed to equip the region’s residents and decision-makers with the policy research and practical tools they need to advance long-term solutions to some of Appalachia’s most significant challenges. The Institute produces data-driven research and proposes policies […]
New Reports Sketch a Blueprint for Job Growth and Economic Development in Distressed Appalachian Communities
There are many parallels between economically struggling communities in Appalachia and Centralia, Washington, a chronically depressed coal town that lost its coal mine and is now losing its coal-fired power plant. But in Centralia, the economy, jobs and population are booming. A new report by the Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI) titled “The Centralia Model […]
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 […]
Quality of Life-driven prosperity for small cities and towns
Earlier this year, the Belomar Regional Council, an economic planning and development council comprised of governments in Belmont County Ohio, and Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties in West Virginia, submitted an updated Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy to the US Economic Development Administration. It contained this SWOT chart. The only opportunity for economic development identified in […]
Inequality is Robbing Workers of Pay in the Ohio River Valley
Workers in West Virginia should be making $117,000 a year on average — and they would be too, if only we had pursued the same economic strategies we had in the 1970s. Instead, we’ve taken power away from workers, lowered taxes on the wealthy, and designed an economic system that redistributes money upward. That $117k […]