What does a DRI plant in Arkansas mean for steelmaking in the Mon Valley?
US Steel’s investment plan raises questions about the future of steelmaking and the union workforce that powers it in Pennsylvania.
Why Data Centers Will Be Economic Development Duds
Data centers are highly capital intensive, non-labor intensive enterprises that create few jobs & inject little money into host communities.
Expanding data center demand near Appalachia could slow down regional decarbonization efforts
Further decarbonizing the PJM grid is functionally impossible unless Appalachia replaces gas-fired generation with zero-carbon electricity.
New, overlapping pipeline proposals are redundant–and unnecessary
Two competing pipeline proposals would increase Appalachian natural gas flows to southern Virginia and North Carolina.
The Ammonia Industry Expansion Begins To Falter
Less than three months after its July passage, the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) is already reducing the planned expansion of ammonia and hydrogen production. ORVI’s March 2025 report on the ammonia industry found that if all the proposed facilities as of October 2024 were built, annual US ammonia production would increase by more than […]
Beaver County’s Economy Flounders while Neighboring Counties Prosper
Beaver County, home to Shell’s $14B plastics plant, lags behind neighboring counties in job and business growth.
With Starfire Set to Break Ground on Landmark Kentucky Solar Project, Local Hiring Should Be a Priority
A landmark three-county solar array is coming to Southeast Kentucky’s coalfields, promising to be one of the nation’s largest renewables projects developed on former mine lands. But as developers prepare to break ground, questions remain around the project’s economic and community impacts. This month, the Kentucky Siting Board approved a 210-MW solar array, planned to […]
Celebrating 5 years of ORVI
A Big Beautiful Blow to the Ammonia Industry
Tucked deep in the mammoth One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) that President Trump signed into law on July 4th is a provision that threatens the planned expansion of the ammonia industry. To see how, let’s review the pre-OBBB ammonia landscape. ORVI’s March 2025 report on the ammonia industry showed that if all the proposed facilities […]
Achieving Significant Local Hire at the Starfire Solar Project
On June 18, Senior Researcher Eric Dixon appeared before the Siting Board of the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC) to advocate the condition of the approval of the proposed 210-MW Starfire solar project in Appalachian Kentucky on further action needed to: ensure significant local hiring in the construction of the project, secure community benefits, and […]