March 22, 2017 | Charleston Gazette-Mail

It’s no secret what condition the state of West Virginia is in. State government faces a shortfall of nearly $500 million for next fiscal year. 

West Virginia is the only state in the union that has a smaller population now than it did in 1950, 

March 20, 2017 | Charleston Gazette-Mail

There’s no denying that West Virginia continues to face big challenges. 

The Associated Press reported recently that unemployment rates rose in all 55 of West Virginia’s counties last month. Making ends meet is getting tougher for West Virginia families and communities.

In Charleston, the Legislature is focused on a number of these challenges, including our budget shortfalls and policies related to job growth — and West Virginia families are watching these efforts closely.

The good news is that we have real opportunities for positive and sustained growth, which can lift up every West Virginia family and community.

March 10, 2017 | Metro News

HANCOCK COUNTY, W.Va. — More than 100 people could be working for a natural gas company, a subsidiary of Total Energy Services Inc. out of Canada, in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle within the next two years.

Weirton will be the site for the first U.S. manufacturing operation for Bidell Gas Compression, according to a Friday announcement.

“We’ve got jobs coming and this is just the tip of the iceberg. We want lots and lots and lots more,” said Governor Jim Justice.

Bidell has plans to repurpose 100,000 square feet of space at a former ArcelorMittal machine shop known as the Central Machine Building.

March 10, 2017 | The Intelligencer Wheeling News-Register

CHARLESTON — Some of the state’s outdated laws and regulations need to be updated to allow the natural gas industry to grow and prosper in the Mountain State, said two industry officials.

March 6, 2017 | The State Journal

Natural gas use across the United States has seen a dramatic increase in recent years. According to the 2017 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook, a report produced by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the U.S. has experienced a 79 percent surge in shale gas extraction since 2011 and a 12 percent jump in total gas production over the past five years. As the Factbook reports, “natural gas is now the number one source of power in the U.S., contributing 34 percent of the electricity mix in 2016, up from only 22 percent in 2007.”

By MetroNews Staff in News | February 06, 2017 at 12:21PM

Casey Junkins | January 20, 2017 | The Intelligencer Wheeling News-Register

WHEELING — TransCanada, the same company behind the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, hopes to move 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day through Marshall and Monroe counties by the end of this year via the 36-inch diameter Leach XPress pipeline.

Don’t let anyone tell you the proposed 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline is not good for West Virginia and West Virginians.

The $5.1 billion pipeline project, spearheaded by Dominion Energy, would begin in Harrison County and bring natural gas from the Marcellus shale and other prolific gas formations in and around north-central West Virginia to natural gas users in Virginia and southeastern North Carolina, reported the Gazette-Mail’s Max Garland.

West Virginia is sitting on top of nearly unimaginable amounts of natural gas. The Energy Information Administration estimates the state’s shale gas reserves exceed 28 trillion cubic feet. Yet, we have not yet been able to take full advantage of this energy windfall.

One reason is huge gas reserves are being discovered elsewhere, and hydraulic fracturing means those reserves that were once unreachable can now be tapped.  The oversupply drives down prices and serves as a disincentive for drillers.

Another reason is that our infrastructure has not caught up with the enormous supplies, which is why the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is so critical.

The proposed pipeline, which would run 600 miles from Harrison County southeast through the state, across Virginia and into  

LOCAL COUNTIES WILL SEE INCREASE

Officials with the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association said property taxes from Marcellus and Utica shale production will provide more than $134 million to fund local school systems and community services this year.

WHEELING — Increases in oil and natural gas production continue providing more property tax revenue for Northern Panhandle counties, with Wetzel County scheduled to collect more than $24 million from the industry during tax year 2016.

Overall, West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association Executive Director Anne Blankenship said