Yesterday, the House Judiciary and Finance Committees both amended and passed out Senate Bill 461 and Senate Joint Resolution 14 that creates the West Virginia Future Fund. The amendments made several modifications to how much revenue will flow into the fund over time, how the principal of the fund is protected, and how the state…
Budget Beat
The West Virginia Senate has unanimously passed SB 461 that creates the West Virginia Future Fund and an accompanying resolution (SJR 14) to make the natural gas and oil severance tax fund constitutionally protected (inviolate). As most readers know, the WVCBP has championed the idea for several years and we are excited the state is…
Nothing highlights the shift in Appalachian coal production more than Boone and Marshall County, West Virginia. For as long as I can remember, Boone County was always #1 in coal production. Today, Marshall County, which is located in the north-west part of the state, is the state's biggest coal producer at 17.2 million tons (compared…
The Charleston Gazette had another timely editorial on Monday (I've been out of town all week) urging West Virginians to embrace the state's changing energy economy by creating solutions for the ongoing transition. As the chart below highlights, coal production has declined markedly over the last decade while natural gas is at unprecedented levels. As…
Last year, using projections from the Energy Information Agency's Annual Energy Outlook report, we showed that coal production in Central Appalachia was heading for a steep decline, with or without new environmental regulations. This year's report tells the same story. Under the EIA's baseline model, Central Appalachian coal production is projected to decline from 186.4…
According to the WV Geological & Economic Survey, natural gas production doubled in West Virginia, from 265.2 billion cubic feet in 2010 to 538.7 billion cubic feet in 2012. As the chart below shows, this is the most natural gas West Virginia has ever produced. While there are no facts about the future, it is…